Antidepressant Au Naturale

I spent the last 3 days in Kansas City on business. This morning I was leaving a clinic and waited at the elevator for the doors to open. A weeping woman had followed me out of the clinic and stood beside me. I noticed that she was holding 2 starter kit samples of Lexapro, the antidepressant that my company manufacturers. (By the way, the most prescribed antidepressant in the world). After we entered the elevator, she looked up and apologized if she was making me uncomfortable. I replied that I too have very emotional days. She said that she was mourning. I didn't respond not because I didn't care or empathize with her, but it was one of those situations where I fail to find the comforting words I seek. We started walking to the parking lot and I remarked that Lexapro has indeed benefitted many who face a tough period in their lives. She looked up at me and I could see deep pain and tortured sorrow in her eyes. This middle aged woman then said her 22 year old son had died less than 2 months ago. I asked her if I could pray for her and she smiled and we parted ways.

When I got to my car, immediately I asked God to grant her and her family peace and understanding. I felt a calmness overcome me and pray that she did as well. However, the one thought that stuck with me all day was that if she, like so many others, were to seek out and rely on God to help alleviate the pain and emptiness, then maybe antidepressants medications wouldn't be the most prescribed class of drugs in America. There will be difficult days, but we must let God lift our spirits and be our natural antidepressant---He's free and doesn't require a co-pay.

Basic Accounting

I once read a book by Jim Elliott. Jim was a Christian missionary who went to Africa with a team that included his wife to minister to a tribe that had never encountered other humans before. It took several years for the tribesmen to trust the missionaries. After years of goodwill and food drops, they began to comunicate and interact. The wives flew back to America for a few weeks and returned to find that the clan had killed and eaten the remaining missionaries. Jim's wife wrote a book and quoted her husband right before she left for vacation,"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."

One thing I've learned in my short life is that all relationships are like bank accounts. It is all simply a matter of depositing and withdrawing. Someone once said that if you leave a positive account balance in everyone you encounter, the world would be a better place. What if we were to think of ourselves as ATMs, where friends and family members come to us and know what they are going to get consistently. Sometimes they may need $20, other times they may need $100. As long as we keep relying on God to keep refilling our machine, we will always have enough to give to others.

Forgiveness

I'm not really sure why this topic feels so relevant to me today, but it is a topic we discussed in our Sunday School class yesterday morning. We're reading an awesome book and the two chapters we discussed yesterday were forgiving yourself and accepting forgiveness. Someone made a pretty insightful observation that all our lives we're taught the steps on how to forgive others who have wronged you. The converse of that is that no one ever teaches us how to forgive ourselves. In a society where social, familial, and professional pressures increase each generation, we fail to teach young people how to cope and handle their missteps personally. Often, we either hear or speak the phrases,"I am my own worst critic," or, "I hold myself to a higher standard than anyone else could." How do we get past the feelings when inevitably we fall short. Personally, I find it more difficult to accept forgiveness from others when I haven't even forgiven myself. Thank God for grace and wisdom that I may teach my children to accept the grace of others and to understand that we are destined to imperfection but loved for who we are.