How is it going?

I fell off the wagon this week with the no-complaint challenge. I took my bracelet off one night and forgot to put it back on the next day and have completely forgotten my commitment to put 21 days of no complaining together. Edwene Gaines comes to the church on Saturday which gives me the incentive to try again and we got our purple "Complain-free World" bracelets in to help me remember even more. On top of all of that, Ash Wednesday was yesterday taking us into the season of reflection and preparation. My bracelet is back on and I have started over again. As I reflect back on the past couple of days, I saw myself becoming annoyed at small matters that in the grand scheme of things really don't make much of a difference. But the aggravation and complaining robbed me of joy and possibility in that moment. So, today, this moment, I start anew.

Do the complaints in my head count?

OK-day 2 and I think I have been fairly successful with not complaining. Although, I caught myself talking to the person across the street wanting to whine a bit about our recycling company being difficult to get a hold of as I chase the lid and container down the street. I discover that whining is soooo subtle. And I have to really force myself sometimes to shift it. There is some perverse sense of pleasure to whining. But ultimately does it get us what we want and of course the answer to that question is no. So, as I am working this out with you, the reader, I realize that I must switch my bracelet as I have complained today in the form of whining. I was going to ask if it counted if I complained in my head. I will save that discussion for another day.

No complaining challenge

Yesterday in church, I challenge those in attendance to give up complaining, criticism and sarcasm as suggested in Edwene Gaines book Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity. If we find ourselves complaining, then we start over until we have 21 consecutive complaint free days. As I do this, I am aware of how subtle the habit of complaining is. This morning I was talking to someone in the locker room at the gym where I work out about the temperature. Now, I could have just been making an observation, but the tone of my voice and the tightness in my chest told me that I was indeed complaining. I switched my bracelet and started over. It may take me a very long time to put 21 days together but the act itself is a spiritual discipline that challenges me to pay attention to where I have placed my focus. When I caught myself this morning and stopped what I was saying, I actually felt better as a result.

What are your experiences with this? What is your greatest challenge as we lean into this? Let's get a conversation going.

What do you serve today?

I continue to ponder this idea of abundance and love. Michael Beckwith in his book Spiritual Liberation often affirms that God qualities are the order of the day in his embodiment prayers. Wholeness is the order of the day. Peace is the order of the day. Beauty is the order of the day. Then he dedicates himself to serving those qualities.

What I find so powerful is the suggestion that at any moment we can choose what we will serve. We know that serving materialism and fear does not work. We do not create the experience we desire. So, as we approach Valentine's Day and we go further into our discussion on abundance, what if we decide to serve different God qualities? What would it look like to serve abundance or peace? Who would we need to become to make those ideas the order of our beings and consequently the order of our day? I believe more and more that as we shift our paradigms from getting to giving by serving the very qualities we desire, we will in fact, create the experience we so long for.

Employment rate

A couple of days ago, news organizations reported new employment rates. They said that the rates were some of the worse in years. I think the local paper reported that our unemployment rate was somewhere around 8%. What we forget when we see something like that is that 92% of people are working. Now, I don't want to minimized the situation where thousands of people are losing their jobs. But, I wonder what kind of effect it would have if we also focused in some way on the 92% of people who are working. Would it make a difference in the consciousness of our country if when we get stats like this, we pause and give thanks for the positive side of the report?