Comfort, comfort, ye my people.
Isaiah 40:1
Healthy Living is reading a new book, and I wanted to share it with you.
Matt Haig is the author of the excellent The Midnight Library, a book that so many have found so helpful. As if that wasn’t enough, now he’s offering comfort…in the form of dozens of very short, powerful chapters. Most are around a page long. Some are much shorter!
In our Healthy Living small group (we meet on Mondays at 9:30 am) we are reading a chapter a day. When the chapters are very short (a paragraph long–some even just a sentence) we read through them several times a day. They become mantras, much like the one we read yesterday:
Nothing is stronger than a small hope that doesn’t give up.
Matt Haig, The Comfort Book
Matt Haig’s books deal (at least in part) with his own struggles with depression
That doesn’t mean his books are depressing to read. In fact, they are just the opposite. And everyone needs some comforting sometimes. I’ve found this book to be helpful for folks dealing with a recent loss. Some have turned to it when they’re dealing with their own depression, or with the depression of others. And for some, it’s just good to have a comforting voice in hard times.
You likely know the famous scripture above from Isaiah, especially if you’ve ever attended The Messiah at Pilgrim Church or other locations. It’s about comforting the Israelites in their time of exile. You may also know the (slightly less famous) quote by Reinhold Niebuhr:
…comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.
The truth is, we need different things at different times
When you’re headed for bed, I hope you’re not an ice cream sundae and looking at your phone on the way there. Odds are good you’re not going to sleep very well. It’s just not the time for any of that.
Likewise, when things are going well, it may do you well to think of and to focus on the plight of those who suffering. And when you’re suffering, no matter what it is or how it came about, finding some comfort can be life-changing.
Finally, even those who live lives of relative abundance, free from most pain, still hit bottom sometimes. Life is like that. If you know this will happen (and now you do if you didn’t) you can arm yourself with tools to face it all when it’s all too much to face. The Comfort Book is good like that.
In Healthy Living, we’ll be reading a chapter a day, and we started on May 13th. If you start reading the book yourself and you’d like to know where we are in it, just ask!
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