By Chris WittsFriday 10 May 2024Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
The actress Brooke Shields has been known for her acting ability, success and beauty. We may not think that she has had to deal with sadness like everybody else. But here is a quote that might surprise you from Brooke Shields. And she said – ‘my father’s death, my move and my frightening and difficult delivery created a tremendous amount of stress, pain and sadness for me. I was practically devastated, beyond recovery.‘
I guess there are lots of other people who would say things like that. But the level of sadness was particularly interesting.
Feeling sad for no reason is a common experience for many people, but it can be difficult to understand. Why is this happening? Why do I feel so sad? We all feel sad sometimes when we say goodbye to a loved one, perhaps moving overseas, we’ll feel sad. And the sadness is even deeper if a close relationship has ended or a loved one has died. Sadness, then, is a human emotion.
The reality of sadness
But feeling low or down and out all the time is a sign that there’s something off with your emotional well being. Feeling sad does not necessarily mean you’re depressed. Sadness is a common human response to all kinds of things that happen in life – a disappointment, perhaps in your career, or seeing a heartbreak news story. But if you’re feeling sad most of the time, it could be a sign that you’re depressed or you’re not taking care of your health. You’re not sleeping enough. Sleeping too little is just as bad as sleeping too much. And that can cause problems leading to feelings of sadness. Or it could simply be that you’re not getting enough sunlight.
The experts say that if you are sad, you should allow yourself to be sad. If you force those feelings underground as it were, they can do more damage over time. CS Lewis, who wrote Chronicles of Narnia, described his own painful experience of grief after the death of his wife. In his book, A Grief Observed, he said, ‘There is nothing we can do with suffering except to suffer it.’
And he described grief as the monotonous treadmill march of the mind around one subject. So being sad is OK. There’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, in God’s overall plan for our lives he can take the sad moments and do a new work in us. In the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes 3, we read to everything under heaven, there is a season, a time to be born, a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh.
When we go through sorrowful times, we learn how kind people can be in the awful times of life. It can show us how wonderful the good times really are. I mean that the sad times make us truly grateful for the blessings of life, the fact that when things go well, it’s possible for us to live on the surface of things. But when sorrow comes, we begin to truly understand the important things.
Indeed, the precious things and the deep things of life. Pain teaches us principles that we would never learn from pleasure, one poet said. “I walked a mile with pleasure. She chatted all the way, but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow and never a word, said she. But oh, the things I learned from her when sorrow walked with me.” the Bible says in Psalm 34:18, The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
In fact, Psalm 56:8 says that God collects every tear we shed – Oh God, you number my wanderings and you put my tears in a bottle. How wonderful to know that we have a God who truly knows that we have sad times and he comes to us with refreshment and healing when sadness and despondency feel like they’re going to take us under.
That’s when we need a fresh reminder of who God is, that he’s with us. He will take care of us. Our experience can be like David, who in Psalm 40 declared – I waited patiently for the Lord and he turned to me and he heard my cry for help. He brought me up, out from a desolate pit out of a muddy clay and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. How happy is anyone who has put his trust in the Lord.
Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, today we acknowledge that we do feel from time to time, a sense of sadness, even depression, that life is not all about feelings. You are a constant presence, and you can help us to find our way through the maze of life. Whatever comes our way. Amen.