A friend of mine recently asked me, "Why do I keep feeling this way???" The question was asked out of a moment of loneliness and depression which I understand all too well. Most would think that at this critical moment of my life I should be asking the same question. My response to my friend was short and maybe a little bit calloused, but I believe it was truth.
"You keep feeling this way because you're letting yourself feel this way. Do something to distract yourself. Go out, read a book, journal," was my sharp tongued response.
If you don't know me very well, let me give you a piece of my personality in a short description from my closest friends. My girlfriends and I decided a while back that we would give each other "friend job descriptions". It was the general consensus among the group that I would not be the friend that you would go to when seeking sympathy, someone to wallow in misery with, or someone to rock with you in the corner singing "it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be OK". I'm the friend that you come to when you've hit rock bottom and need a good swift kick in the you-know-what to get out of the wallow pit and move on. Now, that's not to say that I don't love you, that I'm unsympathetic, and as calloused as it all sounds. I'm just a "fixer" by nature and if something's broken I don't want to talk about the brokenness or how badly the brokenness sucks, I want to make it unbroken – or buy you something new and shiny to make you not care that the broken thing is broken beyond repair.
Life's really going to suck sometimes. If you haven't realized this by now, we need to have a chat so I can figure out what it is that you are smoking and get some of it. But when you're in the pit of despair (insert The Princess Bride voice of the Albino here) remember that you and God above are your only ticket out of that pit.
The letter to the Colossians says to "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth". The letter to the Philippians goes on to tell us "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things…. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Granted, these passages of scripture I'm sure could be exegeted out to mean something entirely different than the point I'm trying to make here. (I'm sorry to my Veritas scholar friend, as I am sure the word "exegeted" doesn't actually exist.) Anyhow, I think that these truths were recorded to remind us that God has given us all the tools that we need to be in control of our emotions, our bodies and our minds.
Sometimes we need a little push in the right direction. I'm all in favor of "happy pills" (see previous blog), counselors, friends, psychotherapists, and obviously blogging out all your feelings to the cyber-world. But when it comes down to it at the end of the day… you and only you are responsible for how life has effected your day.
It is now time for my happy pill and a hot bubble bath. Goodnight friends!
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