It is said that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. That sometimes seems true but it is also true that the consistently squeaky wheel gets replaced. We’ve all known someone at work who is a whiner and no matter how good things are for them, they are not happy and they complain to any and everyone without regard to others who actually have something to complain about but don’t. We make other people tired when we whine and complain. Complaints are only reinforcing problems to ourselves and to others. And, who do we know who likes to listen to someone elses complaints ad nausea? Few, if any do. For many reasons we don’t want to be known or perceived as a complainer or whiner. We can do better and we can rise above our issues and challenges and not pull others down. If we want to be leaders and role models we can’t be known as a whiner even though the worst may happen or we feel like someone else should get theirs and we can’t do anything about it. Justice is a hard thing to understand but even when we feel justice is not being served we have to get above the fray and not let it effect our attitudes. The prophet Malachi says the same thing to those who were upset with God because they didn’t feel like God was punishing the right people as they believed He should. “You have wearied the Lord with your words. ‘Wearied him?’ you ask, ‘How have we wearied him?’ You have wearied him bu suggesting that the Lord favors evildoers since he does not punish them. You have wearied him by asking. ‘Where is the God of justice?” Let’s not weary others or the Lord with our whining, especially this time of the year when there is much to celebrate and to give thanks! Let the complaining and the whining be done elsewhere!

Reference: Malachi 2:17 (New Living Testament)