Yesterday I came upon a story of someone with an interesting tattoo.  It was a semicolon.  That was it.  Her explanation was that a semicolon is a place in a sentence where the author has the decision to stop with a period, but chooses not to.  A semicolon is a reminder to pause and then keep going.

 She went on that she had been diagnosed with depression, which had taken so much out of her, helping to destroy her GPA in college, her friendships, and her involvement with life, all this in spite of the fact that she was the perfect picture of a 20 year old sorority girl at an SEC school.  As she described it, "I called 250 women on my campus by the name of sister, but I was still lying at the bottom of a lake, unable to breathe while, effortlessly, everyone around me grew gills."
 
Every 16.2 minutes, someone takes their life, and still we shame and stereotype and stigmatize the people who need the most help with the thinking that they should feel bad about even asking for help when in reality asking for help is an amazing act of great courage. 
 
Hardship and heartbreak are inevitable in life.  It is part of being human. For some, however, simply getting out of bed is a struggle, so let's all do what we can to help people find the strength to carry on.  We don't want periods in life.  We want semicolons.
 
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.  For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime.  Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
-Psalm 30:4,5

Prayer for Today
 
O God, we pray especially for those who struggle just to get out of bed each day. Give them strength, purpose, and joy, and use us as instruments of great love.  Amen.