Saturday I went to Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge which is about a ten minute drive from my house.  The last few miles of the trip has a very steep incline but the view, the breeze and solitude always makes this a great trip.  As I began this expedition, I was excited about the prospects of what I might see on my journey; seldom have I been here that I did not see deer and turkey roaming the hills.  But not this trip; in fact, I found very little that caught my eye on top of the mountain.  But on the way down I stopped and found this “flower”; I am not really sure that this is a flower at all, but I liked the way it looked so here you go. (This picture is of the same “flower”; I just combined the two photos).

        If you look closely at the image on the left you will notice there are thorns and barbs that cover the stem and sides of the plant.  Sadly, I failed to notice them until they introduced themselves to me in a more dramatic way than visually.  As I attempted to steady the plant from its bouncing in the wind, I met the business end of one of the thorns; and I guess you could say that I got the point.  Then as I recoiled from the plants attack I stepped knee deep into the ditch.  So what did I do?  I began to gripe and complain at my misfortune.

        Why is it that our first response to negative situations is to grumble and complain?  Why is it when we intend to be gratefully humble we instead turn out to be grumbly hateful.  I guess it is human nature to grumble at having to get up early in the morning—until the day comes when you can’t get up.  The sad truth is we all complain too much; how much time do we spend in the average day criticizing, nagging, grumbling, whining, nitpicking and complaining?  We forget that the squeaking wheel doesn’t always get the grease.  Sometimes it gets replaced.

        The sad thing about complaining is what it does to us on the inside; it focuses all our thoughts and energy upon the negative and away from the positive.  It blinds us to the uncountable riches all around us and causes us to overemphasize the one “bad” thing we choose to clinging to.  We are like autos—when they begin to knock, there is something wrong inside.  And when we gripe and complain we ought to look deep inside our hearts to see what is wrong.  Why are we not more thankful?  Why are we not more content and satisfied with what we have?  Because we choose to look only at the negative, the bad and the ugly instead of the positive, the good and the beautiful; remember, grumbling like happiness is a choice.  We ought to be pleased with everything that happens because we know it could not happen unless it had first pleased our Master, and that which pleases him must be the best for me.

Something to think about:

• Complaining about our lot in life might seem quite innocent in itself, but God takes it personally.

• Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.

• There are many ways to get ulcers but the most common is mountain-climbing over molehills.

• Don’t grumble because you don’t have what you want—be thankful you don’t get what you deserve.

• Please don’t pray for rain if you are going to complain about the mud.

• The trouble with being a grouch is that you have to make new friends every few months.

• People make enemies by complaining too much to their friends.

• Don’t complain about growing old—some do not have this privilege.

Thankful for the thorn
Rickey Moore