Get Your Nose Out of That Book This Instant!

My love for reading was born when I was just a kid. Nancy Drew, The Babysitter’s Club, Sweet Valley High … oh, I loved them all. Summers in the library? There was no better place to spend those long, hot days. That then led to my first paid job, of course, at the public library.

There’s nothing like getting into a good book, no matter how old you are. You enter into the scenes, you fall in love with the characters. The plot takes a twist and your heart beats faster, your palms break a sweat. Or – you can admit it – if it’s a love story, your heart flip-flops when you think about the characters’ budding affection for one another. When you’re forced to put the book down and carry on with daily living, you fail to be present because you’re constantly wondering what’s going to happen next. In all, books cause you to lose yourself in another world … one that’s all in your head.

Now, get your nose out of that book and go with me to another place. In this setting, things are dark and dismal. Everything is negative and harsh. Nothing goes right, there are no breaks, and the monotony of it all repeats day after day, night after night. A sense of hopelessness permeates the stale air. You want out of the dungeon, but the fluorescent lights above the exit door are just as black as the walls caving in around you. Others try to guide you out, but they can’t. So you flounder, and you sink deeper.

What is this detestable place? It’s depression. And the non-readers among us would equate it with the plot of an engrossing, fictitious book – they would say, “It’s all in your head; it’s not reality.”

I’m not going to argue with that. Depression is a mental illness so, yes, the chemical imbalance actually literally is in your head. But I will argue with those who discount it, saying it’s not reality.

The book lovers among us know the truth – that even if the plot is fictional, the feelings I feel when I flip open to my bookmark are real. The characters may not be alive, but they make me laugh, cry, and dream. The street the protagonist is walking on may not exist, but I have a vivid experience of feeling the cobblestone through the soles of my sandals.

The life of the mind is powerful. The mind makes reality. And while a world may exist only on paper, the reader has a tangible experience. Same with those who are depressed. Reality may not be so bad, and she may have her makeup on, but in her inner world she is literally shriveling up and dying.

Have you ever known someone who is depressed and written them off, or wished they would just “get over it?” Have you ever ached when witnessing the great divide between someone’s decent circumstances and their miserable internal reality? Or maybe you have been depressed yourself and you know what I mean all too well. Did you know that physical realities and mental realities are just the same to God as His spiritual reality? Did you know that He willingly goes with you into those deep pits and sits with you, cries with you and stays with you, so you are actually never, ever alone?

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
    I wait for God my Savior;
    my God will hear me.
Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
    Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be my light.”   Micah 7:7-8

“Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” Psalm 143:7-8