We strive to share our faith joyfully at Busted Halo ministries, and Father Dave welcomes speaker and author Melissa Overmyer to discuss ways to embrace God’s joy. Melissa is the founder of Something Greater Ministries and the author of “Living the Blessed Life: Seven Keys to Trusting God and Embracing Joy.”
Melissa explains how these seven habits originated in tragedy, “My family and I had an arsonist break into our home and destroy it…we lost everything in the whole house,” she begins. “After we started rebuilding, I really wanted to not have my heart, mind, and focus keep going back to the tragedy. I was like, Lord, how do we move forward? He gave me the word ‘BLESSED’ and with that, seven daily habits for happiness.”
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BLESSED is an acronym with each letter standing for a different habit: Beauty, Laughter, Encounter, Song, Silence, Engaging with family, and living a Distinct and holy life. Melissa continues, “[These tenets] line up with Scripture, but they also [are supported by] the latest, modern-day research on happiness. It aligns perfectly with the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which is the longest study on human flourishing.”
They discuss the layered meaning of the word “blessed.” “In ancient Greek, the word ‘blessed’, or makarios, is the word ‘happy.’ It means God’s extended favor. What’s amazing is in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes that word and turns it on its head,” Melissa says, “At that time you would never describe someone who was down and out in a physical way as blessed. That was to describe kings, queens, the rich, and famous. But Jesus basically says no: blessed are the poor in spirit.”
“To me, that means your blessedness or happiness does not depend on your physical circumstances,” she continues. “That is something that the Lord really showed me through the fire and loss, and that’s why the seven habits for happiness that I propose are about choosing happiness in spite of what your physical circumstances might be. It’s trusting God more and knowing that he will cause all things to work together for good for those who love him.”
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They discuss some of the specific habits, including how Melissa has practiced silence since her conversion to Catholicism. “The tools of asceticism are something I’d never practiced. I’m from Texas, and bigger is absolutely better,” she says. “Asceticism in ancient Greek means ‘training’; it’s like a gymnasium for your soul…You’re going to have fasts in life, and the fast of your choosing will help you to be prepared for the fasts not of your choosing.”
Melissa reflects, “If you can take time every day for silence, detachment, and fasting,, you already have the spiritual muscles when the heavier lifts come along. By God’s grace, he will enable you to do the heavier lifting.”
