Why is it that we are often so quick to complain yet so slow to give thanks? When it comes to our writing, this seems to be especially pronounced. We complain when our work is rejected. We complain about editors and publishers. We complain about having to do the many things necessary to make our work shine.
What if we focused on giving thanks instead of complaining? What would our writing lives be like then? Perhaps we’d enjoy the process more. Perhaps we’d become better writers. Perhaps we might even get published. 🙂
Complaining is a cancer that will keep us from the Promised Land. Just as it did the Israelites. Complaining is a serious matter. It indicates a lack of trust in God and the pride of taking matters into our own hands.
If you’ve been complaining, stop. Miriam got leprosy for complaining about Moses. That’s enough to fill one with the fear of God.
Instead of complaining, start thanking. Thanksgiving unleashes great blessings. Most of all, the blessing of a peaceful heart. And a peaceful heart can receive the creativity essential for excellent writing.
Amen and amen, Mary Ann! I’ve been trying to look for the blessings when things happen that disappoint or upset me. It’s another way of giving thanks. While hard at first, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes. I’m hoping it will be a natural part of me someday.
We also need to be able to forgive ourselves when we fail to see the good … brush ourselves off, thank the Lord, and keep going.
I wrote a children’s book that teaches kids about looking for blessings. I sure wish someone would pick it up. 🙂 Anyway, I liken it to looking for turtles in a pond. Sometimes, the turtles are easy to see, like when they are sunning themselves on a log. Sometimes you have to look harder, like when they’re only sticking their heads up out of the water. And sometimes you can’t see them at all because they’re at the bottom of the pond … but they are still there. Even when you can’t see the blessings, they’re still there.
I wrote that, but still have to remind myself many days that the blessings are there. As my pastor often reminds us, the secret things belong to God. So, we must trust and give thanks, no matter the circumstances. This world is not all there is and we have great hope in Christ!!
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I needed to be reminded of it today.
June 10, 2009 at 8:06 AM
What a wonderful and timely reminder! Thank you:-)
June 10, 2009 at 9:04 AM
Dear Power Writers,
Thanks for all of your wonderful comments. I’m sure you all realize that God gives me my blog entries mostly for me. 🙂 The reason I am a teacher in the Body of Christ is that I need to hear things repeated over and over again before they sink in. You may hear what I teach only once, but I teach it over and over again because I need to learn it over and over again. 🙂
June 10, 2009 at 9:20 AM
We are human beings and because of that we become human doings and because of that things don’t always go our way and because of that we have anger, resentment, jealousy, envy, lack compassion, lack patience, lack gratitude and are most times not thankful. BUT we are human beings and, Mary Ann, what you say is true and we have to work at it everyday for the rest of our lives because , like addicted persons we are never “cured” of our defects of character. I read somewhere (Actually a lot of “wheres”) that God allows us tests and trials so that we may grow. These human doings,I believe, are in that plan. There would be no need for plans if Bonnie and Clyde hadn’t stolen that Apple.
Blessings, jim connelly
June 10, 2009 at 1:39 PM