It's the Worst!

Photo by Gadiel Lazcano on Unsplash

No it's not.

Despite all I have and all I am, there are some days I wake up cranky, and the gratitude journal just won’t do it. Some days I just want to stay in my cave. I don’t want exercise. I don’t want sunshine. I don’t want to feel better. I just want to whine.

And so I whine. And God listens.

Does He laugh? Shake His head? I’d like to see His face.

If I happen to wake up cranky on a Saturday, there is an antidote: Tam.

If I’m too cranky to call her and even God is tired of hearing me whine, He must tap her on the shoulder and say, “Tam, it’s time.”

’Cause He knows I can’t resist.

Tam will text, and I’ll say “yes” and soon she is at the front door. I’ll get in the car, we’ll do a drive-through for coffee, we’ll go for a spin, and we’ll whine.

I’ll bet you thought I was going to say she speaks all kinds of encouraging words. That she’ll quote Scripture, tell me how blessed I am. Nope. She’ll whine with me.

We’ll whine about our weight. We’ll whine about the weather. We’ll whine about our husbands. We’ll whine about our jobs.

For just a little while. Because it’s not too long before one of us can’t resist. We’ll put on our whiniest whine and say, “It’s the worst.”

I know you’ve heard it. It’s right up there with those other over-used words that now mean absolutely nothing.

“Awesome.” “Amazing.” “Perfect.”

No, it’s not.

That concert wasn’t “awesome.” The quiche is not “amazing.” The fact that I want a Caesar salad on the side (excuse me, it’s “we” want a Caesar salad) is not “perfect.” God is.

Now, once one of us has declared, “it’s the worst,” Tam really should pull the car to the side of the road because it’s not safe for anyone to drive when they’re laughing that hard. It’s the worst.

No, it’s not.

You are here, perhaps a little chubby, but not in a place where you have no food for your family. You live in a peaceful nation— no matter what the whiners say — not in Ukraine or some other war-torn country.

Chances are you are healthy enough and educated enough and have means enough to read this. Whatever you may be whining about (if, perchance, any of you out there whine), it’s not “the worst.”

Whoever you are, God loves you. However you feel, God cares. Whatever you face, God is greater. Truly.

(I pray you all have a friend like Tam.)