Point of Focus

If the photographer focused on the dark background the flower would have become blurred.

This is going to be a different kind of post for me. This is not coming from out of some cerebral cleverness, but from a long worked out churning in my spirit. I cannot attest to the fact that it is finished, but some important points have finally come into focus. I want to get them down so as to have a solid foundation to build on.

It is so easy to FOCUS on light. Even while still in my mother's womb, I could see no light, but I could feel the darkness in my soul. We are so sensitive to light and drawn by it, because it overpowers our senses and obliterates the darkness. This is the reason why the prophecy of Christ's birth stands out from all of the others prophetic scriptures.
ISA 9:2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.

ISA 9:3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice
when dividing the plunder.

ISA 9:4 For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.

This is the reason (Luke 1:41) When Elizabeth [the mother of John the Baptist] heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. John knew immediately the presence of that great light. Later, as a man, surrounded by the darkness of prision, John lost FOCUS and fell into of doubt. MT 11:2 When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

MT 11:4 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
Jesus set is FOCUS back on the light!

I have been in a small bit of a darkness for a couple of years now. I knew it was true but could not put my finger on it. It is actually possible for the Christian to be depressed, although difficult. I made this statement to my Pastor recently and his take was that it is a "conflict of interest" for the Christian. It is so because in Christ there is hope, and all things are new. His mercies are new every morning, and in his presence there is joy. All of these things are true and it is often sung, "turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things of the world will go strangely dim". We however walk in the spirit through a dark and dying world, and live in a body. I could stop here and say "consider the lillys...", "think ye on these things, whatsoever is lovely...", and be done with it: lesson learned. The depth of the truth would be lost and forgotten as soon you click the little red "close" box in the upper right corner. The impersonal shallowness would insulate me, but be of no service to the reader.
First I want to say, I think depression is mourning the loss of life. In this case it is one's own life. I'm thinking it would be the result of bad decisions or situations that have reduced the hoped for fullness and richness of life. The song "wasted years" comes to mind here. In such as state one is putting themselves in a coffin. A difficult condition to maintain when you have the uplifting life giving resurrection power of the Holy Spirit living in you! Never the less there is a time for mourning. Mourning is needed to put a loss behind you so as to move on.
My coffin is different though. It is a coffin with both ends knocked out, also called a rut! This rut seems to be dug in a circle. There are actually several of these, in which, I'm walking at the same time.
You've heard that definition of insanity, where insanity is: "doing the same thing you always did, in the same way you always did it, and expecting a different result". What could be more insane than spending your life going around and around a circular rut.
Does anyone remember that movie where an American got caught trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey. He ends up in a prison walking round-n-round a circle, and told the broken machines must stay on the path. They attempt to institutionalise him. A visit from his love helps him reFOCUS reality and he breaks in the other direction. He plans an escape, from the prison, and announces "he's going, to go, to the place, where they fix the broken machines". Lets go there.
I have two jobs both pretty much full time, low level, menial task. Of course the Bible says, "MT 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other....". Those words come from Jesus. You just know they've got to be truth! They are truth! I love on of these jobs and hate the other. I will use my enjoyment and lack thereof to illustrate how FOCUS can influence joy and depression.
Job #1 I've done for 18 years. I stock shelves third shift in a grocery store. I have taken on the responsibility of being the overnight boss, but the mundane menial repetition is maddening. Round and round in a circle we go. Bring in the load, put it on the floor, put it on the shelf: repeat! The only thing that ever changes are the supporting cast of people I work with. If I do my job of training them properly, they become clones of each and every co-worker previous. The problems I encounter and solve on this job are trivial, unnoticed, and forgotten. Notoriety is almost always a bad thing, insignificance is a virtue, but an almost unbearable humility. The darkness I go into each night is a weight. If we have done our job properly the bosses of the daylight never have to bear us in mind.
Job #2 I have done construction and remodeling since, I put nails into siding, on a barbershop, at age 5. I have done similar Job #2 only 5 months. It would be too easy to think that I haven't yet had time to observe the rut. While, it is possible there may be a rut yet to develope, it will be a straight line rut, not a circle. On job #2 I maintain 27 "timeshare" condominiums. They have aged and need some reconstruction and much repair. Each task is different however, and although it is sometimes performed 27 time over, at the end, it will not have to be done again in my career. There is a sense of progress and accomplishment. AS time goes by, and tasks are completed, the property looks increasing better. Variety yields excitement and accomplishment stokes pride. Compared to the suppression of the night job, the day job is a lightness of being!
O.K. I laid it on pretty thick, but the result put you into my shoes and mood in each case. Why bother you with all of this because all of the institutions of life are the same way. And our enjoyment of them is a matter of FOCUS.
Didn't your thoughts shout at the screen, "why not quit Job#1, and just do Job #2, if its that bad"? Well, I thought the same thing. I discovered, that in answering that question, my displeasure was a matter of FOCUS. The grocery job has twice the pay, all of the extra-benefits, job security, and prospect for advancement. It enables me to enjoy the day job without all of the other pressures. That is not to say that the maintenance job could not be built into one with greater pay, security, and advancement potential. Breaking out of a rut takes some work and planning though. The American in the Turkish prison movie did not just decide on a whim to make a break for it. He saved, planned, had help from the outside and bought help on the inside. (I don't remember it in the movie, but you better believe that a person in his situation prayed to God for aid as well!)He waited until all of the pieces came together at the right moment, then he made a break.
I mentioned that I'm walking several institutional ruts simultaneously, some hand in hand with others. Grieving be done. It is time to focus on the lillys. Focus on looking into God's eyes. FOCUS on the good aspects of the current institutions, and make an exit strategy. Work a plan, assemble the pieces, pray, and go for the breaks, as each one comes.

"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." G.K.Chesterton