Complaining

This year I learned to love Jesus more through loss I experienced, and the insights I gained from that loss. I reflected on what I had learned as I presided over the Unveiling  ceremony my family had for my mother who died last year during the pandemic. At that time, we could not gather for the funeral with more than ten people present.  It was all very surreal to me. While my mom was on in years (age 92) she was a vibrant and young-at-heart person. I wasn’t prepared for her to go and the events surrounding COVID-19 compounded things even more.

But here it was a year later.  I shared with those gathered that one of the things I admired most about Pearl, my mother, was that she did not complain. Of course, she would complain about little things (the weather, how food was seasoned, what a particular TV commentator had to say) but not about important things.  You see, she was widowed while a young mother of three. She was then thrown back into the workforce and lived almost another sixty years without my dad. Not only had she experienced his death, but she lived to experience the death of my middle sister almost twenty years ago. And yet, through both of those losses, I never remember her complaining about the life she was dealt. Instead, she found joy and delight in the blessings bestowed on others.

People who grumble or complain, are often filled with bitterness, whether it’s from unmet expectations, loss, or lack of trust and obedience to God. Paul gives us a look at how both our attitude and actions can be affected by choosing to let our circumstances dictate who we are and how we act. If we believe the Scripture that tells us that “he lets the sun rise for all people, whether they are good or bad. He sends rain to those who do right and to those who do” (Matthew 5:45). Then why complain? Yet we somehow think we’re justified in grumbling and disputing. I saw my mom live her life with an attitude of joy, a joy that Paul described as “lights in the world.”

I want to emulate that same attitude and shine as a light in the world. We live in a time where grumbling and complaining and mean-spiritedness is not only acceptable but applauded. As missions leaders, we have the opportunity to allow the love of Messiah Jesus to shine through us as we live our life and serve in the fields he has given us.

Key Quotation

We live in a time where grumbling and complaining and mean-spiritedness is not only acceptable but applauded.

Question

How are you being an agent of joy in our unkind world today?

Susan Perlman, Jews for Jesus