Tall Tales at Tea Time

It could be worse...
        Philippians 2:14 says "Do everything without complaining or arguing". Now you may have read that verse and laughed. It almost seems impossible not to complain or argue. I do it all the time. At dinner today I said, "I'm tired of having Mexican for dinner every night." This afternoon, I stated "School stinks! I have so much homework it's not even funny!" And this morning when I received my first 84 on a math test, I was complaining about everything I could think of. So you may be saying, "Yah okay, I see that you have a problem with that too. So what?" Well, did you know complaining and arguing brings you down? It makes you feel angry and depressed. It makes you say things you wish you wouldn't have said. There's a story in the Bible I heard at church this weekend. If you're not a Chrisitan, don't avoid reading this story, you might actually enjoy it. In Exodus, after Moses' people were let go from Pharaoh, Moses led his people to the Promised Land (If you don't know what that is, this short video should sort of give you an idea of what it was especially to the Hebrews) Anyway, before Moses died (if you watched the video) he led the people to the Promised Land. God provided His people with food (aka: Manna) the Israelites were getting really tired of eating manna, like I was tired of eating Mexican. And they complained and complained and complained. This didn't make the journey any easier. God wants us to be grateful for what He's given us, because no matter how big or small He'll make the most of it (Romans 8:28). The Israelistes knew this, but they still complained. They actual journey should have taken them only 11 days. But because they complained, it ended up taking them 40 years. No, I'm not joking. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Makes you not want to complain anymore, huh? So how can we stop ourselves from complaining? Why not tell yourself this: It could be worse. My 84 could have a been a 48. My dinner could have been much less than what we had. Tell yourself that before you're about to complain, it just might help. And instead of complaining, we should thank God for what He has given us, because no matter where you are, what you do or what you have done, there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for!