In the mental hospital there is a cabinet designated sharps that is locked because it contains things that someone could cut themselves with. A cognitive sharp isn’t something that necessarily hurts you but it is something that you can take and go hurt yourself with (often with little volition on your part). For me Romans 5:3 is the ultimate cognitive sharp:

Not only so, but we[a] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

(NIV)

My life screams the opposite of this as loud as it can. For example, people head for the exits when you suffer. That tends to not produce hope. When your mental health goes down your experience of God goes out the window or even turns against you. And Christians drop out of your life like flies and don’t come in. If suffering really was redemptive people would treat you like they treat you when something good actually happens like hitting the Powerball.

The second cognitive sharp is the Wheaton Center for Faith and Disability. This one is emotionally rending to write about. Wheaton College is the self-described “Protectant Vatican” and I ended up going there because I didn’t get into my first choice of college. I was one of the very few alumni with both a physical disability (some visual impairment) and a mental illness. I went there and I even worked there. Then Wheaton comes of with this center for faith and disability run by people without disabilities themselves. It is so paternalistic. I have a lot to say about faith and disability but since it’s not all puppies and rainbows my voice is ignored.