Dealing With Discouragement

"Oh give me a home where the buffalo rome and the deer and the antelope play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word."  What would life be like if we never heard a discouraging word, had a discouraging thought, or experienced discouraging circumstances?  Better I suspect.

So where does discouragement come from?  First of all, we have chronic complainers and critics.  These poor souls never seem to realize that their glass-half-empty outlook on life can have detrimental effects on people around them.  So they engage in the very fun activity (fun for them, at least) of second guessing all decisions, picking apart any plans, and general griping of all kinds.  Sometimes their concerns are legitimate and need to be voiced, but many times they are little more than petty soapbox issues which divert precious energy from legitimately important concerns.

A second source of discouragement comes not from people, but from circumstances.  And just like discouraging people, discouraging circumstances grow in all kinds of soil.  These can be related to our health, our employment, our family, our ministry, or anything in between.  These circumstances can often congregate together, making them almost overwhelming, and again zapping us of valuable energy.

The third source of discouragement comes not from people, or circumstances, but from one's self.  That's right.  Sometimes we are our own worst enemy when it comes to discouragement, as we can fail to be thankful for all God has blessed us with and begin to focus on all we don't have and all we haven't accomplished.  

And worse yet, some of us have tape recorders in our heads that replays every negative and critical thing that's ever been said to us, and it reminds us of every disadvantageous circumstance we've learned to live with.  And every time we have an opportunity to take some spiritual ground back from the enemy, he rewinds the tape recorder and replays everything, and we become discouraged.

So now how about some practical advice for avoiding discouragement.  First of all, limit your exposure (if possible) to the chronic complainers and critics.  If you surround yourself with glass-half-empty people, you'll end up feeling like a half-empty life.  Secondly, try to see God's sovereignty using the circumstances of life to do some work on your character.  If you fail to see God at work, then life just becomes one big unfair discouraging mess.  Thirdly, intentionally focus on all of which God has blessed you, and see God as the true source of those blessings.  And for crying out loud, stop comparing your life to the lives of your siblings, friends, or anyone else.  Be thankful for the life God has given you, and see it as your opportunity to spend yourself to make a difference in the lives of those around you.

And then lastly, and most importantly, smash the tape recorder of the past.  Take it and drop it off a cliff and watch it crash on the rocks below.  Paul said in Philippians 3:13, "But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead."  Stop being shackled to the discouragement of your past, and let today be the beginning of the very best God desires for you.