BLASTING THE BLUES

I was in a bad mood recently, and it wasn’t easy to pull out of it. I’m not a hugely emotional person; I don’t usually have trouble motivating myself to get moving, but this time I was having a rough go of it. In the midst of this, a friend of a friend won a Mercedes-Benz through some kind of lottery!

First thought: I was happy. So these things do happen to people within my somewhat extended world! Second thought: Where’s my Mercedes-Benz?

I wanted something like that to happen for me. It didn’t need to be a car; I’d be just as grateful to win cruise tickets, a tropical holiday—even free membership to a gym. I began checking my email each morning with a heart full of anticipation, but it seemed that all I ever got was a flood of promos trying to sell me things. Disappointed, I felt that surely I deserved a lot more happiness than what I was currently receiving.

My moment of clarity came as I was listening to a talk given by Joyce Meyer in which she said, “Stop giving everyone else the responsibility of making [you] happy. My life changed dramatically when I stopped giving someone else the responsibility to make me happy, and just decided I’m gonna be happy. I’m going to do things for me that make me happy. Not in an out-of-balance way; I do a lot of things for other people. I love to give; it’s one of my favorite things to do. I love to watch for what people need and try to meet those needs. But I found out that I was starting to get bitter and resentful. ‘Well, what about me? What about me? What about me?’ I sang that same old sad song for so long, I bet God was like, ‘Not again! Please, I don’t want to hear it!’ Today we are wiping out all excuses. If something needs to be done for you, and no one else is doing it, then do it yourself.”

I realized that I had been waiting for someone or some lucky event to come around and fix things for me and make me happy. But I needed to stop making my happiness, my contentment, my level of satisfaction and fulfillment, someone else’s job. The climb out of my slump began pretty much right after this change in my attitude, but it was still a process. Along the way, I found a few other pieces of advice. These ideas helped me, and you may also find them useful when you’re going through something similar:

1. Ask yourself: What can this day teach me?

2. Introduce one new thing into your day. It doesn’t have to be big.

3. Get outside.

4. Pray for others.

5. Be grateful.

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Galatians 6:4 ESV / But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.

2 Corinthians 10:12 ESV / Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV / And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.