CREEDE HINSHAW: Give thanks … in any measure you can

It’s a gorgeous morning in early June, the kind of morning that makes one glad to be alive. Bless the Lord, o my soul, and all that is within me! Bless God’s holy name!

How long has it been since you have tried to live a gratitude-filled life? If that seems too difficult, how long has it been since you’ve tried to live a gratitude-filled day? And if that still seems too challenging, maybe you could open your heart to be filled with God’s love and thus reflect your gratitude for the space of time it takes to read this column.

This is the place in a column where the columnist would acknowledge all the reasons why giving thanks and blessing to Father, Son and Holy Spirit is challenging. I could mention many things that drag us down, but your own list is probably more pertinent.

Nevertheless … nevertheless … bless the Lord, o my soul, and all that is within me. In spite of the worst the world can throw at us, in the face of the severest storm, in the midst of the awfullest tragedy, the human spirit must find a way to be thankful.

But what if one is overwhelmed with deep depression? A well-known professional tennis star made headlines this week when she withdrew from a tournament rather than answer questions from the media, a responsibility laid upon the athletes in her (and most) professional sports. The tennis association had assessed a fine upon Naomi Osaka for refusing to appear before reporters, and when the disagreement escalated, Osaka referred to her continuing battles with depression and declined to play if she had to face questions after each match.

Everybody is now talking about depression and an appropriate response. I find myself taking the side of the tennis star. Osaka has offered a service for the larger population simply by saying aloud what is very difficult for depressed people (or families of depressed people) to do: to admit the overwhelming difficulty of being with and around other people who often are either condemnatory, naively prescriptive or ignorant about depression.

“Blessing the Lord” and offering thanks to the Creator is sometimes quite difficult. I do not want to come across as glib. For some people, for most people at one time or another, it is a pretty high hill to climb to offer gratitude and blessing to God.

So let me start afresh on this column: Bless the Lord in whatever way you might be able to do so and for however sustained or brief a time you might be able to do so. And if you can’t do that, receive a word of grace: God understands our moods completely and loves us in every one of them. On this glorious June day, it may be easy for some to rejoice; for others it is not and will not be so easy, and that is OK, too.