A couple days after Christmas, my husband and I took our five grandkids (ages 9 – 18) to the Magic Kingdom at Disney. We knew it would be crowded because it was during the Christmas holidays. That meant longer lines, missing some rides, and fighting crowds all day. During the hour drive there, I issued a challenge. Each of us got a tiny baggie with 10 dried beans in it. When anyone complained about anything, they had to give up a bean. The person with the most beans at the end of the day got $10.

The next thing we had to do was to define complaining. If someone said, “It’s raining,” or “It’s cold,” or “My arm hurts,” was that complaining or just stating a fact? Facts are ok; complaining is not. They decided on their own that complaining has to do with the tone of voice. We made my husband the judge on that. We also included teasing and poking each other as off limits, because that elicits a whiny response. 

By that evening, no one had lost a bean except me: I lost two beans. One of my granddaughters was walking on one toe, and I asked her if her feet were hurting. She said her heel hurt, but she wasn’t going to complain. And she said it with neutral emotion — just stating a fact, not resentful at all. 

We had the best time I can remember. It was joyful all day long, and it was a blast. 

Which leads me to something I saw in the Gospel of John last night in a class at church… In John chapter 5, Jesus asks a man who has been lame for 38 years if he wants to get well.

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

I wonder if that reply would have cost a bean. 

I only say that because, after Jesus healed him, Jesus ran into the man later and told him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

What did Jesus mean? We know that Jesus refuted the common belief then that someone’s sin caused disabilities, diseases, and even misfortune. We know this from the healing of the blind man in John 9:

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

So what sin was Jesus referring to with the man who had been lame, but was healed?

It hit me last night that Jesus might have been talking about the sin of complaining, of self-pity, of blaming. 

Now, none of us would judge the lame man for feeling sorry for himself and complaining; we can’t imagine what it would be like to have lived his life. We would agree that he had lots of reasons to feel self-pity, even bitter. Nevertheless, could it be that, no matter our circumstances, we are to praise and thank instead of complain and murmur?

I think back to the joyful day at Disney in which no one (but me!) complained or griped or whined or blamed. We loved providing that day for our grandkids, but it would have soured if there had been teasing and fighting and whining and complaining. Does God feel that way too about His kids? Have we really not been given enough to find something to thank Him for, to praise Him for?

This is on the front burner in my life right now. I give all of you permission to call me on this if you hear me complain! I want God to look at me with that joyful heart we had at Disney that day. What about you?

By the way, all the grandkids were so good, we gave all of them money!