The eminent psychologist Martin Seligman said that we need to ask ourselves why our grandparents didn’t become depressed in the same way we do when they were thwarted, when the people they love rejected them and they didn’t get the job they wanted, and when their children died. The reason, he said, is that they had what he called ‘spiritual furniture’ that they sat in when things went wrong – things like belief in God who gave them strength and a believing community that stood with them in their pain. But Seligman went on to say that this spiritual furniture has become threadbare in our lifetime, and that’s why we cope so poorly.
But the good news is that no matter how threadbare yours may be, Jesus still says to us: “Come unto me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’