Entertaining the Thieves

how would you react if you learned that your neighbor's house was ravaged by thieves, and instead of them driving the thieves away, they have welcomed them, entertained them and worst, fed them! they were robbed off of their wealth, and yet they even displayed the unbelievable stockholm syndrome. the thieves left, and a few days after, they kept coming back to your neighbor's house and robbed them more. and when they found nothing else to amass, they went to others' houses... and on to yours!!! how would you react? would you treat them the same???

i am sure that your reaction is an adamant "NO! they are thieves!!!" i am sure you would be preparing to fight them with all your might to safeguard your wealth. i am sure you would have been prepared to ask for help and plan your action. i am sure you would have faced the thieves with fierce anger and no amount of compromise will happen!!! this is how we will react when we are talking about physical wealth e.g money, house, car, furnitures, jewelries, etc...

but do you know that we are like the neighbor in so many ways? we welcome the thieves named 'negative discontent' or in escalated level 'covetousness' and let him rob off our wealth named 'happiness'? and they do not even deceive us by coming as wolves in sheeps' clothing. they present themselves to us as they are-- thieves in all its form and 'glory'! and that thief is such a parasite and we have been such willing hosts, willing victims, to the point that we even indulge in it! oh yes, we love rambling about our discontents in life! we keep entertaining the thoughts! we feed them by giving in to them, and inviting their close kins such as regret, sadness, envy and worst, covetousness. and we let all of them stay in our hearts until we ran out of happy thoughts!

i am not trying to be philosophical here, but sadly, this is the reality, the trap that many of us are falling into deeper everyday, which if we do not stop, will keep on stealing our happiness away... until we have no more to give... and as they say, if we lose money, we can easily regain it; but if we lose our happiness, no one can say the extent of salvaging methods we have to perform!

i want to share some of the anti-thief tactics that i found useful in my life:

1. "always remember that the thief is an enemy". never confuse it with friends. stop welcoming it, stop entertaining it, stop feeding it! Deut 20:4 "For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."

2. "it's all a matter of perspective". it's either half-full or half-empty. i choose to cultivate the half-full perspective! be slow to complaint and quick to thanksgiving. God's blessing is being showered on us every minute, everywhere, even at the most seemingly dark providence! Deut 6:12 "be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery"

3. "choose your company". if you surround yourself with perrenial complainers and you have such a weak resolve, it won't be surprising if you'd end up being one of them. Prov 24:1 "Do not envy wicked men, do not desire their company"

4. "cultivate only the positive discontent". it is opposed to lazy contentment which is not good in equal measure to negative discontent. it is not bad to graze at greener pastures, as long as you can manage and properly balance both reality and your expectations of yourself and your life.

5. "laugh a lot!" don't wallow in discontent and its close cousins. don't give an opportunity for these to enter your life by filling it up by its antidotes - a lot of laughter, positivism, and good contentment.

life is so short to be wasted and given away to these thieves! fight the first signs and sight of it, and live life to the fullest! ;) c'est la vie!