Monday, April 27, 2009

Happiness

Pastor has been talking recently about how we find no true joy and peace and happiness when we're looking for it, but only when we sacrifice of ourselves for others. He says this is because we are made in God's image, and what God does is love. He gives. He loves. He sacrifices. He puts our good ahead of His own comfort, as seen most clearly in the cross. This is what humanity was meant to be.

Having spent the weekend with people that I dearly love, and feeling a little sad about the weekend coming to an end, and wondering how Dad's medical tests are going to turn out this week, and wishing I could be there to help with the lawn and the house and stuff like that, ...

it crosses my mind that depression and other mental illnesses have increased in this country as we have become more mobile and people have moved away from home, away from the family ties that most people have known through most of history, away from the people to whom we should be joined and for whom we might be "doing" and giving.

2 comments:

  1. And then there are those of us who do better emotionally when we are far removed from some elements of our dysfunctional family. :-(

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  2. I know, Cheryl. I am happy to see my family because they're great folks, but there are other people who struggle with their families. I have different areas of life where I struggle. But I guess the thing I noticed is the correlation between our society's mobility (lack of connectedness) and the increase in depression.

    While we may get a rest or break from whatever-the-trouble-was, and while that may be necessary, it seems that long-term it may be better to learn to deal with the dysfunction, even when it means loving those who are supremely unworthy of our love and kindness. The stickler comes with the realization that we cannot love as Christ loved. And yet, that drives us all the more to depend upon Him.

    (And before somebody hollers that I'm advocating some sort of Protestant "buck up and trust better and love-your-neighbor better" as a way to miraculously cure yourself spiritually, then such a person needs to take a deep breath and reconsider the theology of the cross and what Lutherans believe.)

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