Whiner or Worshiper?

Lately, this lady in town has gotten me thinking:  each time I bump into her, she's complaining.  Either she hasn't slept well or she doesn't want to decorate for Christmas because it's so much work or she doesn't want to shop for the grandkids cuz she doesn't know what to buy or she can't wait for the snow to get here so she can start waiting for it to be gone (true story!).  Now what do people think about me after bumping into me up town?  I often tell people how many times Aidan woke up in the night or that I got to bed too late so I'm feeling tired.  Really, who cares!?  I want to be known as a grateful person, filled with joy because of what Christ has done for me.  I don't want people thinking about me what I think about that downer, complaining woman - I want people to run toward Christ after an encounter with me.

This is just another reason Nancy Leigh DeMoss's book Choosing Gratitude has been so good for me.  And, in order to help solidify in my mind what I am learning, I'm going to continue to blog through some of the chapters I most enjoy in her book.

Nancy writes, "After decades of ministry to hurting people, I have come to believe that a failure to give thanks is at the heart of much, if not most, of the sense of gloom, despair, and despondency that is so pervasive even among believers today," (pg 79).  Isn't that true!?

She goes on to describe six differences between grateful and ungrateful people. 

1. A grateful person is a humble person, while ingratitude reveals a proud heart (pg 80).

2. A grateful heart is God-centered and others-conscious, while an ungrateful person is self-centered and self-conscious (pg 82).

Our world is full of people seeking to get their needs met.  Think about the McDonald's slogan, "My way,"  It's these people who focus on "my needs," "my feelings," etc. that are the blamers and are quick to accuse God of being unfair and ungenerous.

3. A grateful heart is a full heart, while an unthankful heart is an empty one (pg 85).

Paul says in Philippians 4 :18, "I have all, and abound; I am full."  Yet his friends had abandoned him, he was in prison and striped bare of all creature comforts...and yet he was full!  Nancy goes on to describe a dog who'd lost a limb.  The dog isn't traumatized by losing the limb, the dog is overjoyed to be alive - chasing squirrels, fetching balls, etc.  I need to be more dog-like!  ;)

4. People with grateful hearts are easily contented, while ungrateful people are subject to bitterness and discontent (pg 87).

This is my struggle - I strive, daily, to be thankful for what I have...which is soooo much!  I have to quote Nancy here because I just love what she says,

"I have spoken with many women who are chronically unhappy, "down," or depressed.  The details and reasons vary, of course.  But I have become increasingly convinced, after lots of these kinds of conversations, that one of the chief reasons behind a pervasive sense of blues and blahness is a failure to be thankful.

"Ungrateful people tend to hold tightly to their rights.  And when others fail to perform the way they want or expect them to, they feel justified in making demands and retaliating emotionally," (pg 88).  She goes on to talk about how Ruth in the bible was just the opposite.

5. A grateful heart will be revealed and expressed by thankful words, while an unthankful heart will manifest itself in murmuring and complaining (pg 89).

I love her example: instead of asking, "Why did God put thorns on roses?"  Praise Him saying, "God has put roses among the thorns."  Be encouraged to look for blessings in the trials and hardships.

6. Thankful people are refreshing, life-giving springs, while unthankful people pull others down with them into the stagnant pools of their selfish, demanding, unhappy ways (pg 91).

Our natural tendency is to react to life's circumstances in a negative way.  But may our responses as Christians be as Matthew Henry's, making people feel "how happy a thing it must be to be a Christian!"

I'm praying today that I would be a worshiper and not a whiner!