Are you sad?
I have favorite passages I read over and over again. This one is from Pastor Jim...
My comments are in blue, no pun intended!
Are you sad?
This past week I attended a memorial service for families that lost loved ones in the past year. The time began with great somberness as we took in how many families had lost someone they loved during the past few months. This sadness changed in a few minutes as a pastor stood and began to share with us. With full respect for the reason we had gathered together, he shared his gift of love in a way that had us embracing life and even laughing at some very old jokes. The mood lifted and when it came time for us to leave you could see a change in the faces of most of the people, including mine.
What is sadness? Why does it penetrate so deeply? How can sadness be changed to joy or at least acceptance that allows one to move on? These thoughts have been pondering my mind since this experience, asking God to use this in some way to minister to you. That prayer continues as I release this article into writing.
Sadness is a mood that comes out of loss. Someone (or something) we dearly cherish is no longer available in our lives. It is one of those rare moments in life when we are face-to-face with reality and unable to ignore it.
I have several memories that bring on the mood of sadness. Loss of a childhood friend, my first dog Ernie, divorce and past behavior.
It is not a helpless time, or ought to not be. I believe that moods are mostly about choices. We can choose to be sad and we can choose to be happy - under the same circumstances. A verse that I find myself coming back to over and over again is found in Philippians 4:11-12 where Paul says that whatever circumstance he finds himself he has "learned" to be content. It does not come naturally but is a developed way of responding to the circumstances of life.
Phillippians 4:11-12 is one of my favorite verses. I pray daily about making choices, my attitude, casting aside my anxiety and fears, and how I respond to life.
The first action to take when you feel sad is to honor the sadness. To ignore or minimize it is an act of foolishness. The way to the other side of sadness is through it. The great news is that you are able to recognize sadness. The fact that you are recognizing it allows you to have choice. Honoring the sadness does not mean to allow it to consume you or to wallow in it like a hog. It means to admit that you are sad and honor the source of the sadness.
It wasn't until many years after the death of Ernie that I realized how much anger and sorrow I still had within me until I "honored the sadness."
Now you are in a moment of choice. You may "feel" like feeding the sadness or throwing a pity party. This is an example of how feelings can be misleading and actually cause us to linger longer in sadness than necessary.
In the moment of choice you can admit and honor the sadness and then open yourself to ways to think and move that do not feed the feeling. Frankly there are many times that one may want to stay in sadness. There may be good reason to spend a time in sadness if it is from grieving. However, there will become a moment of choice and it takes courage to embrace that choice and move out of sadness.
Moods continue if they are fed, and this is certainly true of sadness. When you know it is time to move out of sadness, develop a new diet for your spirit. A new diet is thinking thoughts that pulls you toward a healthy future. Allow me to provide an example: Sadness may be saying that no one likes me and there is no future for me. That is a lie and it takes a forceful, continuous action to move away from that thought. It can begin by stating a hope and then a reality as it begins to show up in your life.
For me, it is a feeling of being alone. A feeling of being disconnected. Like The Matrix, do you ever feel like you are dreaming or in a dream-like world where you do not know if you are asleep or awake?
I have been saddened for many years by my poor financial circumstance. I have plenty of evidence that it is true, but it was not something that I wanted to neither feed nor remain in this condition. I began to make statements of belief to move me in another direction. At least twice a day I would pray "I am the Head and not the Tail, the Lender and not the Borrower, Above only and not Beneath." This is from Deuteronomy 28:44 in a promise that God gave to the children of Israel. I began praying this prayer BEFORE it began to show up in my life. It did not immediately remove the debt or financial difficulties. BUT it was amazing how quickly my life began to change with debt after debt being paid in full. There were even new debts that surfaced and these too were paid in full. They were paid not by any lottery winnings or inheritance but my own earnings. My income has increased over 400% in the past year alone and has every indication of doubling this next year. I am not setting a measurement to see if my bank account overflows. What I am doing is claiming God's promise and believing that He will provide. He loves this arrangement and is proving over and over that He is more than a cute deity to pray to. He is real."
Amen! My situation, though similar, is different in that my work have been a tribulation in many ways. I do pray for coworkers and those in authority that they may feel the presence of God in their lives and that His will be done.
I do not have any magic words to instantly remove sadness from your life. I doubt that God would want to do so as there are many valuable lessons to be learned during sadness. What I have to share is like one beggar sharing with another beggar where to find food.
I do! Pray and thank God for all His blessings!
Move beyond sadness and its imprisoning power. You have choice and God gives you the place in His power and promises to move you beyond sadness to joys. I really believe He has much joy in store for you.
To your joy!
Pastor Jim
My comments are in blue, no pun intended!
Are you sad?
This past week I attended a memorial service for families that lost loved ones in the past year. The time began with great somberness as we took in how many families had lost someone they loved during the past few months. This sadness changed in a few minutes as a pastor stood and began to share with us. With full respect for the reason we had gathered together, he shared his gift of love in a way that had us embracing life and even laughing at some very old jokes. The mood lifted and when it came time for us to leave you could see a change in the faces of most of the people, including mine.
What is sadness? Why does it penetrate so deeply? How can sadness be changed to joy or at least acceptance that allows one to move on? These thoughts have been pondering my mind since this experience, asking God to use this in some way to minister to you. That prayer continues as I release this article into writing.
Sadness is a mood that comes out of loss. Someone (or something) we dearly cherish is no longer available in our lives. It is one of those rare moments in life when we are face-to-face with reality and unable to ignore it.
I have several memories that bring on the mood of sadness. Loss of a childhood friend, my first dog Ernie, divorce and past behavior.
It is not a helpless time, or ought to not be. I believe that moods are mostly about choices. We can choose to be sad and we can choose to be happy - under the same circumstances. A verse that I find myself coming back to over and over again is found in Philippians 4:11-12 where Paul says that whatever circumstance he finds himself he has "learned" to be content. It does not come naturally but is a developed way of responding to the circumstances of life.
Phillippians 4:11-12 is one of my favorite verses. I pray daily about making choices, my attitude, casting aside my anxiety and fears, and how I respond to life.
The first action to take when you feel sad is to honor the sadness. To ignore or minimize it is an act of foolishness. The way to the other side of sadness is through it. The great news is that you are able to recognize sadness. The fact that you are recognizing it allows you to have choice. Honoring the sadness does not mean to allow it to consume you or to wallow in it like a hog. It means to admit that you are sad and honor the source of the sadness.
It wasn't until many years after the death of Ernie that I realized how much anger and sorrow I still had within me until I "honored the sadness."
Now you are in a moment of choice. You may "feel" like feeding the sadness or throwing a pity party. This is an example of how feelings can be misleading and actually cause us to linger longer in sadness than necessary.
In the moment of choice you can admit and honor the sadness and then open yourself to ways to think and move that do not feed the feeling. Frankly there are many times that one may want to stay in sadness. There may be good reason to spend a time in sadness if it is from grieving. However, there will become a moment of choice and it takes courage to embrace that choice and move out of sadness.
Moods continue if they are fed, and this is certainly true of sadness. When you know it is time to move out of sadness, develop a new diet for your spirit. A new diet is thinking thoughts that pulls you toward a healthy future. Allow me to provide an example: Sadness may be saying that no one likes me and there is no future for me. That is a lie and it takes a forceful, continuous action to move away from that thought. It can begin by stating a hope and then a reality as it begins to show up in your life.
For me, it is a feeling of being alone. A feeling of being disconnected. Like The Matrix, do you ever feel like you are dreaming or in a dream-like world where you do not know if you are asleep or awake?
I have been saddened for many years by my poor financial circumstance. I have plenty of evidence that it is true, but it was not something that I wanted to neither feed nor remain in this condition. I began to make statements of belief to move me in another direction. At least twice a day I would pray "I am the Head and not the Tail, the Lender and not the Borrower, Above only and not Beneath." This is from Deuteronomy 28:44 in a promise that God gave to the children of Israel. I began praying this prayer BEFORE it began to show up in my life. It did not immediately remove the debt or financial difficulties. BUT it was amazing how quickly my life began to change with debt after debt being paid in full. There were even new debts that surfaced and these too were paid in full. They were paid not by any lottery winnings or inheritance but my own earnings. My income has increased over 400% in the past year alone and has every indication of doubling this next year. I am not setting a measurement to see if my bank account overflows. What I am doing is claiming God's promise and believing that He will provide. He loves this arrangement and is proving over and over that He is more than a cute deity to pray to. He is real."
Amen! My situation, though similar, is different in that my work have been a tribulation in many ways. I do pray for coworkers and those in authority that they may feel the presence of God in their lives and that His will be done.
I do not have any magic words to instantly remove sadness from your life. I doubt that God would want to do so as there are many valuable lessons to be learned during sadness. What I have to share is like one beggar sharing with another beggar where to find food.
I do! Pray and thank God for all His blessings!
Move beyond sadness and its imprisoning power. You have choice and God gives you the place in His power and promises to move you beyond sadness to joys. I really believe He has much joy in store for you.
To your joy!
Pastor Jim
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