Complaining

Lord, do you always have to answer me when I talk to you?

Sometimes I wish you wouldn't.

Today my monologue was all cut out;

and then you started answering.

 

I complained to you about the world and the state of its affairs.

And then you asked me what I'd done to change it.

 

I complained to you about your church and all the troubles that beset it.

And then you asked me what I'd done to help it.

 

I complained to you about the suffering that I see:

the poverty, the illness, and the abuse of human rights.

And then you asked me what I'd done to alleviate it.

 

I complained to you about some friends

who just didn't seem to measure up to what I had expected.

And then you asked me what I'd done to measure up to them.

 

Lord, I'm beginning to get the picture.

Stop complaining and start doing!

 

 

 

 

 

Copied from Souvenirs of Solitude by Brennan Manning, copyright 2009.
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