Day 7: Uncomplainable Freedom

Because it is Monday

you have the

Freedom to Complain

Yup

Complain~

to express dissatisfaction, pain, uneasiness, resentment, or grief;

to find fault

in whatever you are doing

or in whatever you are not doing

in whatever someone else is doing

or in whatever someone else is not doing

How about the freedom to complain about your appearance?

Now that is an easy one,

to point fingers

at myself

what I don't like about me.

Freedom to Complain

Now is that really the freedom

that I want

that you want?

Freedom~

"the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint"

The

Freedom to Complain

fits nicely into that definition.

Another definition for

Freedom~

"the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved."

Hmm...

but

the Freedom to be a Complainer

is to be imprisoned or enslaved

to what is wrong.

So is that really

Freedom?

Complainer defined:

“one who is discontented with his lot in life.”

I have another definition

given to me by

Mrs. T

a women I just met

at the scooter rental store

who was trying to fit me for a helmet big enough to fit over my hair.

A calming presence exudes her,

a sense of calm washed over my soul as she spoke.

As she deals with complainers often (and believe it or not I wasn't the one complaining!),

tourists who are away from home

on vacation

who shouldn't have anything to complain about,

well they do

and when they do

she freely passes along

her words of wisdom to them:

"If you don't like what you are doing

Go Home

and

Someone else will do it."

She also takes her own advice

for when she wakes up in the morning

not feeling like going to work

and she remembers

that there is someone else

who is also waking up

wishing they had a job to go to

and it could be hers.

Her husband passed away

and she said

that there isn't a moment that she wished her husband was here,

but he isn't

so why complain.

Instead

she looks up

to the

One

Who

fills her with

His Peace

as she

lives out of the words of Philippians 4: 11-13

...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

I know what it is to be in need,

and I know what it is to have plenty.

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation,

whether well fed or hungry,

whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Yup

She has also been set free

by the

One

Who

has set me free

and you free

to live free

above

complaining.

I knew there was something different about her,

yet something the same.

100s of miles from home

God sent

Mrs. T

to shine

His Light

into my life

at a scooter store

to remind me about

Freedom~

Contentment in Him

because of Him~

So if the Son has set you free

you will be free indeed. John 8:36

So on this Monday

What do you have to do today?

Is it something that you don't feel like doing,

but it is something that you have to do?

Whatever your role may be

it comes with the good and the bad,

but it is what you do

and where you are

and

there is always someone else who could be doing it.

What are you doing that you wish you weren't doing?

Where do you wish you were instead of where you are now?

Who do you wish you could be instead of being who you are ?

I don't want to be here,

because I'd rather be there

I don't want to do this,

because I would rather be doing do that.

I wish I was

taller

shorter

thinner

or

fatter.

I wish I was

I wish I wasn't~

even though

you are .

Free to be content right where you are now

because that is right where you are now.

Uncomplainable Freedom

as Job said it best

in the midst of very "complain-able" circumstances~

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;

may the name of the Lord be praised.”

In all this, Job did not sin

by charging God with wrongdoing.

Freedom

to be

Content.

Well

Mrs. T has it right

as she lives

Free

in Christ

and it is because of this freedom

that she finds contentment

in the moment

no matter who walks through the door

who may be practicing the

Freedom to Complain

because she will just say

"If you don't like what you are doing

Go Home

and

Someone else will do it."

So

let's

Put into Practice

Uncomplainable Freedom!