This week’s FMF prompt is COLD

Timer on and go…

Living in the Midwest brings certain expectations with it this time of year.

Winter comes with endless, long, cold, gray days.

If I am being completely honest, I am sick and tired of our current cold snap. It has not been above freezing since January 6th. That is 3 1/2 weeks of trying to survive in this frozen tundra.

My furnace does not like to work this hard.

My hands are always cold.

END RANT

Whining never fixes anything. Instead, whining typically drives others away and exacerbates the situation.

So why do we do it?

According to AI:

“Key reasons for whining include:

• Emotional Regulation: It allows people to release built-up stress, anger, and feelings of sadness.
• Need for Attention/Validation: It is a, sometimes, subconscious, way to seek sympathy or validation.
• Feeling Powerless: When facing situations they cannot control, individuals may turn to whining.
• Habitual Behavior: It can become a, potentially, habitual response, starting early in life to get needs met.
• Cognitive Distortions: It is sometimes driven by, potential, thinking errors, such as seeing things in extremes or feeling that one cannot handle a situation. 

Whining can also be a, potentially, non-verbal signal of being tired, hungry, or bored.”

Regardless of why we become habitual whiners, we must look to the scripture. For instance, Philippians 2:14-16 says:

“Do all things without complaining or arguments; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding firmly the word of life, so that on the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.”

So instead of whining and complaining about the cold, I will find reasons to rejoice.

Soon there will be purple crocuses, yellow daffodils, and a rainbow of tulips poking up through the snow. These flowers remind me that even when all seems bleak, God is still at work behind the scenes.

So I will stay put and enjoy the cold Midwestern winter, happily anticipating the joy of spring.