Monday, April 29, 2013

O come all ye shaky

O, come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant we sing. That's Christianity, isn't it? We should all pack up our goodies and walk to Bethlehem, right?

Often I see those who are shaky, doubtful, depressed and losing their fight. They come wearing their Sunday best, but they come beaten down by life, beaten up by decisions and beaten badly by the world.

Author Tony Campolo writes, "Years ago, a student of mine tried to explain that he had been too depressed to study and asked to be excused from a scheduled exam. I blew him off, telling him to get over it. Only hours afterward, he jumped to his death from a high-rise apartment building. The young man left behind a suicide note telling his parents that he just couldn’t endure the sadness that had been torturing his soul.

"Never again would I take depression lightly" he writes. "In religious circles, depression is often deemed to be a spiritual condition that can be cured with  prayer. In many situations, those who suffer from depression are criticized for a lack of faith and told that if only they would yield to an infilling of the Holy Spirit, they would know “the joy of the Lord."

I think the thing most of us take for granted is this joy of the Lord stuff. And when it goes sideways in lives, which I've found happens far too often, we who aren't feeling that way at the time tend to simply dismiss it. "Their faith isn't strong enough," I've heard.

Poppycock. I've come across strong-faithed Christians who were down in the dumps. It simply happens. Why? I'm not at all qualified.

But I will say this. God loves us just as we are, and that just as we are oftentimes means those of us who face depression. Joy comes in the morning, but sometimes the nights are tough. God understands. God moves in our hearts. God loves.

And this too shall pass.

1 comment:

Kevin H. said...

That was short, simple, true and so very right.