`Father, what is the cause of grumbling and how can we get rid of it ?
`Man’s
wretchedness causes it and is drawn away by doxology. Grumbling generates
grumbling and doxology generates doxology. When someone doesn’t complain when
he faces a trouble then the devil goes away to someone else who grumbles to
make things worse for him.
The more someone grumbles, the worse he destroys himself. Sometimes
the devil distracts us and makes us be discontent by everything when we could
be glad of everything spiritually by doxology receiving in this way God’s
blessing.
I know someone from the Holy Mountain who when it rained if you told him it rained he said: ` `Yes it is always raining. We are going to be rotten away.` If the rain stopped and you said: `It didn’t rain that much` he started all over again: `But could you call that rain? The land will get dry.`
And you cannot say he is insane. He simply got used to complain. To be a sane man and think so foolishly!
Lamentations draw curse. It is as if the man would curse himself and after that would come the curse from God. In Epirus I knew two peasants. One of them had a family and had two plots of land but he always entrusted everything to God. He worked us much as he could without worrying. `I’ll do only as much as I can.` he said. Sometimes a part of the wheat sheaves were left in the field and rotted away because of the rain because he couldn’t gather them all and some others were blown away by the wind. But for everything happened he said: `Glory to You, God!` and everything went well for him. The other one had many lands, cows, etc and had no children but if you had asked him: `How is everything going?` he answered: `Leave me alone, don’t as me!` He never said: `Glory to God` but always complained. And sometimes one of his cows died or he suffered other damages. He had everything but had no avail.
That is why they say that doxology is something great. It depends on us to taste the blessings given by God. But how to taste them if for example when God gives us bananas we think what good food a certain rich man eats? How many people eat only dry bread and they glorify God day and night and they are fed with divine sweetness! These people acquire a spiritual sensitivity and come to know the comforts given by God. But we don’t understand these because out heart hardened and nothing satisfies us anymore. We don’t understand that we find happiness in what is eternal not in what is futile.
Pious Paisios the Athonite
