Cellar Dwellers!

It’s the season of zombies, vampires, werewolves, and demented clowns. But do you know what tops them all? What is so frightening it scares the crust off a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Cellar Dwellers.
YES! CELLAR DWELLERS!!!!
“What are they,” you ask.
Those wretched humans who’ve taken up residence in the land of the negative. For every event in life, they can only see the tiny black cloud behind the beautiful rainbow.
Frightening. Isn’t it?
Cellar Dwelling is an attitude that drags you down to death. Negative thoughts become the center of your universe. You wake in the morning, thinking of the terrible day you are going to have. You discuss negatives with your friends. That is, while you have friends. Cellar Dwellers tend to suck the life out of friendship. You even dwell on them while watching reruns of I Love Lucy.
Before you know it, you’re sinking further and further without realizing it’s happening.
One day you awaken to the horrible realization-
YOU’VE BECOME A DREADED CELLAR DWELLER.

EEEEK!!!!!
I have a painful confession to make. I’ve spent time in the lower regions of despair, to the point where I’ve had trouble seeing the light.
But there’s hope! A solution. It’s found in the Bible.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Rejoice always.”
Two simple words. Words that I hate. Or at least, I used to hate. Especially when I dwelt in the cellar of my mind.
“REJOICE ALWAYS.”
Lord . . . Really? Rejoice always? With all the terrible stuff going on around me? You’ve got to be kidding!
But you know what? He isn’t. He understands the broken, negative world we live in, and He doesn’t want Christians to get sucked into this abyss.
He also knows that rejoicing is a mental discipline we must develop. Whether we dwell on the positive or the negative is a habit. And so we need to develop the rejoicing habit.
Let’s face it, you don’t have to be reminded to do things you remember to do . . . like breathing. In an ice cream shop, no one has to say to you, “Don’t forget to eat the ice cream.” No. But humans have a tendency to move towards the negative.
We must be reminded, “REJOICE.”
Friends, if you fear you are turning into a dreaded Cellar Dweller, here’s my advice. Set the alarm on you phone. Maybe set it for 9 am, noon, 3 pm, and 7 pm. Or for whatever times you want. When the alarm goes off, think of something to rejoice about. “Thank you, Lord, for an alarm on my cell phone.” “Thank you, Lord, for . . .” You fill in the blank.
Get in the habit. Do this for a week. At first, you might have trouble thinking of things to rejoice about. But maybe that’s because you don’t see the great things around you. Maybe you’ve been sinking into the deep, dark, pit of despair of CELLAR DWELLERS!!! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Break the bad habit. Develop a good one.
Rejoice. God is great, and greatly to be praised!