The Germans have a word for it: Kummerspeck, commonly translated “grief bacon.” Not exactly. Kummer does mean grief, and Speck is the word for bacon, but a better translation might be “sorrow fat.” It’s what happens to you when you’re feeling sad and try to eat your way to happiness. I added Kummerspeck to my waistline when I used chocolate-covered donuts to recover from some unpleasant situations. The triglycerides are still floating around in my blood stream.

Emotions sometimes lead us to do the wrong thing. Maybe eating too much makes us feel better temporarily, but long term it has bad consequences. Nevertheless, I don’t advocate becoming emotionless Mr. Spoks. We need emotions like sadness for us to have empathy with someone. Without sadness we wouldn’t feel loss.

The problem with our emotions comes when we react to them in unhealthy ways. We misplace a piece of jewelry we had since high school or a good friend moves away, and the next thing we know a quart of chocolate ice cream is gone.

What should we do? First, as the old hymn says, “take it to the Lord in prayer.” It’s a strange thing, but often we turn away from the Lord when we are combating sadness. That’s the opposite of what we should do. We need God.

Second, turn to other people–not for their sympathy but to care for them, to aid them in their needs. One way to get around sadness is to turn outside ourselves. It is in giving that we receive.

May you be spared from Kummerspeck.

Read Psalm 5:11-12 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne