Other "Thinking Drafts" and writing by Keith Drury -- http://www.indwes.edu/tuesday .

ARE YOU DOWNHEARTED?

Are you downhearted? We call it depressed now, but it's the same thing. I recently spoke with a pastor who was wallowing in discouragement. He admitted that he simply sat around watching TV and feeling sorry for myself most of the time. He had been treated pretty roughly at his church over the last two years. And, even though the people who hurt him most had already left his church he just couldn't get back into gear again. He said, I feel like I'm trudging through deep muck--every step takes a big effort.

He then admitted that in the office he tended to tinker around doing meaningless chores, passing time away until he could go home again. He was preaching old sermons every week and just didn't have the drive to dig out new ones.

Ever feel this way? I have. What should you do when ministerial discouragement sets in. I asked a two older ministers and two psychology professors what advice they'd give. Here is a summary of that advice plus my own, for the ministerial blues.

Do something. Start moving. Begin a new habit. Take a walk at the end of each day. Start playing racquetball, start jogging, start chopping wood, start anything... just begin some new regular habit. A minister seldom escapes periods of lethargy instantaneously. Usually you climb out of the pit one rung at a time, often precipitated by starting one new habit at a time...not always spiritual ones.

The most serious impact of ministerial discouragement is an inordinate preoccupation with your own situation. The worse you feel, the more you think about how badly you feel. Try to find some way to meaningfully get involved with the lives of others. This may seem preposterous advice for a minister, who does this for a living, but in times of discouragement we can wind up ministering professionally but not personally. If you can find an opportunity to minister personally to one or several people—and they grow as a result of it, you may discover your feelings of depression vanishing gradually.

Ministerial discouragement sometimes springs from the soil of injustice. You have been hurt unjustly. People have been unkind, unChristlike, sinful, carnal, bitter, angry, or unfair to you. The route to release from this painful past lies through the grace of forgiveness. This is greatest power you have. The only way to find release from this pain is to say, "I forgive them." You don't feel like it. But forgiveness is not a feeling...it is a choice. If you can make this choice, you may find new freedom and release, and maybe even a fresh burst of energy.

You're probably not going to leap out of this pit overnight. But, by setting some simple goals, which you know you can achieve, you might bring back the sense of forward movement again. Maybe set a goal to take a one-mile walk once a week during this month. Or to read one book. Set some goals that you can start achieving, make a chart to check off, and do it. Your success at accomplishing these things will breed more success.

Your tendency will be to keep this discouragement to yourself. After all, ministers aren't supposed to be depressed. So you cheerfully welcome people to the services when you feel only gloom inside. You probably feel like a hypocrite. You need someone to talk with. Find someone you know will respect your confidentiality, and make yourself accountable. You need a contact that will lovingly and gently—yet firmly—lead you out of the pits.

David experienced similar times of discouragement and depression. There are a number of gloomy Psalms that are ideal for this time in your life. Perhaps it is better to steer clear of the jubilant Psalms, as if you can sing the blues away. Instead, read through all of Psalms and find the ones that especially reflect how you really feel. Then, keep going back to the same ones, reading them—even memorizing them—and quoting them to the Lord. Just watch... this will reestablish communication with God so that the dryness resulting from discouragement will begin to disappear. At age 33 I experienced almost two years of ministerial discouragement. The psalms I came to own then were 77, 13, 28, and 42.

This discouragement will be in your past some day. Take heart, it will! Perhaps it's trite, and of little help to you now, but it is true: this too will pass. It may take several months, it may take another year—but one of these days you'll be on top of things again. Most ministers walk through this slouch of despond sooner or later. In fact, this seems to be one of the common threads running through all the great Christian's lives. Just keep slogging forward, the hill ahead has a wonderful view!

So what do you think?

To contribute to the thinking on this issue e-mail your response to Tuesday@indwes.edu