Praising Instead of Complaining

What a year 2020 has been so far?! How many times have we heard this statement made by ourselves or someone else? It is certainly in no way meant to be a flattering or positive statement for the year! Instead, it’s meant to be a complaint about everything that has happened so far.

Let’s be honest though. Has every single thing that’s happened in our lives this year been bad? I think not! In fact, I have many things that have gone right or been good. Yet, I still want to complain! This is something I do, no matter the year, way too much! Even in prayer, I find myself complaining and worrying instead of praising God and being grateful like I should.

As a Christ follower, I know I was never promised a problem free life. This world will always be full of trouble for anyone at any given time. Some seasons will be worse than others, but does God want to hear my complaining and negativity all the time?

So, I want to try to get out of this cycle of complaint about the current circumstances and anything else that might also go wrong this year. While things may look really bad in the world right now, there is still so much that is good in the world and personally in my life! There is still just as much potential for things to go right this year too.

Here are some ways I want to break the cycle of complaint….

Praise God! Praise God! Praise God! I want to praise Him more – first for Who He is! Plus, He has given me the gift of a great life, a great experience, and a great adventure.

I want to do a better job of picking out, writing down, and focusing on three or more things I’m grateful for each and every day. Doing this first makes it hard to complain about what I think is missing.

I want to look for the good in other people, whether they agree with me or not. We are all God’s children, and He cares about us all equally.

I want to be less judgmental of others and stop complaining about them too. I want to show more compassion and more empathy. I cannot know what it’s like to walk in their shoes anymore than they can know what it’s like to walk in mine.

God, help me today to stop the cycle of complaint, to focus on the positive, to be grateful for Who You are, and for all You’ve done for me.