We need to learn that grumbling and complaining are no harmless pastimes. It is so easy to find our undisciplined tongues listing the offenses of those around us. Most of the time we do not stop to think about the things that we have done that are just as bad or worse than those we criticize. What is missed is an opportunity to extend grace and patience to a fellow human. It is a missed moment to offer a prayer; it is a failure to find a way to extend unconditional love to a fellow human. This adds to doing wrong a lost opportunity of doing good.
“The moments we spend grumbling about God or our fellow man are moments we failed to act — we failed to love or respond to love. I’m convinced that however justified we may feel in forsaking those moments, our hearts are traumatized by the way they cut us off from God, our neighbor, and our true selves.” Nicole M. Roccas
