Mac Miller, who died tragically young, gave us depressives a gift with “Good News” — this isn’t about the Good News Gospel.
But it’s about a certain kind of depressive day. You know it. Sometimes weeks and months.
Miller:
“Well, so tired of being so tired
Why I gotta build something beautiful just to go set it on fire?
I’m no liar, but sometimes the truth don’t sound like the truth
Maybe ’cause it ain’t, I just love the way it sound when I say it
Yeah, it’s what I do
If you know me, it ain’t anything new
Wake up to the moon, haven’t seen the sun in a while
But I heard that the sky’s still blue, yeah”
And then a little later, oh dear Lord, a cry for the heaven he doesn’t know.
“There’s a whole lot more for me waiting on the other side
I’m always wondering if it feel like summer
I know maybe I’m too late, I could make it there some other time
I’ll finally discover
That there’s a whole lot more for me waiting
That there’s a whole lot more for me waiting
I know maybe I’m too late, I could make it there some other time
Then I’ll finally discover
That it ain’t that bad
Ain’t so bad
Well, it ain’t that bad”
While we’re at it, in the familiar and oddly comforting weight of a song that makes us feel less alone on certain days, here’s one of my favorite passages from The Valley of Vision that gives an answer.
Maybe it won’t make us feel better, but the truth of it promises that, one day, our rest and everything else good and beautiful will be complete.
“May the truth that is in him
illuminate in me all that is dark,
establish in me all that is wavering,
comfort in me all that is wretched,
accomplish in me all that is of thy goodness,
and glorify in me the name of Jesus.
I pass through the vale of tears
but bless thee for the opening gate of glory at its end.
Enable me to realize as mine the better,
heavenly country.
Prepare me for every part of my pilgrimage.
Uphold my steps by thy Word.
Let no iniquity dominate me.
Teach me that Christ cannot be the way
if I am the end,
that he cannot be Redeemer
if I am my own saviour,
that there can be no true union with him
while the creature has my heart,
that faith accepts him as Redeemer and Lord
or not at all.”
