Dr. Day

 August 20, 2020

“Have you ever noticed that in traditional psychiatry the patient never gets better, but the psychiatrist is healthy? Why do you suppose that is?” The question was of course, rhetorical, and Dr. Day immediately answered it himself. “Because people get emotionally healthy when they learn to pay attention to others. Traditional therapy has the psychiatrist listening while the patient does all the talking. No wonder they never get any better!”

Dr. Day’s therapy had numerous facets that I’ve never seen anywhere else, but which have proven helpful in sorting out people’s issues. His greatest contribution however, was his insight about why people get emotionally sick and how to help them get better. In the middle of a session when the client was elaborating on his or her problem, he would break in and say, “Can you ask me how I’m feeling?” His goal was in his words, to get them to “shift attention” away from themselves and learn to pay attention to someone else’s feelings. Although he didn’t purposely formulate it this way, his approach was remarkably Christian. At its root, sin is narcissistic, a focus on what I want; a neglect of the needs of others.

This morning as I rode into town for a doctor’s appointment, I was feeling pretty low. My life is pretty good, really, but I was burdened in my heart for the many people I know struggling with disease and death, with loneliness and disappointment, with fear and foreboding. To tell the truth, when I look at the present state of affairs in the world, it is pretty depressing. I wasn’t consciously thinking of any of this, but it was there, like a cloud hanging over my head. To clear my mind, while waiting to be called in, I read from my “go-to” devotional, “Daily Light.” In today’s reading were these words: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). I clung to these words like a drowning man to a life rope.

After the doctor’s visit, I had coffee and conversation with a friend, went home and helped my son split and stack wood, and then lent my tractor and time to my pastor to move wood chips from a tree stump he had ground up, before planting two yews he gave me. I’m tired and sore, but inside, I feel great...because all that time, I wasn’t thinking about me. I shifted attention, and it made all the difference!

Tonight’s reading caps it all off. The English is antiquated, but the message is clear. 

“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. 

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. - My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. - He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him. - The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”

These are certainly days of adversity, and when my strength is small, Jesus Christ gives power to the faint. His grace is sufficient. He answers when I call. He doesn’t usually do all this through magical or supernatural miracles, but through very ordinary means. I deliberately shift attention away from how I feel to the needs of others, and imperceptibly, but invariably, I feel better. It turned out to be a pretty good day, for which I am very thankful tonight. Thank you, Dr. Day!