Depression is a difficult condition and a tough subject. I will not attempt to speak of clinical aspects of depression, but only to the significance of the absence of SPIRITSLAUGHING, which may give us a clue about depression. There is no way to know if you clicked on the topic of depression because that is where you hurt the most. You may not even know why yourself. That’s okay for now.
We are thinking here about our SPIRITSLAUGHING more than about clinical depression. When one’s spirit seldom laughs, or has totally quit laughing, it is a serious matter. One must dare to ask, “Could depression be the cause?”
Rosalie and I faced terrible depression because of her broken arm. Her orthopedist said it was one of the worst breaks he had ever seen. Insertion of a rod and two screws were required. During the first month there was little humor because we were so depressed. As she began to recover, we remembered lots of funny things that had happened while our ceiling was so low, but our depression kept us from awareness of the humor that had occurred.
In my bouts with depression, I found that it slipped up on my blind side, and I was unaware of its presence for a long time. All I knew was that things were not right. A cloud hovered nearby much of the time, and my joy was scarce and shallow. I was tired most of the time. I didn’t laugh as often as before. I was so deep into depression I was surprised when my doctor mentioned it.
Check to see if your spirit is laughing. If not—or if you wonder about whether it is—check it out! As a first step, see your doc and do whatever you need to do.
Remember, our goal is “SPIRITSLAUGHING.” Anything that interferes with that needs our attention.
But wouldn’t you know, the word depression does not appear in the Bible. Oprah is probably right when she says that gratitude is an antidote to depression. The word gratitude is not in the Bible, either. But thanksgiving is the same as gratitude, and it is there 23 times—too many to cite here. I will just include a first-rate definition of thanksgiving from my concordance: “An acknowledging and confessing with gladness, the benefits and mercies which God bestows either upon ourselves or others.” Thanksgiving is a pretty good antidote to depression; Thanksgiving—”being thankful for all sorts of things, stuff, and reasons.” We have lots of each of those to be thankful for. Being thankful just might help with depression. It’s worth a try! We have nothing to lose but depression, itself.
OUR NEXT POST WILL BE ON PUT-DOWN!
