Yesterday, there were two National Day Calendar observances that are contradictory. Let me share them one at a time.
Yesterday was National Thank You Note Day. This is a practice that has gone out the door along with other conventional manners and etiquette. However, it needs to make a comeback! This simple gesture conveys gratitude beyond the cursory verbal “thank you.” It shows that even after the gift has been given, there is a heart of gratitude for the thoughtful generosity of another.
I have to admit to being puzzled by the anti-thank you note trend. Have you ever received a gift and the card attached said, “No thank you note is necessary?” This encourages the habit of giving a thank you note to die a quicker death! Could this also be fostering a spirit of entitlement and ingratitude? I don’t have to be thankful or express gratitude because I DESERVE the gift you’ve given me.
There was another “celebration” yesterday, sponsored several years ago by Pastor Kevin Zaborney of Clio, Michigan. He called the day National Whiner’s Day. It was a day to greenlight whining and complaining. Go ahead. Purge your system. Get it all out. One rule, though. You can’t whine about what you did or didn’t get for Christmas.
I know that such a celebration originating from a pastor seems unusual. However, in Pastor Zaborney’s defense, I think what he was trying to do was use a bit of reverse psychology. Despite the encouragement to whine, the whiners were also encouraged to think about what they have. The concept was that if we do both simultaneously, we will realize that we really have nothing to whine about.
That is absolutely true. We don’t have anything to legitimately whine about and when we consider all the blessings God has poured into our lives, that should wallop our whine! The end doesn’t justify the means, though, and there’s nothing in Scripture that gives us permission to be whiners, even for a day. Just the opposite.
1 Corinthians 10:5-6 takes us back to the events in the Old Testament and we are told, “But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. (6) Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” If we keep reading the verses, we see that the people involved themselves in idolatry, fornication, and celebrations in honor of the pagan idols. We will say, “I must be okay because I’m not doing any of that. I’m not lusting after evil things.”
Keep reading!
1 Corinthians 10:10 says, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.” Don’t grumble and complain. Don’t whine. Philippians 2:14 shuts the door on any justification we might offer for complaining. “Do all things without murmurings and disputings.” I can’t even do this for a day to get it out of my system and to let off a little steam! Convicting, isn’t it?
Writing those thank you notes helps to remind us of that for which we should be thankful. It channels our thoughts into the streams of gratitude. Hopefully, we will purposefully and intentionally steer clear of whining. When we start going down that path, keep 1 Corinthians 10:11 in mind.
“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
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