Stop complaining!

Can you come back and win a world cup match when your team is down 3- 0? I bet most of us would say no. But the answer is YES! Quarter-final, England, 1966: Portugal is up against the star revelation of the tournament, Korea, and losing 3-0. But EUSEBIO DA SILVA FERREIRA, the tournament's top scorer, gets four goals in about as many minutes and Portugal come away winners at 5-3. Eusebio went on, in his 1000+ goals career, to win several trophies for his skill.

Most sportspeople feel sorry for themselves when the chips are down. Like when the other side scores a 'silly' goal against you, or when you make a stupid mistake and EVERYONE has seen it, or simply when your team's 3- 0 down. Out come the complaints and the 'poor old me' syndrome. But don't worry! Everybodydoesit!

Eavesdrop on any conversation in the street. Most of what you'll hear are complaints - complaints about the family, the circumstances, the government, work, studies, grumblings about what so-and-so did or didn't do... a stream of grumblings and complaints! If you need a 'friend', just open your mouth to complain about something; you'll soon be in familiar company! Seems everyone enjoys a good gripe!

God says that grumbling produces discouragement. If there's a complainer on your sports team he'll spoil everyone's performance, and it's just the same in daily life. There are times when we need to get away from certain folk because we know they've got a gripe or six brewing. Boy! How these people can sniff out what's wrong about everyone and everything! They're experts! OK, so not everything in the world's quite hunky-dory; but grumbling's going to get us nowhere fast. Try this out for yourself: grumble about what someone does and you'll find you'll always be in a bad mood about them. Thank the person instead, for what they do well, and you've got someone who'll come to appreciate you too.

Our world can never be improved by bitter, griping people. They'll just make it a sadder place. Grumbling and groaning don't tire us out; they just discolour everything and we even lose sight of God's blessings. We feel like giving up and going home - failures. As believers we have to overcome this tendency to feel sorry for ourselves. Come on, sharpen up! Get back on track and get on with the game! We're supposed to give thanks to God for everything! And let's not forget we're also supposed to have a grateful spirit towards others. Grumbling produces downers. It leads to defeat. Have no more of it!