Twenty-one days without complaining?

Who wants to listen to a complainer? Nobody.

Rev. Will Bowen in Kansas City, Missouri, and his congregation were reading a book that recommended trying to go twenty-one days without complaining – the length of time it is believed needed to change a habit. They were to focus on what they do want in their lives, rather than what they don’t want.

Bowen mentions Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who didn’t just complain about racial inequality, he had a dream, and he did something about it.

Rev. Bowen offered his congregation the challenge of achieving 21 consecutive days without complaining, gossiping, or criticizing; even sarcasm was out.

The hook was a little purple wristband. You put the band on your wrist and the first time you complained, you started over and moved the band to your other wrist. And so on. People loved the idea and many signed up.

The pastor found that breaking the complaint habit was harder than he had expected. After three and a half months, he succeeded in keeping the purple band on one wrist for twenty-one days.

Some in the congregation were able to make their three consecutive weeks within a few months. Others took a year or longer.

Word of the challenge spread. Individuals and churches in other states began contacting this church asking for wristbands. Now they have become a world-wide supplier of wristbands for people who are recognizing that complaining neither makes them happy nor solves their problems.

One teacher took the challenge to her classroom. A little girl said it was really hard because she had to keep starting over. A little boy said, it was really hard for him, because he "has two sisters, and they are really mean."

This is a clever concept. It is certainly better for the whole world when people quit complaining and become the change they want to see.