the deepening ground

October ended in melancholy. I had been entertaining depression for at least a week, allowing him to raid my cupboards, sleep in my bed, run my life, and steal from my bank account. Melancholy, or depression, may be associated with the color blue, but I was running in the red in terms of hope and joy (and every other fruit whose source is love). And that’s what drove me back to the Fruits of the Spirit. I wasn’t made to live in depression, with death and all of his friends; I was made for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I had been duped!

But I had a choice: to align with my spirit or align with my soul. Like King David, I had to call my soul into order, despite my circumstances: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 43:5). David understood. He knew melancholy. But he also knew the source of life, which is why he repeatedly called his soul into alignment (THREE TIMES) between Psalms 42 and 43. So evict that cripple, that life-sucking leech, and be the sweet fragrance of life (Christ) and true joy amidst a world desperately seeking it (or should I say, Him?).

Melancholy

By Vincent H. Anastasi 2024

That lame leper has come begging again,
wrapped in rags and jingling his tin cup song.
He lingers at the edge of the garden
patiently waiting, no matter how long.
In time I foolishly unbolt the door,
call his name, and carry him on my back,
a dead-weight burden too heavy to bear,
‘til I forget myself, amnesiac.
I become a stranger to my own home;
he the squatter thieving all I hold dear,
and lame, I cannot shift him on my own,
that strength-sapping leech expunging all cheer.
So, come true joy, sure-footed, setting free;
evict the cripple ever crippling me.