Wednesday, August 9, 2017

DEPRESSION


Matthew 5:1-10
 
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
 
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
 
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
 
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
 
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
 
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
 
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

             Let me word it this way - blessed are they who are well adjusted…unburdened by excessive negativity…able to focus on sunshine rather than shadows…brightness rather than darkness…beauty rather than ugliness… love rather than hate…patience rather than anger.  Negativity does not just steal time, it warps it.  Of course, no one is always happy, but some are a great deal more unhappy, and unhappier for longer periods of time, than they have to be.
 
Now I am not going to tell you that these writings will solve all your problems for you.  That would be ridiculous.

Nor can I guarantee to give you a permanent happy face.  But I will offer some ideas, that if you practice even just one of them, you will be the better off for it and so will everyone who lives with you.

Go home today and pull out one or more of your baby pictures.  Look at that innocent, wide-eyed face, the you in your beginning who was so excited about everything you saw and were experiencing.  And then really consider,  “Has the world become less interesting or have I become less interested?”

Pray often each day, “Lord, give me back the eyes of a child.  Send me in search of that which will save me from being a cynic. 

Don’t let me take all the fun out of a magic show, or go to a circus and find I can no longer laugh when all those little people keep pouring out of that little car.

 Let me still be enthralled when the lion tamer puts his head in the lion’s mouth. 

Or filled with wonderment by the moon that keeps steadily moving across the sky. 

Give me back who I was before I left Middle School and picked up being blasé in High School. 

Let me feel free to sing in the shower, even if the shower is from heaven and I am walking down the street.  Let me find joy that once I found from just wiggling my toes in the mud.  Let me…”

I remember when I was a little boy and I found out that trees weren’t just for looking at, but also for climbing.  For the rest of my boyhood, I spent more time up in the air than on the ground.  And I was so excited.  You just can’t be depressed when you are being Tarzan swinging through the trees.

Then, while I was still very young, I learned that those strange marks on pieces of paper were letters, and that if I learned to interpret them, I could do what Mom and Dad called reading.  And when I read, in my imagination I could be a cowboy or a king, or go to strange and wonderful places, and I filled my mind with imaginative thoughts and it was exciting.  
 
Who can feel bad, child or adult, when a good book is massaging their brain?  And as I had this thought, I remembered just reading that less than 50% of the people in this country these days read anything.  Now, that’s depressing. 

If I asked, I don’t know what you would tell me still gets you excited.  But there is so much happening in this old world to grab your attention: art and music, baseball, the upcoming Dolphin and Miami Hurricane football games.  And have you been watching the Olympics? 

Oh, the list of all the things God offers us to get excited about is endless.  But if your answer is nothing, that you find nothing that really excites you, then go looking, please…because if you don’t, depression has already come looking for you. 

When down days, bad hair days come and I don’t feel like myself days come attack them in all the ways you can.  Maybe even with a few silly thoughts.  Such as:

1)  popping some popcorn without a lid on or

2)  making a list of things to do you’ve already done or

3)  reading the dictionary upside down and then looking for hidden meanings or

4)  making up a new language and then using it to ask for directions.
 
This kind of thing isn’t a solution.  It’s really only a band-aide, but band-aides have their place too in the healing of wounds.  Well, actually you probably won’t do any of them, but perhaps you got a laugh at just the suggestions, and laughter is a healer. But sometimes, if you actually force yourself to do something ridiculous it may help a little.

Christianity by Reflex…new series began
on Wyrick’s Writings..and will continue each week until finished.
CLICK BELOW TO GO TO NEIL’S OTHER BLOG
 

 
Some recent topic titles on his other blog, Whrick’s Writings are:ONE LOG ON A FIRE, TWO JOLLY GREEN GIANTS; LOVE AND FORGIVENESS, WISDOM IS.WHAT IS HAPPY,60 PLUS AND NOT HOLDING
 
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL
 
 
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A  Quote FROM Rev. Wyrick’s 9TH BOOK “THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN”

One day the second child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln would become the President of what many have called, and continue to call, the Promised Land.  However, anyone voicing such a thought on the day of his birth, the twelfth of February 1809, would have been laughed at and told by any backwoods listener that he didn’t have a possum’s chance.  Picture this future president growing up dirt poor with a shirt made of bear skins, a coonskin hat and dreams of something better than what was offered.  The one-room notched log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky certainly wasn’t much of a springboard for success.

 
Visit Magnus Press to order this book or some of their other unusual and inspiring books.
 
CLICK ON THE URL BELOW

 
DO YOU HAVE A SUBJECT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE NEIL WRITE ON; EXAMPLES: COURAGE, LOVE, DETERMINATION, ETC.  JUST GO TO THE BOTTOM AND CLICK ON COMMENT AND SEND US YOUR IDEA.

To view his One Man Dramas on film (see by millions, live and on film and on video)(Martin Luther, Ben Franklin, Charles Wesley, Abraham Lincoln)


CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING
 
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To access info his other book’s and get some great used book prices, go to Amazon.com (books) and type in Neil Wyrick.

 BOUNDARIES UNLIMITED, RUST ON MY SOUL, POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC, I AM SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING, THE ABC’S OF PARENTING AND GRANDPARENTING, LETTERS TO AMERICA…
         
V. Neil Wyrick’s ninth book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN and is available at MAGNUS PRESS. (For some unusual books visit their Web Site)

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM’S Kindle

To visit their Web Page click on the URL below
 

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