“My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.â€
(Psalms 25:15 ESV)
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Tag Archives: faith
Life (Good Friday meditation)
Three years ago Good Friday I seriously contemplated taking my own life. I’ve written about it before. Here is my post from last year.
My observation from this year is that I am struggling with negative thoughts. Good Friday truly is good. This is the gift of life that God gives to each one of us in the death of His Son. But for me, Good Friday is a reminder of arguably the worst days of my life. I don’t like the association that I have between Good Friday and those dark days and nights. How do I replace these negative memories with positive ones? I feel sometimes like negative memories are a mental cancer that eats away at me, that draws me back into the darkness. I don’t want them. No, I hate them. But I don’t know how to get them out of my head.
I feel like I need a mental reboot somehow. I want to erase these memories, overlay them with something brighter, think of God’s mercy and not my own weakness and failings. It will come. I believe it.
Despite all of my own struggles, I have a wonderful wife and family, a great congregation, and very very good friends. They keep me alive, and keep me going.
God’s peace be with you all this day.
-DMR
A Prayer for Time
Heavenly Father,
All of life is in your hands, and you order all things in a wonderful way so that your divine work may be done when and where you please it. Give me the time that you would have so that I may accomplish what you would have me do, to your glory and to the welfare of my neighbor. Forgive me for the time that I squander, and help me to realize that all of life is a gift from you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
-DMR
[FWIW, I started this post in August. That gives you some idea of how time flies…]
A Prayer for Time
Heavenly Father,
All of life is in your hands, and you order all things in a wonderful way so that your divine work may be done when and where you please it. Give me the time that you would have so that I may accomplish what you would have me do, to your glory and to the welfare of my neighbor. Forgive me for the time that I squander, and help me to realize that all of life is a gift from you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
-DMR
[FWIW, I started this post in August. That gives you some idea of how time flies…]
A Prayer for Time
Heavenly Father,
All of life is in your hands, and you order all things in a wonderful way so that your divine work may be done when and where you please it. Give me the time that you would have so that I may accomplish what you would have me do, to your glory and to the welfare of my neighbor. Forgive me for the time that I squander, and help me to realize that all of life is a gift from you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
-DMR
[FWIW, I started this post in August. That gives you some idea of how time flies…]
Suicide up among those in midlife
The NY Times just posted an article about the rather dramatic rise in suicide rates among those 45-54 years old. It went up 20 percent in men and 31 percent in women in that age group.
Suicide is an ongoing problem in our culture. We live in a world where the expectation of a perfect life is almost assumed. On top of that, the increase of medications and other factors has made suicide rates almost epidemic in the United States.
How is a Christian to handle this? Well, for starters, we do understand that suicide is a sin (5th commandment), but it is only a sin. Jesus died for even that. The notion of categorically condemning anyone who commits suicide is simple not in keeping with the Gospel.  Obviously some may commit suicide as the end of despair over the faith. Others may do so because the pain becomes overwhelming. For many, we never know the reasons for suicide.
I am saddened to hear of this trend, and will have to spend some time thinking about it. Why the rise in this age group? What has changed over the last decade in the United States that would warrant such a change?
God be merciful to us, as we remember those who have taken their own lives. I have considered the same in dark hours of the night. But God is merciful, and has spared me from that fate. May it be so for one and all.
-DMR
Lent and Depression
Lutherans often joke about how Lent is really their season. Self-denial, self-deprecation, and the like seems to go along well with some strands of Lutheranism, especially those of a more pietist strain. Self-denial, of course, is not pietism. But the way self-denial is practiced today more often resembles the pharisees and their inheritors, the pietists, than it does anything else. Continue reading Lent and Depression
Faith on the Dark Road
One of the most difficult things to recognize is the place of faith when it comes to mental illness. Many view mental illness (or really any illness, for that matter) as a question of faith. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard variations on the theme:
- “Trust that God will take care of you. You don’t need to feel this way.”
- “If you prayed more and spent more time in the Word, you would feel better.”
- “Depression is really a faith issue. If you had more faith, you would have a better outlook on life.”
- “How can you be anxious and nervous? Haven’t you ever read Philippians 4?”
The list could go on, but Continue reading Faith on the Dark Road