of all the questions i get asked as a counselor, probably the most common one revolves around how to cope better, with the assumption being that if a person copes better, he'll feel better.
people think if you're crying, you're not coping. or at least not coping as well as when you're not crying.
they think if you're coping, you'll go out and have fun.
you'll wanna put up the Christmas tree and if you don't, well, surely by this time next year you'll wanna put it up.
coping and feeling good aren't as related as everyone thinks. a swimmer who is trying not to drown will probably thrash around in the water in an effort to cope. but he probably won't feel good.
God doesn't talk much about feeling good but He talks plenty about how to cope. Christ showed us how to cope - carry. your. cross. even if you do have blood dripping down into your eyes.
pop psychology tells us that we shouldn't carry our crosses even if we do have blood dripping down into our eyes. especially if we have blood dripping down into our eyes. pop psychology tells us we should cover our crosses in comfy 100% natural cotton grown on some green farm somewhere. we should add some padding to the cross. medicate it. rub a little mentholatum on it. better yet, throw it on the ground and get somebody else to carry it. after all, it's their fault anyway that we even have this stupid cross to carry in the first place.
Christ carried His cross so that in carrying ours, we would not be doing so in vain.
i call keeping that in mind the real kind of coping.
the real kind of feeling better, too.
