The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Life's Ups & Downs

Dessa Rodeffer, Quill Publisher/Owner

March 28, 2018

It seems a constant, that you can be having a good time, a wonderful year, a great life, and all of a sudden you have gotten off that fantastic road that was bringing you so much happiness and joy and headed down a winding slope of misery. Sometimes, you are not sure when it happened. But sometimes you know exactly what has put you in the dumps.

Maybe the doctor's report came back and now instead of spending time in the garden or with the kids, you are spending your time in doctor's offices, or hospitals. Perhaps you suddenly lost a parent or a spouse who was the type that gave more than 50% to the family and now, what are we to do with all these responsibilities without them.

If it is not health problems, or a loss in the family, maybe it's the empty nest syndrome, or a hundred other issues that can plague us in a lifetime.

Sometimes it can be a chemical imbalance that sends us over the edge into depression. It can be from either something we lack in our make-up or diets or from something we have taken.

I remember being given two different pills in Dixon, shortly after my third child was born and my husband would ask me when he arrived home, "Why are you crying and what is wrong?" And I'd reply, "I don't know. I've been crying all day and I just feel so hopeless." The next thing I knew my mother showed up at our house after she made the three hour drive. She told me to quit taking the "diet" pill the doctor had given me. The next day, the depression went away. I have never felt that way again, thank goodness. I was not myself and it is pretty scary to think about it. Back in Stronghurst, my doctor said the birth control and diet pills were interacting and shouldn't be given together.

Usually, we get ourselves out of the life's downs, sometimes by focusing on all the good things we have. But for me, I was holding a beautiful new baby boy who I loved dearly and I sat there and weeped and couldn't get out of it.

Sometimes we need help to figure out the entire problem.

Lots of times the support of people can do wonders. I know my good friend Beverly George who passed away from heart failure several years ago, survived more than one heart operation where she was given a 5% chance due to friends being around and the grace of God. The minute we came in, her vitals improved, every time.

The Bible says in I Corinthians 13, that the Greatest gift God has given us is love. And I think to have a loving companion or friend in your life is what brings us through the ups and downs. God has surely sent his angels to be his loving presence in our darkest hours. My mother was one of his angels for me.

In the case of the Joe Kane family - 2,000 angels came to visitation, his mother said, and are still coming to comfort the family after their loss. Their support has meant everything to the family.

This Good Friday is symbolic of the day Jesus died on the cross and gave his all for us - the ultimate love.

The Bible, describes the importance of love.

1 Corinthians 13

New King James Version

The Greatest Gift

1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

5. Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

6. Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

7. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part.

10. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

It really shows in the above scripture how important love is. I think we all get confused on just how sacrificial "love" is. Too many times we say, "You don't love me!" But this scripture puts the shoe on the other foot. It is each of us who is required to do the loving. In that way we can meet others needs the way Christ did.

I often think how my mother was aways singing and always giving. I think she held the "greatest gift" of God's love. Always thinking of others.

Jesus has big shoes to walk in, but it's a goal worthy to follow that leads us more easily through the ups and downs and on to heaven.