Commercials
I’m not weird. Really!
I thought I’d start with that because recently, while watching TV, a commercial that really bothers me came on. I’m going to try not to use trademark names, so if it’s not obvious what I’m referring to, search for it online.
This commercial was made by a company most noted for its nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, achy, so you can rest cold medicine. Several years ago, this company figured out that some people bought and used the cold medicine to help them sleep, and said, “Aha! Sounds like there is a need for a new product.” So, they modified their cold medicine to produce a sleep aid. That part doesn’t bother me; it’s just good marketing.
What bothers me is their commercial. In it, the spouse explains her husband always has trouble sleeping on Sunday night, but not this one because he took the product.
I understand occasional sleeplessness because of things going on. Heck, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with a, I believe, Holy Spirit-inspired idea for a devotion. It was the sleeplessness every Sunday night that bothered me. There must be something causing her husband not to be able to sleep on a Sunday night! Is it worry about having to go to work the next day? Is it a person he has to interact with on Mondays? It must be something specific that happens every Sunday night. Instead of figuring out the problem, the wife is elated to slap a Band-Aid on the issue by giving him a sleep aid.
“Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” - Matthew 6:25-34 ESV
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:4-7
I’ve had unreasonable bosses in my past, so if your reaction by quoting these passages is, “it’s easy for you to say, you don’t know what I have to put up with,” you’d be wrong. I wish I had taken my own advice back then because later I found out I wasn’t holding it all in. Part of it was slipping out and impacting my family, and not impacting my family was the whole reason I was trying to live with the situation, ironically.
I have no idea what would have happened if I had decided to remove myself from that toxic work environment. I’m sure, however, that taking medicine to help me sleep wouldn’t have improved my situation.
