A Grumble Fast?

I've been inspired. And I'm here to inspire you. :D

Last Sunday at "the flood" (my awesome church) the church bulletin challenged us to give something up for 40 days for lent. The flier said to look at it not as something you are doing to restrict yourself but rather as a way to let something go so that you are actually freed to give more--to God--to others, and ultimately--paradoxically--by giving to God and others you are actually getting full and getting the most that you never thought was possible. So, let this be a season (or 40 days rather) of generosity.

At work, I talked to a co-worker and asked her if she was going to give something up for Lent and she said that she was thinking about giving up complaining but that it was impossible. Apparently, someone had experimented with not grumbling for an entire day and it took this person 75 days to be successful with only 24 hours of not uttering a single complaint.

Anyways. Lately, the last two weeks have been kind of blah for me. I haven't felt down but I haven't really felt 100%. At first I was sick for a week, starting on my birthday. And then, I tweaked my back a little bit and work calls have been more stressful lately. Long story short, I haven't felt as energetic or happy these last two weeks and it's been easy to grumble or look on the half-empty side. However, today I decided I would give it a whirl and just attempt to go for one day without grumbling.

It's AMAZING how much a little attitude shift can change things. It's INSANE how much control we think we don't have but actually do have over how our day turns out. Are we going to allow ourselves to have a good day even when bad circumstances give us the excuse to grumble and be a grumpystiltsken?? Or are we going to choose to have a bad day and be a sourpuss even when we have every reason to be thankful??

We ALWAYS have much to be thankful for. At church, in the sermon, the pastor quoted some wise, sagacious guy saying something to the effect of this: if we have clothes on our back and food enough for the day we are RICH and have much to be thankful for. I thought about this for a second and realized how true this is. It's soooo easy to lose perspective but when you find yourself getting stressed during the day sometimes it's soothing to remember that you are blessed beyond measure and can be content if you have food enough for the day and clothes on your back.Sooo, just going for one day on a grumble fast has put me in such a thankful and joyous spirit!I really hope that I can go a whole two days without grumbling. If I do grumble, Kathleen is going to make me do jumping jacks.

post-entry edit: WOW, do YOU see the recurring theme here that I see? Check out the following link to be transported back to a very similar-in-vein entry I wrote in August:
you CAN DO it!!! Change your reality by thinking and acting