TUESDAY OF THE THIRTY-FIRST WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
All Souls Day

Dear Beloved:

Yesterday I randomly took a book off my bookshelf to browse. I found an old newspaper clipping tucked among the pages. It was the Protestant publication, Pulpit Helps, for December 1982. The clipping itself was a little article from the Abingdon Disciple, called How to Be Unhappy:

HOW TO BE UNHAPPY ONE NEED ONLY.....

1. Develop a negative attitude. A negative attitude is a great guarantee of misery. The negative attitude of the people of Israel was revealed in the early chapters of Genesis when Moses led them out of Egypt. Their negative attitudes were demonstrated in the crisis of the Red Sea, their food, their water, and their meat. Every time we sow negatives, we reap a harvest of negatives.

2. Develop the "I" personality. How many times do we use "I" in a two-minute conversation? If more than once, we must watch out for this personality flaw!

"Not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal 2:20b). When we constantly do nothing but think about ourselves, what we are going to do, what fun we are going to have, etc., we are preparing for unhappiness.

3. Develop an unforgiving spirit. The Bible says, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Eph 4:32). We are to forgive not once, nor twice, but an infinite number of times. An unforgiving heart guarantees unhappiness.

4. Gossip about other people. A gossiping person is a very insecure person. Puritan Christians in early America tarred and feathered the town gossips. The Bible is not silent in this area.

Actually, happiness is something which we receive as a by-product of what we're doing with our lives. by kicking the addiction of a negative attitude, the "I" personality, an unforgiving spirit and gossip habit, and remembering we, who have been "born again" are a "new creation", the Holy Spirit will lead us into new relationships which are divine. Happiness is the by-product of doing what God suggests we ought to do.

Your miserable servant,
Brother Bubba

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