By: Debbie Christopher ~~I first became aware of the term ‘humble brag’ a few years ago when it was a repeated point of conversation on a TV show. I admit, I must have missed out on this genre of language growing up, because it was all new to me. My husband helped me understand the purpose behind a humble brag, and I was intrigued by the process.
I spent the next few weeks honing my newly developed language skill, and I knew I had fully grasped the concept when I posted this to my friends in Missouri (in February) while visiting my parents in Florida: "My hair is a mess because I had to drive to the store with the windows down at 10 AM."
Yep, that was my prize humble brag!
Well, fast track several years to the statement I read on social media a few days ago. I’m not sure who to credit for this…but it wasn’t me. Consider this:
“A prayer without thankfulness is nothing more than a complaint to God.”
I had to chew on that for a while, and when it sunk in I said, “Wow! That’s kind of like a humble brag in reverse!”
Think about it. When we ask God for things without considering His plan or purpose and/or without thanksgiving for what we have, aren’t we actually saying, “God, I’m not satisfied with my situation, so please do something about it!”?
No doubt, I’m sure there are times when our prayers are ‘hidden’ complaints…just like our blessings are ‘hidden’ brags in a humble brag! The thing lacking in both of these is thankfulness.
In our ‘Prideful Prayer’—a pretty good name for it, don’t you think?—- thankfulness is obviously lacking. When we add the thankfulness aspect to our prayer, it eases our secret desire to complain about our circumstances…our bumpy road.
And…
Even though most of our humble brags are in jest—-as was my Florida humble brag post 8-9 years ago—-let’s not forget to give God the credit…the glory…and thank Him for that special blessing we secretly want to brag about.
Here’s the perfect verse to remind us to include thanksgiving in all of our prayers:
“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:6 ESV
As our mommas always said, “Did you say thank you?”
Not bragging...not complaining...but being thankful---
~Debbie
The thankful piece can be easily forgotten sometimes! 🙃