WHAT IF WHENEVER WE COMPLAIN, we try to think up one reason to be grateful?
Not that I’ve done it.
I’m just wondering if I can.
Let me give it a try. It can’t be much harder than putting money in a jar every time we cuss.
- Complaint: I got word that a book I wrote is 32 printed pages short. It might have something to do with the fact that after I wrote it, editorial folk asked me to cut it to a specific word count. That word count was 32 printed pages too short.
Gratitude: I already wrote the stuff that we need to put back in the book. Score.
- Complaint: I’m getting homelier and homelier.
Gratitude: Eventually I’ll get home. In the meantime, I’m still vertical and happy to be so.
- Complaint: Humanity seems to have gone crazy with corruption, injustice, and terrorism.
Gratitude: The next Star Trek movie comes to town in 2016.
As I said, this is a test flight.
Go ahead, try one. Post it in a comment box, if you like.
Here’s some inspiration:
“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
I know, that sounds crazy cheery.
As in, “Hip, hip hooray. I broke my ankle on a Ferris wheel, dangling by a shoelace for three rotations.”
But why not, “I made CNN’s Breaking News”?
Complaint: I am 64 year sold, my feet hurt and I don’t move as well as I use to.
Gratitude: I am mobile and absorbing nourishment.
Hmmm…I am working the day before Thanksgiving when I have a long list of things I have to get done before Thanksgiving.
I have a job that pays a decent wage, great benefits, and paid time off, plus a great supervisor and a great boss, and I met someone at this job who has turned out to be one of my best friends. I also get to use the student recreation center (a two-story gym with an indoor running track) for less than $10 a month, because I am KU staff. Holla!
My kiddos didn’t have school today. They don’t get along with each other very well, so I’m having to think up all kinds of activities to keep them busy. I decided we’d bake a cake. What a mess! Grumble, grumble…
I don’t have to drive in the snow, and I soon get to eat cake. 🙂
Complaint: The “midday” snow has already started here in Minneapolis.
Gratitude: I ride the bus to work and I don’t have to travel for a Thanksgiving until Friday night.
Very good, guys. You got the hang of it right off the bat. Good to know that my readers are quick studies.