Don't Waste It Whining

Life is too beautiful

to waste it whining.

Sometimes, life can throw us a few curve balls that really test us to our limits.  Perhaps it is your children, or a friend or a speeding ticket.  Maybe it is someone who gossips about you or puts you down.  Maybe it is even someone in your church or your school.  It can even be that three mile hike that turned out to be more like 6 miles and felt like 20!

My point is that we all have problems.  We all have adversities in out lives.  We all have reasons to whine.  It is not that we have reasons, it is simply what we are going to do about it.  I am not a fan of whining.  I have found that it makes me more unhappy and the journey seems so much longer than I thought it would be.  

My sweet daughter was with me on our "forever" hike that we all felt was never going to end.  She helped me over the rocks and through the rough spots.  She smiled and laughed and sang and just about when I was going to give up she said, "look mom, isn't that tree great?  It even has a seat.  I love the way it twists.  Can you take my picture?"  

So, here is her picture on a tree that twists in the middle of a miserable hike.  Don't you just love her smile?  She remember how much I love to take pictures on interesting things.  She knew how much I really do love nature.  She reminded me of all that with a smile and a seat upon a tree.

I have always said to my children, "If you are going to do it anyway, do it with class."  I love that line.  We know when we have to do hard things.  We even know that we might not like them.  But we really don't have to whine about them or complain or do our best to make sure every one else has just as bad of a time.  Sometimes, the best way to handle a situation is with a little class and a smile, or maybe just pointing out are really cool tree.

Life really is beautiful and no misfortune is so bad that whining about won't make it worse!

We should honor the Savior’s declaration to “be of good cheer.   (Indeed, it seems to me we may be more guilty of breaking that commandment than almost any other!) Speak hopefully. Speak encouragingly, including about yourself. Try not to complain and moan incessantly. As someone once said, “Even in the golden age of civilization someone undoubtedly grumbled that everything looked too yellow.”  Jeffrey R. Holland, The Tongue of Angels.