Presby-Musings

I just got a new iWatch--one of the newest ones that we ordered for my birthday.  It's pretty cool, I have to admit.   When we ordered my watch some weeks ago, we were still in Florida and driving to Orlando to meet some friends for dinner.  When we were told that it wouldn't be able to be delivered until the second week of December, we had it sent to the Apple store near where we knew we would be living in Texas.  I picked it up yesterday at a mall in Austin.   It's amazing to me that the world has gotten so flat, and that we have the ability and opportunity to be so connected to one another.  I was reminded this morning of the words of Shakespeare from the Tempest :  "O brave new world..."   The world has gotten flatter, to be sure, but we're now dealing with a new set of issues.   Singer/songwriter Michael David Rosenberg (known more widely as "Passenger") recently wrote, "We should stare at the stars and not just the screens/ You...

Are you happy? It's a simple question.  You have a choice, to be honest.  Either tell the truth, or lay a bold faced lie on me. You could say, "Yes, I am happy."  And you might actually mean it.  Things might be pretty good for you right now.  You're content.  Life is good. Or you could say like most of us, "Yes, I am happy." But you don't really mean it.   In fact, you are lying through your teeth.  Life is not good.  You are not content. You just said that you were happy because you didn't want to tell the truth. Because telling the truth would mean that you would have to say, "No, I am not happy.  I am miserable.  I feel like crap.  Life is pretty awful right about now.  I don't see a way out of the mess I am in.  I am as far from happy as I could possibly get." Like I said... you have a choice. The fact of the matter is that when someone asks you how you are doing, they usually don't want to know h...

I know about depression.  Several years ago, I was struggling with direction and purpose and found myself angry most of the time.  I also found that I didn't really want to muster the energy to do the most basic things--like get out of bed or go to work or to school.   I spent a lot of time playing video games and sleeping.  When I had to, I would "gird up my loins" as the Bible puts it, and be present where I was supposed to be present.  And then I would be exhausted.  Finally, I decided to see a therapist.  I didn't tell anyone that I knew except for my wife, who basically gave me an ultimatum before I agreed to go.  She'd had enough, and I didn't blame her.  I saw a therapist once a week for a year.  I missed a few sessions in the beginning and he had to get tough with me.  When he threatened not to see me again if I blew off another session, I buckled down and saw it through to the end.  At the end of that year...