Many a true word spoken in jest, Monty Python has a lot to answer for. However it’s not always so easy to “Look on the bright side of life”.

Like many people I find it notoriously difficult coming to terms with my own emotions. When I do get depressed it takes a long time for me to recover. It’s easy to dish out Christian cliches about ‘spending time in the wilderness’, but very often they don’t provide much comfort.

We are emotional beings, it is the fact which makes us human, however it also causes much pain, much pleasure and much confusion. Emotion can lead us to be destructive or creative; it can fill us full of hate or full of love. Emotions can be our friends but they can so easily become our enemies.

How nice it would be if we never had to experience another negative emotion! Or would it be? Somehow I doubt it. Rather perversely negative emotions can provoke self-examination which allows for positive change of a personal, social or spiritual nature. Through our anger, guilt, shame and depression we can re-examine our values, ask questions and essentially transform our lives.

The psychologist Evelyn Whitehead gives us a clue to the value which our negative emotions can hold within our lives:

Anger:

Challenges us to right a wrong and leads us to pursue justice.

Shame:

Warns us about the rights of premature exposure and protects the privacy that makes genuine intimacy possible.

Guilt:

Alerts us to the differences between our ideals and our behaviour, allowing us to keep personal integrity.

Depression:

Alerts us when something has become intolerable; ordinary (rather than clinical) depression invites us to re-examine our lives; it’s misery motivates us to face a loss or challenge which can lead to mature grieving and change.

If approached prayerfully and with an open mind, our brokenness can lead to a new wholeness within our lives and as a result we become more sensitive to the needs of those around us.

Our emotions are essential during our Christian journey, as we walk with Christ who became broken for the needs of the world but yet faced death without indignity or shame. A Christ who was often angry at what he saw about him, but yet lived a life full of love and compassion.

Our emotions can thus become our allies in the struggle to make the best of our lives. However, all this is easier said than done, it’s so easy to wallow in self-pity and let the hurt gnaw away at your soul. But by the grace of Christ, I believe that we can benefit from this sort of self-examination.

In the words of REM “Everybody hurts sometimes”. Pain can lead to healing, healing which can have a lasting effect in our time.

Dean Akrill