Wednesday, March 28, 2007

I'm Tired...

I am tired of people with all the answers. Especially when they’re answers to questions no one seems to be asking, or when they’re answers that are trite and refuse to engage the depth inherent in the questions.

I am tired of the people who want to move past suffering into victory. What use is victory if you don’t acknowledge that over which you are victorious.

I am tired of the people who think victory is always blue skies and roses. Seems to me that the most important victory of them all – the one that we celebrate in just over two weeks, happened in darkness and blood, on a Friday.

I am tired of the people who are afraid of messyness. Seems to me that the most interesting people I’ve ever met were very messy.

I am tired of people who hide from honesty. The foundation of our faith is in truth, and truth, by its very nature requires a frank honesty.

I am tired of being told that everything that is not overtly “Christian” stems from the devil.

I am tired of attitudes of fear and evil about mental illnesses. Seems like we’d make so much more of a difference if we’d work to see people instead of a label and a stigma.

I am tired of being told that depression is terrible, sinful even. While I am grateful that God chose to heal my depression, I am beginning to see what a gift those years truly were. How much beauty there was in learning to acknowledge pain. How much grace is really found in healing. How I can speak from a place of empathy and understanding to those who are suffering.