A Complaint-Free World Ann Spangler Ann Spangler is an award-winning writer and speaker.
The opposite of gratitude is complaint. Habitual complaining creates a negative environment in which it is difficult to experience God s peace. Several years ago pastor Will Bowen challenged his congregation in Kansas City, Missouri, to wear purple bracelets as a way of monitoring their efforts to eliminate the habit of complaining from their lives. Since then, his organization, A Complaint Free World, has distributed nearly six million of these bracelets to people worldwide. Bowen challenges people to break their habit of complaining by placing a bracelet on their wrist. Every time they complain, they are to switch the bracelet to the other wrist. The goal is to go for twenty-one days without needing to switch the bracelet. It s gimmicky, but several people attested to the effectiveness of this simple idea.