It’s August, and that means life should start settling back into a routine — or that’s what I keep telling myself anyway. It’s been good to take a small break from blogging, because it’s allowed me to focus on a few more pressing items, and I’ve definitely learned a lot of lessons in the past few months. While a lot of them have to do with moving, the one I’d like to share with you today I learned because I was focused on moving, and not focused on being the person I should be.

It’s been a month or so now, but I was returning something to the mall while I was in Huntsville going to the doctor (*when you live in a small town, you have to make the most of your trips to the big city, ha!). I got up to the counter in Belk, and suffice it to say I had a terrible experience. The cashier was rude, didn’t quite know what was going on, and definitely left me with a bad taste in my mouth for Belk as a whole. And why? Mostly because I was in a hurry. Ah yes, that dreadful 5 letter word that gets a lot of us in trouble. You see, because I needed to be elsewhere, I let my patience get the best of me and I did what most people do in our technology-plagued world: I fired off a tweet complaining about the service I’d just received at Belk.

What happened next surprised me.

A day or so later, when I had cooled down from my less-than-impressive experience, I received a twitter notification on my phone saying that Belk had responded to one of my tweets. Weird. So when I go and check it out, I see that Belk has given me their customer service email and would like for me to relay my experience and I will be compensated. At first, I was thinking oh wow, good for you Belk! Take care of your customers! But I quickly realized how terrible this actually was. You see, in my self-centered haste, I became just like the rest of the world – firing off tweets to hurt someone or an establishment, and using my negative experience to get something out of it.

Philippians 2:14 tells us flat out not to complain. Verse 15 tells us why: so that we can be lights to the dark world around us. When we start complaining, we look just like the dark world we’re trying to bring out of darkness. And it was when I realized this, that I instantly went to my twitter account and deleted my tweet.

Maybe I’m not alone here. You see, I often think of “don’t complain” in the context of don’t complain about the church, the elders, the preacher, etc. However, when I get on social media, I air every grievance I have with any and every establishment that isn’t the church. Now, while we don’t need to complain about the church or the elders or the preacher or the membership, we have to realize that we can’t complain about worldly things either. In those moments, the world is watching. They see how you respond to a rude comment or waiter. They see how you respond to a negative post. It is in those moments that we can shine the brightest, and that’s what I learned from the Belk tweet.

To look more like Jesus, I have to look like Him in every instance. Not just when I’m around my church family. Not just when I’m around people. I have to look like Him when I’m out in the world, when I’m posting anonymously behind a screen, and when I’m sitting quietly in the privacy of my own home. Truly there is nothing left out of the word whatever when Paul penned “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Col. 3:17).”

I am far from perfect, but I am learning every day how to better myself. I hope that through my misadventures in Christianity someone else can benefit and overcome the temptations I’ve fallen prey to. May God bless you to be more like Him in every instance.