CURMUDGEON
Webster's II Dictionary defines the word curmudgeon as "a cantankerous person". To be cantankerous is to be disagreeable or ill tempered. It would be a safe bet then to conclude that a curmudgeon would be a person in possession of a rather dour mindset. A person clearly going through life standing at the complaint counter.
A story is told of a farmer, who meets the criterion of a true curmudgeon and a master complainer. One day a neighbor stopped by and commented on the farmer's wonderful crop. With a smile on his face, the neighbor said, "You must be extremely happy with this year's harvest". The farmer, looking across the field, removed his hat, wiped his brow, and grudgingly replied, "Well, yes, I suppose it looks like a pretty good one, but a bumper crop is awfully hard on the soil." Yikes, what an attitude!
Sadly, the farmer's attitude is not unique, for even the children of Israel shared his viewpoint. In spite of the fact that God had miraculously provided for them during their wilderness wanderings, they were constant complainers. In Numbers the 11th chapter, they were up to their old complaining ways once again. When God heard their complaints, it displeased Him greatly. They squawked about the manna that God had provided for them. Instead of being thankful for what they had, they longed for, "..fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and garlic..". In the face of blessing, they responded with gross ingratitude. "There is nothing at all to look at except manna" (Numb. 11:6). All the complaining and overall cantankerous attitude of the people drained Moses as can be seen in verses ten through fifteen. Culminating in his statement to God, "Please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Thy sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness."
We as well can be guilty of focusing on the negatives of life, rather than the positives.
