When I was growing up, we had two magic words in our house. Neither one was abracadabra. Nope, in our home, the magic words were please and thank-you.

Grumbling was not allowed. Gratitude was encouraged. If we didn’t appreciate what we had, it was taken away for a time. As the old saying goes, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” We weren’t given the option of developing an entitlement mentality.

Grumbling and complaining can be infectious…and disastrous. Exodus 17:3 (ESV) tells us, “and the people grumbled.” First Corinthians 10:10 (NIV) reminds us of the consequences of that grumbling: “And do not grumble, as some of them did–and were killed by the destroying angel.”

Now, a destroying angel probably won’t wipe out your children if they fail to develop an attitude of gratitude. But they will go through life unhappy, always wanting and never satisfied.

Perhaps this poem says it best:

THE STORY OF GRUMBLE TONE

There was a boy named Grumble Tone, who ran away to sea.
“I’m sick of things on land,” he said, “as sick as I can be,
A life upon the bounding wave is just the life for me!”
But the seething ocean billows failed to stimulate his mirth,
For he did not like the vessel or the dizzy rolling berth,
And he thought the sea was almost as unpleasant as the earth.

He wandered into foreign lands, he saw each wondrous sight,
But nothing that he heard or saw seemed just exactly right,
And so he journeyed on and on, still seeking for delight.
He talked with kings and ladies grand; he dined in courts, they say,
But always found the people dull and longed to get away
To search for that mysterious land where he should want to stay.

He wandered over all the world, his hair grew white as snow,
He reached that final bourne at last where all of us must go,
But never found the land he sought; the reason would you know?
The reason was that north or south, where’er his steps were bent,
On land or sea, in court or hall, he found but discontent,
For he took his disposition with him, everywhere he went.*

*The Beautiful Land of Nod by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Chicago: Morrill, Higgins & Co. [1892]

Please and thank-you. They’re still magic words.