THE SCRET POWER OF THE SECOND MILE

These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
(Use in your personal or church newsletters)

Complaining is as old as Biblical times.

“That’s just not the way it ought to be,” complained John and his brother James, or words to that effect. It was just too much for these Sons of Thunder to see Christ treated with such disrespect by some of those to whom He preached.

The 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians hadn’t been written yet, but if it had been you can be sure that some of the Disciples would have found fault with it.

Especially Peter when he lost his temper. Or others, like Thomas, always complained because He couldn’t be an earthly king.

And Judas, treasurer for the disciples, complaining about how the money was being spent. And I don’t know, but maybe Jesus just sighed a deep sigh and went on doing what had to be done.

Then, of course, there was Moses leading his people to the Promised Land. Free buffet along the way with manna from heaven, a promise of a Promised Land just ahead - who could ask for anything more? They could. And they did. Just kept on complaining.

I’ll admit that 40 years is a long time to wander and that they were maybe justified in saying, “What have you done for me lately,” but then complainers are seldom patient.

Two groups of mothers in different cities were once asked what was the most important thing a child needed to succeed academically. One group most often replied, “Ability.” The other group answered, “Effort.”

To find success, as a child or adult, in the act of living - wherever it is needed - it is important to have both.

To make enough effort that ability will take care of itself.

And to embrace choice rather than chance.

To go to the Lord, who I believe we will all agree is the expert on soul management, and say “Lord, I need some help with my complaining soul.”

The man of faith says, “I see war and its mutilation. It sickens and saddens me, but then I am reminded that creation is more than body.”

The man of faith says, “I see the crude, the cruel and the crass and still I believe in the ultimate decency of man.”

The man of faith says, “I believe that people change and are saved and that wounds are healed and that the impossible takes just a little longer than the improbable.”

Complaining wears one down. It is the ultimate cause of extreme weariness. It certainly is no friend.

Would you be filled with more happiness than sorrow…then remember the old cliché’, “Life is a grindstone. It either grinds a man down or polishes him up. It depends on the stuff he is made of.”

I have some questions for you to ask of yourself. Not your neighbor or friends or even strangers, but of yourself.

1. When you get up in the morning, are you satisfied with the day before you and the attitude you are going to carry around with you?

2. Do you look with any regrets at yesterday?

3. Is the way you have been living and talking and thinking a plus for history or a minus?

4. How is the individual called “You” affecting your family, your business, your church? Negatively or positively?

5. In other words, is the world a better place or a worse place because of you?

Paul Lawrence Dunbar put it this way (a slight rewrite) -
The Lord had a job for me, but I had too much complaining to do;
So I said, “You get somebody else, or wait till I get through.”
I don’t know how, before I was born, the Lord did without my complaining,
I guess He got along,
But gosh, I only complain because others are so very weak, and because I am so very strong.

Yes, as you may have guessed, one day I needed the Lord myself, needed Him right away,
And when He didn’t answer me – no problem - I knew exactly what to say.
I started out complaining… it was what I do the best.
I knew some places I might fail, but here I’d pass the test.

SOME RECENT POSTINGS ON ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
SOME RECENT TITLES
Nov 30…DON’T ORDER A FUN HOUSE MIRROR!
Nov 28…A grand sense of otherness
Nov 25…GETTING SOMEWHERE AND FINDING OUT YOU DON’T WANT TO STAY
Nov 17…ARE YOU HAVING INSTALLATION PROBLEMS?
Nov 14…WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE BEST TWO WORDS IN YOUR VOCABULARY?
Nov 13…WHAT SHOULD YOU DO THAT ONE DAY YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT NOW YOU CAN DO?

Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Or type in the URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/

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Or type in the URL http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com/

And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.

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