Complaining about complaining

I do it many times a day. Silently to myself, or on a walk with a friend, on the phone with my mom, or to my dear hubby who does it so infrequently it almost annoys me sometimes! Complaining is unproductive and discouraging.  It's annoying.  It sometimes feels good in a moment of venting, but really serves little purpose in getting anything accomplished.  As a small example: in the amount of time I spend dreading the task of cleaning the toilets in our house and talking about how much it bugs me that they never stay clean, and being convinced that there's something wrong with our water, and thinking of new ways that I can make that particular chore less frequent, I could EASILY have them all cleaned and have time left over to bake a cake.  And decorate it.  And eat it.  Seriously.  I spend far to much time dwelling on the things on my to do list that I don't feel like doing rather than prioritizing and just getting them done.  

The main problem with complaining is that it reflects an attitude of ungratefulness and a skewed perspective on God's goodness. Wait a minute. Am I suggesting that  you and I be GRATEFUL for dirty toilets. Yup. In some sense at least. I'm not saying that I enjoy what makes our potties get colorful stains of mildew, mold, and everything else deposits in there, BUT I will say that I am thankful to have the privilege of being blessed with this house that has three bathrooms (when people all over the world lack even one dignified space to do their business) AND that they can be used with such conveniece by myself, my family and friends and anyone else who stops by!  My point is this: complaining doesn't change the fact that I'll have to clean and do other mundane chores.  I want to live a more joyful life and complaining is no means to that end.  In fact, it is downright sinful and I am clearly guilty (in many areas in addition to cleaning the commodes). So please, friends, if you catch me being a grump, give  me a gentle reminder (or a smack, if needed) that God is good. (And that dirty toilets aren't going away anytime soon so I should probably get over it :))

This devotion got me thinking about all this.  I hope it will encourage you to have a fresh perspective on those things which often tempt you to grumble and complain, AND that God would "refresh you with a new outlook on life!" as the author wrote.