Don’t give up

It's not the norm. It happens sometimes, but only to special people: those who never give up. HARRISON DILLARD was one of these.

During the 1948 London Olympics he was the favourite to win the gold medal in the 110m hurdles race, but in the semi-finals he knocked down a hurdle and didn't make it to the final.

Harrison didn't want to go home with nothing to show for his efforts, so he entered the 100 metres - and won the gold medal!

I started by saying that few people react this way, because most people complain about their problems.

You could call complaining the world's biggest sport. If you go out any day and talk to a number of "normal" people, most of them will complain about something.

Complaining is dangerous. In the first place, you can't get ahead. In the second place, you get discouraged. In the third place, complaining makes the future look grim. In the fourth place, complaining leads to anger at yourself and others.

In the fifth place, complaining makes you blame God for your situation. In the sixth place, complaining crowds out gratitude; and in the seventh place, complaining makes you miss opportunities. Do you still feel like complaining?

On the other hand, never forget that complaining is contagious. If you start complaining, you'll soon find yourself surrounded by complainers! We must learn to put up with unpleasant things. If we can't learn this lesson, we'll never get anywhere.

Can you remember your complaints of a year ago? They seem silly now, don't they? Time teaches us to recognise that what seemed so terrible then wasn't as bad as it seemed.

Sometimes a problem even turns out to be a blessing! So please, stop complaining. It underlines our sin. Trust God and don't give up; start over!