Today is National Do A Grouch A Favor Day and, while I know that we never have grouchy people at church, you will probably go to work tomorrow and find a lot of grouches. Grouchiness is written all over their faces. They have a scowl, they speak with a growl, and misery seeps out of their pores.
We ALL have grumpy days, but some folks never seem to get over it. Do you ever wonder about those people? What made them this way? What bad must have befallen their life? How old were they when their mood took a fatal nosedive? Unless they spent nine months swimming in amniotic pickle juice, it’s doubtful that they’ve always been this way.
Unfortunately, rather than feeling sympathy, we tend to get a bit mean spirited with the grump. They will get picked on, antagonized, and set up just to watch their explosions. As an example, there was a grumpy old guy who lived next to the school when I was a kid. He was physically built like Ebenezar Scrooge and carried the same demeanor and pinched face. His yard was right next to the playground, and he obviously did NOT like kids, especially their kickballs, baseballs, soccer balls, footballs, or frisbees. If one dared to accidentally cross the plane of his property, he would exit the house, snarl at the kids, and claim the item as his own, carrying it off to his house like the spoils of war.
War is what it was! Do that a few times and the kids are going to retaliate. Now, I’m not justifying it. I’m just saying that’s what happened. It was not unusual to see the kids all along the fence being as loud as possible until he stomped out of the house to tell them to shut up. Daring kids would climb the fence to see if they could get the ball before he came out. Now, that really set him off and the kids ran away laughing at their magnificent
exploits of slaying the dragon and planning the next time to taunt him out of his cage.
Again, I’m not saying that was the right thing to do. But it happened. And we do the same thing as adults to the perpetual grump, only on a more sophisticated level. For some reason, we think that picking on them will perk them up.
I am not responsible for the grouch. They have chosen to be that way. They have decided that this is the temperament they want to carry through life. They have picked the face they want to wear and there’s nothing I can do about that.
I am responsible for my attitude towards them. They are a human being. They are God’s creation. They might even be a brother or sister in Christ which makes my responsibility to them a whole lot greater.
This is a day to do something nice for the constant curmudgeon. Luke 6:27-31 gives us some difficult verses to fulfil. “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, (28) Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. (29) And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. (30) Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. (31) And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.”
Do I know what I want others to do towards me? Do I know how I want to be treated and talked to? Of course I do. That’s no mystery. It’s also no mystery, then, what I should do to others. Just do to them what I would want done to me. Simple, right?
While the truth is simple, the execution of the truth can be difficult. Our defenses arise and we say, “This is their problem! Why should I go out of my way?” Because that’s what we would want someone to do for us. We would want someone to treat us nice and kind so that’s what we ought to do. Besides, we are supposed to show the love of Jesus, not just talk about it!
Find a grouch that you can love like Jesus. And remember the admonition of 1 John 3:18. “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
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