Will Rogers, America's favorite cowboy-comedian of the 1930s, was adept at making others laugh. But one day his friend Milton Berry, founder of a rehab center in Los Angeles for accident victims, saw Will Rogers weep as he ducked into a bathroom to release his pent-up sadness over the victims' disfigurements. He sobbed like a child, then emerged from the rest room smiling and laughing as before. He could not let the public see him weep lest his tears should spoil his humor.
Christianity, unlike Stoicism, is marked by compassion and willingness to enter into the pain of another's suffering. Jesus was unafraid to let his own tears show over the death of his friend Lazarus (John 11:35). Our tears are precious to God, for He numbers them just as surely as the hairs on our heads.
"You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book" (Psalm 56:8).
Fact or Fiction? The last Monday in January is the saddest day of the year.
The answer? A little of both.
Some six years ago a travel company, Sky Travel, paid a supposed British research psychologist, Cliff Arnall, to devise a formula for calculating the saddest day of the year. According to an MSNBC report, the equation (based on personal interviews and variables like the rate of absenteeism from work and personal debt) is "broken down into seven variables: (W) weather, (D) debt, (d) monthly salary, (T) time since Christmas, (Q) time since failed quit attempt, (M) low motivational levels and (NA) the need to take action."
So what was the answer to the equation? Blue Monday--the last Monday in January. A combination of bad weather, lack of sunlight, being shut in, accumulated debt from Christmas and New Years all work together to leave us feeling less than hopeful and energetic.
Is it good science? That's debatable according to many in the field. The author of the equation was not a staff research scientist, nor even a Psychology professor, but merely a part-time tutor at an esteemed UK university. But it is nevertheless generally agreed that for many this is not a "happy" time of year.
As Blue Monday rolls around this year, we would do well to engage in a little self-examination. Upon what list of criteria do we base our happiness? Our contentedness? Without Christ in the equation, a beautiful, sunny day enjoyed in perfect health and wealth is far sadder than any dreary day spent in the light of hope in Christ.
Jesus is the real answer to our search for happiness. Every day without Him is a sad day.
“For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28a).
Illustration Exchange
Two police officers and a first responder were killed in Burnsville, Minnesota, responding to “a call of a family in danger” Sunday morning, according Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
The two officers and a pardemic firefighter were killed during a domestic disturbance call. The shooter had barricaded himself inside his home with 7 children and his wife therein. During the standoff and attempted negotiations, the man opened fire, killing the 3 first responders before being hit by other officers who had arrived on the scence. The children and wife were safely escorted out after the man was found deceased at 8:00am.
The officers and firefifghters were there to respond to a man clearly in crisis, perhaps assailed by his own pain, his own frustration, his own despair, his own internal turmoil, and perhaps the turmoil within his own home and life. Whatever was happening in his life, whatever was occruing or contributing to such a deadly response, the fatal blow to both himself and the responders was actually dealt the moment he refused to respond to the efforts of those who were ulitimately there to spare him, to save him, the woman, and the children.
Sure, he would have faced consequences. But maybe the family would have forgiven him, refusing to press charges. Maybe the state would have been understanding and lenient.
If only he had stood down, his life, and the lives of the others, could have been spared.
In our own times of trouble, of crisis, of despair, the Lord comes to us as a type of first responder. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ... the Godhead comes to us ready to minister in any way necessary. Ready to talk us off our ledges. Ready to minister peace. Ready to save.
Stand down, believer!
The situation may be dire. You may be as desperate as you have ever been. It may be difficult to simply receive the help. But stand down!
Stand down and receive the witness of the Heavenly Responders: Faither, Son, and Holy Spirit. They work in coordination and complete harmony with one another. Theirs is the only response that will spare your life, and eternally set you on the course toward repair.
Stand down, believer! They are not there to put you down but to pull you through.
"Do not quench the Spirit" I Thessalonians 5:19, ESV).
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble" (Psalm 46:1, BSB).