Grumpy But Helpful! - that's GBH in short

This concerns a father who was asked one day by his son: “Why are you so grumpy nowadays, dad?”

Unfortunately, his wife was sitting there listening intently, as usual. She would have many theories to put forward, I’m sure! “Me, grumpy? Am I really?” I began to think about it.

Advancing age doesn’t help but gives more opportunities to be grumpy. Looking in the bathroom mirror doesn’t help either, grey hair, or not much to bother about, and wrinkles and a bit of a sag.

A foreign study states that you must show aggression if you want preferment and it helps to be curt and unpleasant.

But do I want to be curt and unpleasant? Nevertheless, other people can be very irritating.

Now I cannot change these other things but can I change me? So I came up with this idea to promote the idea of being Grumpy But Helpful or GBH for short.

No bad temper, no complaining, no condemnation of the youth of today but learning to be calm, pleasant, unfailingly polite, smiling and helpful!

Some people say that the best way to deal with anger is to let it out, but I prefer my friend’s idea “Don’t vent your rage like steam from a pressure cooker, just turn off the heat”.

One day I visited a relative and I had hardly got inside the door when a neighbour rushed in and said your car is about to get a parking ticket, so I went out calmly and apologised to the traffic warden but told her I had only just arrived and not noticed the sign and again smiled apologetically.

She looked at me sternly and tore up the ticket and told me to move my car fast. I thanked her, smiled and obeyed.

Jesus always listened to people and he still listens to us now with patience and understanding and there can be no better example to follow. So enjoy a little grumpiness but be unfailingly helpful.