Life's a bitch

Today is officially "Blue Monday" -- the most depressing day of the year. The nights are long, Christmas is gone, the weather is rubbish (in the northern latitudes of the UK at least), and we dare not open the credit card statement that has just dropped through the letterbox for fear of what it may contain.

Oh, and it's raining.

But Christians should feel different, surely. Don't we have an enormous amount to be thankful for? Aren't we the ones who are blessed, even though we are poor, mourning, weeping and persecuted? Don't we believe that life is a beach, rather than the other?

Yeah but… no but…

Surely there's a middle path to walk here. Not the grim depression of living in a world and a body that is dying and hopelessly fallen; nor the glib "happy clappy" optimism of those who think the only reason a dark cloud appears is so that a silver lining can drop on our heads. But the way that knows I am both incredibly sinful, but amazingly loved; that weeps over the pain and futility of life, but trusts in the wisdom and power of our sovereign God; whose moods have grey days and sunny days, but who has a joy in God that distrusts the false optimism or pessimism of them both.