I find myself currently entrenched in one of the busiest seasons I have ever encountered in my life. Our business has been very blessed lately and right now I am working very hard to keep up with the blessing that God has been pouring out to us. Thank you Lord!! Here is what I have noticed during this season: I don’t have time to be depressed! I have battled with seasons of depression throughout much of my life but when I think about the last 60-90 days in which I have been working extremely hard, I have not been depressed at all. To experience depression would require that I have reasonable amounts of time to ponder and dwell on what I feel about myself. It would require that I spend chunks of time thinking about me. I have considered during many of those seasons of depression that the very “essence” of depression seems to be very “self-centered”. During the last 60-90 days I have simply not had enough time in the day to even consider how I feel about self. My time has been spent in pursuit of my daily disciplines of being a man: exercise, reading the Word, providing for family, etc….There has been no extra time for anything else.
As I think about how positive I have felt about life over this extremely busy season, I am reminded of the mandate that God gave to Adam. What did God tell Adam to do as soon as He created him and placed him in the Garden? He told him to GET TO WORK!! He said “Be Fruitful and Multiply”. He told him to “fill the earth and subdue it”. Man was created to be productive. He was created to be in a constant state of productivity and growth as a being. He was created to prosper and multiply everything that he put his hands to. He was created to work and be fruitful. Of course, I am not saying this is his highest calling. His highest calling is to love and worship the Lord. What I am saying is that it is impossible for man to be fulfilled and energized if he is not doing what he was created to do! As I have reflected upon many of my seasons of depression in my past, I have learned that many of them were caused by this one thing; I wasn’t working hard enough. I wasn’t being fruitful. I wasn’t pursuing excellence my life. I wasn’t fulfilling the mandate, and in the depths of my heart, I knew it! Much of my depression was caused by guilt from not being the man I was created to be! One of the greatest realizations thus far in my walk with God is this: I drastically underestimated the amount of work required to be the man that God has called me to be. I simply don’t have enough time to spend 4-5 hours every week on the golf course. I don’t have enough time to spend hours every night in front of a television, playing video games, or browsing facebook. There isn’t time to waste! There isn’t time to waste if I am in pursuit of excellence. There isn’t time to waste if I am going to provide well for my family. There isn’t time to waste if I am going to be in pursuit of God. There isn’t time to waste if I am going to be physically fit. There isn’t time to waste if I am going to pursue my wife. There isn’t time to waste if I am going to pour into my children while they are still young.
So here is my encouragement to you today: Rise up from your slumber and be the man or woman you were created to be. Be more productive and you won’t have time for depression. Rid yourself of the distractions of this world. Get up from the ground, dust yourself off, and go forth in victory. We were created to conquer! He said to SUBDUE the ground we walk on! We were created to be victorious. It is okay to fall, but now is the time to rise. Make a decision today that everything you put your hands to will prosper and be fruitful because that is the divine command! God will give you the strength and grace so that you do not grow weary, and of course, He has also mandated rest! But know this: There is no greater rest than laying your head on the pillow at night knowing that you gave that day absolutely everything you had. There is no greater rest than knowing that you labored and toiled in the pursuit of excellence. Consider the words of the great Vince Lombardi…
I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.
Vince Lombardi
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