But Complaining Is So Much Fun!

TheDiscipleMD

Complaining about church leaders is so much fun that some of us develop the habit of doing it our whole lives.  It’s just so much easier to be a complainer rather than a supporter.

I think a good rule of thumb regarding complaining is that we should be willing to volunteer to be part of the “solution” rather than just pointing out the problems.  A humorous story was printed several years ago in the Washington Times. The column, written by Daniel Gallington was entitled, “Lazy, But Good At It.” In it, he related this story:

“It reminds me of the story about the lumberjacks who always made the new guy the cook — until someone complained — then the complainer became the cook until somebody else complained, and so on. So, one new guy was the cook for a very long time despite serving really awful food — but no one dared to complain. One day he went into the woods and scooped up some fresh moose poop and put it in a pie shell, baked it up and served it for dessert. As the lumberjacks ate their dessert, they trembled, turned pale and broke out into cold sweats. Finally — after he couldn’t stand it any more — one lumberjack screamed: “My Gosh, it’s a moose [excrement] pie — but a really good one.”

Perhaps we should be more like the lumberjacks who recognized that the food served was not the best, but being served is oft-times better than being the servant.

I am reminded of an incident that I shared in a church meeting a few years ago:

I was driving down Interstate 95 to my church building early one Sunday morning. The road was laden with heavy fog. I had no one in front of me so my vision was heavily impaired. I was driving very slowly; almost at a crawl. I noted headlight beams closely behind me in my lane. The car following me was riding my tail and continued to do so for a number of miles. It was very irritating to me as the headlights were glaring in my mirrors. Finally, in frustration, I pulled over and watched the speeding car go by me. I pulled back behind my friendly “tailgater”, and within a few hundred yards; he slowed down and started to crawl just as I had done. But for me, it was great. There he was, in front, easily providing a guiding light for me in the thick fog. My stress had been relieved and I enjoyed the rest of my drive. I remember thinking to myself, it’s easy to follow in heavy fog, but very difficult to be leading.

Such is life. It is so easy to follow and criticize, but it is not so easy to be the leader! The beauty of life is that at times we are called upon to follow, and at other times we are called upon to lead. I know all of us would like the prayers and support of others on our behalf when we enter the fog to lead. May we learn to be good followers and supporters of those who lead us! It might be enjoyable to complain, but it is more godlike to sustain.

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