Tag Archives: Complaining

Putting a Flower in the Glass Half-Full

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I’ve never had a problem defining myself.

Perhaps I’m widely wrong most of the time, but I feel like I have a good idea of who I am and what I’m about.

But one thing that I’ve been trying to figure out about myself is whether I’m a pessimist or an optimist.

Based on what comes out of my mouth, I’d judge myself to be a pessimist.

Why do I complain so much?  My life is not complaint-worthy. I’ve been abundantly blessed in so many ways.  This is definitely something I need to work on.

Sure, I don’t have everything I want,  but what I’ve gotten instead I’ve enjoyed way more than I thought.

But when I hear the worries of those around me, I realize that I am an optimist.

I think.

Not that I don’t worry–I do–but I always seem to have the hope that things will work out for the best.

How about you?

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Happiness and Problem Solving

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I have a backlog of quotes…none of these are from yesterday’s Read-a-thon! Look for those over the next 2 weeks. I actually found the last 3 quotes in a stack of old papers.  They’re from before I officially started collecting quotes.

“What, you don’t think I want my wife to be happy?” – Taub
“Sure, as long as it makes you happy.” – Foreman, House episode “Black Hole”

“I’ve always believed that if you took one tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out.” – Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, p. 138

“You’re in for it now, child. Your body will change, your thoughts will be jumbled, and any man will be able to do what he wants with you.” - about the onset of puberty, Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende, p. 45

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.” – Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, p. 148

“He missed his venerable master, who had marked him forever with a thirst for knowledge as persistent as the drunk’s thirst for alcohol or the ambitious man’s thirst for power.” – Daughter of Fortune b y Isabel Allende, p. 178

“From where I stood, all my female friends were skinnier, or brighter, more talented and definitely happier than me.” – Amen, Amen, Amen by Abby Sher, p. 196

“Neither European nor Chinese patients admitted that the other race had anything to teach them.” – Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende, p. 181

“The heart wants what it wants.” – Woody Allen

“And this I believe: that hte free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.” – East of Eden by John Steinbeck, p. 171-172

“Eventually, I sold the original to the Hard Rock Cafe, not only because I needed a little money, but because I was afraid that, if I would die, it would be put on the street, like all stuff is put on the street when people die, in a black plastic bag.  Now it was safe.” – AJ’s neighbor, Nancy quoted in The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs, p. 325

Quotes, a Mid-Week Edition

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“If what a person wants is his life, he tends to be quiet about wanting anything else.  Once the life begins to seem secure, one feels the freedom to complain.”  - Ann Patchett, Bel Canto, p. 56

“Good arguments will not convince anyone who is not open to being convinced.” – Frank Turek, Correct, Not Politically Correct, p. 8

“I suppose it’s terribly sexist of me assuming that all of the terrorists were male. It’s a modern world, after all. One should suppose a girl can grow up to be a terrorist just as easily as a boy.” – Messner, character in Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, p. 147

“Many have become immune to Christianity by contracting a mild and unbiblical form of it.” – Randy Alcorn, If God is Good, p. 35

“Americans have a bad habit of thinking like Americans.” – Roxanne Coss, character in Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, p. 222

“Anyone who observed us would conclude the purpose of all academic discussion was to provide the grounds for becoming further entrenched in our original positions.” – Richard Russo, Straight Man, p. 201

“You’re young, you’re Black, and you’re on trial. What else do [the jurors] need to know?” – Kathy O’Brien, character in Monster by Walter Dean Myers

“In our reckless pursuit of self-gratification we impose upon ourselves gnawing emptiness rather than the joy and contentment that comes in loving God and others.” Randy Alcorn, If God is Good, p. 64

“If the Bible tells us what life is and how to live it, then biblical literacy isn’t an option. I need it. We all do.” – Rachel Starr Thompson, “What We Don’t Know”

No Excuses for Complaining

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I recently finished reading Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs. It’s an excellent book, though a little difficult to read due to the cramped printing (though it only comes to 99 pages because of it). Burroughs provides the Christian absolutely no excuse for not being content in Christ. To give you a little bit of flavor, I’ll list his 12 points on how to become content, found in the last chapter of the book. And this is only one chapter! I highly suggest you read it for yourself, with highlighter in hand to help find the main points.

1. The change has to come first on the inside.

2. Don’t be more involved in worldly things than you have to.

3. Make sure that you are where you are supposed to be.

4. Make it a habit of doing what you have been called to do.

5. Exercise faith!

6. Seek to be spiritually minded.

7. Don’t daydream of great things in your future.

8. Moritify your hearts to the world.

9. Don’t think too much on your afflictions.

10. Always assume God has the best of intentions for you.

11. Don’t conform your thoughts of what is right and good to what others think is right and good.

12. Don’t get caught up with the comforts of the world when you have them.