No.36
From Wendy Howard [Editor of Despatch magazine], Sunshine Coast, Qld, Australia.
Access Online  http://www.despatch.cth.com.au/Main/tabco_main

Dad said one day, “I am going to try to help you both sort out your complaints!”
So he gave them a note pad each so they could write down what they didn’t like.
“You’ve got a week to write your growls down” said Dad,
“we want to help you to not be so miserable.”
The boys were a bit red in the face when he handed them the note pads.

Mum  reminded them about the pads every time they had a grouch.
“The toast is not crisp! I wanted bacon as well as eggs” moaned Bruce.
“My jeans are ironed! I like them left alone” Tom growled.
“Who put my books in the bedroom?
I like them all over the table where I can study them” grizzled Bruce.

It was the same when they went out to the museum.

“I wanted a Mars bar, not chips! I hate lemonade. I wanted cola.”
“This is BORING! All those mummies make me feel sick!”
“There’s a tele programme I want to watch.
My legs are aching, I want to go home. Let’s get out of this dumb place!”
Every time they grumbled Mum got out the note pad and wrote down the complaints for them. The boy refused to do it!
“We’re not doing that.
Why do we have to! It’s not fair.
Our friends don’t have to do that! their parents don’t make them!”

At the end of the week Dad read out the growls on the note pad.
They sounded so silly when they were read back to the boys.
“Did I really say that?” asked Bruce.
“There was nothing really wrong” said Tom, “I guess I just moan for nothin’ !” 
“Yes you do. Most of your complaints are just nonsense” Dad said.
“It is a bad habit to always moan and not be satisfied and grateful.
You are not just ungrateful to us, you are ungrateful to God.”
The boys felt like silly spoiled babies!

The people of Israel kept whinging and complaining when they were in the desert.
No matter what God gave them they were not satisfied.
You can read about them in the book of Exodus chapter 161-9.
Moses their leader finally said to them
“...the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him and what are we?
Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.”

A PRAYER “I give You thanks, dear Lord God, for all that you have given me.
I thank you for food, clothes and home and for those who care for me and love me.
Thank You, Lord, for good times with my family. Help me to be grateful and enjoy the blessings You so lovingly give. Amen.”

One day you will remember your youthful days, and you will wish you were young again.
Don’t spoil your days of being a kid with a spirit which is soured up with moaning.
No one has everything to their liking. Look at the good things in your life, and be glad for them. Give thanks to God for your “good things” and don’t concentrate on the “bad things.”
Murmuring can become an awfully bad habit that is hard to break!