Grumbling by G. B. T.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 20, 1916

Grumbling

By G. B. T.

ONE of the surest ways in which we can make ourselves disagreeable is to be grumblers. A chronic grumbler in the house is a very great misfortune, yet many a home is darkened by this depressing influence. It is impossible to satisfy one who has this complaining spirit. Something is always the matter, and the most trivial things furnish an excuse for a fresh outburst of complaints. Morning, noon, and night they are served up to the family.

There is a story about an old farmer who said that while he always put several barrels of good apples in his cellar in the autumn, yet he never saw a good apple. His wife was a frugal body, and would pick the apples over every few days, bringing up the partly decayed and spotted ones for the table, so that she just kept pace with the rot in the fruit, and the old farmer had to eat partly decayed apples all winter. And some people seem to see only decay in everything. Indeed they live on the “rottenness of pessimism.” They carry about continually the spirit of complaint. Nothing suits them. The weather is too hot or too cold; the church is too large or too small; the preacher is too young or too old; the sermon is too long or too short. Their faces begin to reflect their spirit, and soon remind one of a coffin lid, while their words always depress, and make us wish to shun their company. Oh, those who have contracted this habit of complaining can never know the victory of love!

One can in a measure excuse this unfortunate disposition in those who have no faith in God or hope of a life beyond. But for Christians, who preach an indwelling Christ and a power delivering us from the bondage of evil, it is both unnecessary and inexcusable. It dishonors God, darkens our own souls, and brings no blessing, either to ourselves or to others. G. B. T.