Discouragement - The Devil's Most 'used' Instrument

Sometimes in life, we tend to forget what we have and get discouraged by some puny incident. Yesterday I had one of those days. I let my guard down and let my emotions get the better of me. What now seems trivial was not the case before. A biting remark directed at me with much disdain hit its target! For the rest of the day I wallowed in self pity and cried non stop until my eyes were all swollen I could barely open them, let alone see with them.

In an instant, this one happy woman who usually walks with a happy lilt was transformed into a stooped, lonely, self deprecating hag; the direct antithesis of whom I want to be! Change can indeed happen in an instant BUT ONLY if we let it.

The rays of the morning sun greeted me from the windows of my bedroom this morning and snapped me back to reality. What am I doing? This is not the first time someone spoke ill of me; in fact, I have been in this situation more than once in my life! I guess I could say I am no stranger to the pit falls of quarrels and petty jealousies in life. A favorite story came to mind, one that my grandmother loved to tell me years ago. I can still hear her gentle voice as she narrated this tale which never ceases to penetrate the very essence of my being.

"It was advertised that the devil was going to put his tools up for sale. On the date of the sale, the tools were placed for public inspection; each tool being marked with its sale price.They were a treacherous lot of implements.

Hatred, Envy, Jealousy, Deceit, Lying, Pride, and so on. Laid apart from the rest was a harmless looking tool that appeared to have been heavily used, and was priced very high.

"What is the name of this tool?" asked one of the purchasers, pointing to it.

"That is Discouragement," replied the devil.

"Why have you priced it so high?"

"Because it is more useful to me than all the others. I can pry open and get inside people's hearts with that when I cannot get near them with my other tools. Once I get inside, I can make them do what I choose. It is badly worn because I use it on almost everyone, since very few people know that it belongs to me."

Brrr. Incredibly scary isn't it? So to any one who needs one, a piece of advice from one happy woman who almost got derailed by discouragement, the devil's most used instrument. Don't let trivial matters get you down. Let's face it, discouragement happens, bumps in the road happen, circumstances change and life can throw you a curve ball from time to time. But so what? You control the steering wheel as you drive down life's highway and no force is too big to keep you from cruising the road to happiness. Just keep your eyes on the road and rock on!