My grandfather died last year and left my grandmother widowed. She is in her eighties and still gets around well. She tells me every time I see her how blessed she feels to have family and friends around her, “I have so much to be thankful for” she says.

I’m not sure who she is trying to remind each time she says it. Me or her?

Her loss and the pain that has come with it have made her life complex and simple. Everything is harder for her to do. But, how she is doing is judged simply by how well her most basic needs are being met.

For anyone dealing with depression life can also become centered on our basic needs. In a strange paradox, depression can make life very complicated and extraordinarily simple.

A friend recently shared this short film with me. The narration comes from an interview he did with his brother who struggles with depression. The unscripted style gives the short a rich flavor of authenticity. Whether you deal with a loss of hope for your own life or are journeying with someone else who has, STAND pulls back the curtain on depression and shows us what those who have lost hope wish they could hope for. Out of complexity comes simple longings.

What simple thing is the complexity of your life casuing you to long for?

[The song "A Brittle Filamentin" by The One A.M. Radio is used with permsion.]

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