So many weights, pulling me down.
Another ugly custody situation over Nick. Brian's continuing disability and lack of closure on the legal end. Levi's almost-diagnosis and many therapies starting. The regular difficulties of parenting and homeschooling. My semester winding down and lots of big projects, papers, and presentations coming due.
These are the current waves in my life, and if I look at any one of them for too long, I am overwhelmed and discouraged. If I look at them all at once for any length of time, it is easy to be overcome by a depression that no medicine can treat.
The Bible has many examples of people who have been in similar situations. Not the same details, but this plight is common to man for as long as man has existed. The problems of life can suck the joy of life right out of our souls. IF we let them.
The remedy to this joy-sucking is giving thanks! In order to even begin giving thanks, we have to take our eyes off the troubles and the pain of life. In order to be thankful, we have to set aside our misery and complaints, the things that make us grumble and complain.
What feels better? Whining and grumbling does for a time, because we feel we are justified in feeling and voicing these negative things. But when we make the choice to be thankful, we find that this has the power to raise our emotions above our circumstances. Seeing the good things in life and focusing on those things can lift the darkest of depression.
So...this is the first day of a new month, a month that culminates in the American holiday of Thanksgiving. Let's focus on making this a month of truly giving thanks this month, on seeing the good that even our trials have brought to our lives. Let's eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day, and be thankful all month long! Are you up to the challenge?
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