Lent Day 27

What is it about human beings that makes it so easy for us to moan and complain about things and so much more difficult to be positive?

I was visiting a friend recently who had been invited out to lunch by mutual friends I hadnt seen for ages.  I was looking forward to hearing all about it and catching up with some news.  But instead all I got was a list of complaints about the food which was served!!!  I felt like yelling ' For goodness sake, the food wasnt the important part - the friendship was, and the fact that you were invited in the first place!!!'    But I didnt.

I am hardly one to judge.  I kinow how easy I find it to be critical or negative.  It just seems so often to be the first response.   The Bible tells us that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.   So I guess that tells me what my heart is like.   :(  After 30 years as a Christian I still find that moaning is my default setting.   I wonder why God bothers with me!!

It always seems to be easier to be pleasant and upbeat and positive with complete strangers than with those nearest to us.  If you want to know what Im really like ask my husband and kids.  They will tell you that Im grumpy and selfish and negative so much of the time.   I try not to be.  I know its bad.  But somehow they all manage to bring the very worst out of me - they know how to push my buttons and wind me up.  And of course Im with them for hours and hours a day longer than Im with anyone else.  There are fewer places to hide.

Matthew 12:36New International Version (NIV)

36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.

That is one of the scariest verses in the Bible.   EVERY useless, negative, judgemental, critical, self-promoting, untrue, and empty word I have ever spoken will be replayed to me and I shall be judged by what has come out of my mouth.  Not because God is particularly bothered by the words I say, but because those words betray what is in my heart - and He is very interested in that.

So my challenge for the rest of Lent - and for the rest of my life is to be more careful with what comes out of my mouth,   I suspect the key to this is to be more careful about where I let my mind focus.

These words from Philippians 4:8 could be used as a mantra for the way we see, think about and speak of other people.  Lets not focus on what people do wrong, how they annoy us or ways in which they could up their game.   Let's instead focus on the things we appreciate about them,  the potential we see and the lovely and admirable parts of their personalities.    Love covers over a multitude of offences.