Be Happy - Choose Joy

With the news channels reporting non-stop tragedies, scandals, and woes of one type or another, it’s easy to allow ourselves to become disgruntled and despondent. But we have to fight against that urge. Not only is it a form of spiritual suicide to wallow in such feelings, but it is exactly what our enemy wants.

Catholic blogger and author Michael H. Brown posted this message recently on his website Spirit Daily. It bears repeating:

For Satan is a supreme liar, and will whisper into your ears discouragement, disparagement, false notion, umbrage, anger, false memory, exaggeration. He can also make you hear something other than what a person is saying. 

As far as anxiety, that’s a form of fear. The devil makes you dread for the future, for your job, for your health, and for your family; and especially he wants you to fear him. He wants you afraid because his minions are parasites; they use fear to energize and materialize their disembodied existence; they revel in and feed off anxiety, anger, and fear.

This doesn't mean we have to go around with smiles pasted on our faces at all times. I know this would be hard for me, given my personality.

But we can at least be mindful that choosing gloom and doom isn’t what God wants for us. We have a choice. We can choose to walk out from under the black cloud and into His light. We can choose to be what we are called to be: joyful children of God.