A new survey presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association suggests that faith can affect a person's mental well-being. Researchers discovered people who regularly attend church are less likely to suffer from depression and other psychiatric illnesses. Results also suggest the more often a person attends worship, the less likely they were to suffer from depression, mania, and panic disorders.

The survey questioned 37,000 people over the age of fifteen and asked how often they attended religious services, and then to rate, on a scale of 1 to 4 whether spiritual values provided meaning to their lives. Researchers think social support systems are partially responsible for some of the difference, but believe meaning in life plays a big role.

Researcher Marilyn Baetz, MD says the men and women who reported a greater sense of meaning in their lives were significantly less likely to have problems with alcohol or drugs. Baetz said the results indicate, "Spirituality is dramatically important" to avoiding destructive patterns of substance abuse. She said, "A psychiatric disorder is a big thing. It causes you to search for what's going on, for meaning and significance. Pushed to the limit of their own personal resources, the illness causes people to search for answers outside themselves."

—http://www.foxnews.com, Spirituality May Improve Mental Health, May, 27, 2005. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Jeremiah 33:3 MSG "Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own."

Some things are more meaningless than others are. Australian Graham Barker has collected belly button lint for the past 26 years. He now has enough lint, pulled from his own navel, to fill three jars and tips the scales at just less than one ounce.

--World, November 20, 2010, p. 69 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

There could be worse ways to spend ones time, but I cannot think of many more meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 (NIV) “The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: (2) ‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’"

Have you missed the travel scene since the Covid-19 pandemic reduced mass travel? Qantas Airlines offered some hope for those who were missing traveling. The Australian airline announced a flight to nowhere in September. The airline sold out 134 tickets in 10 minutes with the promise the passengers could fly out of Sydney on a 787 Dreamliner to go sightseeing around south Australia before landing again in Sydney. The plane flew at an average elevation of about 4000 feet. Travelers paid $575 for coach and $2,765 for business class. People stuck at home in 2020 because of the Coronavirus pandemic snapped the tickets up.

There is not a lot of sights to see through the small windows on the side of an airliner. The selling point for this flight was just the opportunity to get out of town. Many people are having trouble finding meaning during this time of lockdowns and travel restrictions. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.