Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World
Day 30
Scripture focus: Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baca (weeping), they make it a place of springs…Psalm 84:5-6 NIV
“Tell me what to do.” She means it when she says it; she intends to follow through with any words of advice I manage to muster up on her behalf. I believe this with all my heart.
The problem lies in that her good intentions are trumped every day by her chemistry. Her brain is wired for addiction. In spite of her sincere efforts and best intentions, when she leaves my office she’s going to head downtown and acquire the very thing she hates – her drug of choice. Much of this is chemistry (for more information on this topic, go to www.northstarcommunity.com and watch the video on the physiology of addiction). It is also about vision, identity, purpose, discipline, and belief. In addition to exposure to massive amounts of drugs, genetic pre-wiring, poor choices, and a host of consequences – both neurological and others – this sad soul has some problems with the “five.” Her vision is clouded by both chemicals and culture. Her identity is intimately associated with a family that knows more about addiction, shame, and suffering than freedom, confidence and satisfaction. She has absolutely no reason to accept the premise that God has big plans for her life that include both hope and a future. In fact, death would be a welcome relief. It’s not the dying that terrifies – it’s the fear that this cycle of suffering might continue for years. Her daily disciplines include a crafty ability to prey on the pity of others and acquire what her body so desperately needs without a moment’s consideration of the deep thirst in her soul. Her beliefs are defined by life experience. Suffice it to say, that is not good news.
Sobriety is essential if she’s ever going to know a better life on planet earth. But it’s going to require more than abstinence from her drugs of choice to thrive. At some point in the process of renewal, she must allow her pain to be transformed into purpose. Stephen Arterburn’s book Reframe Your Life, makes a strong case for the necessity of this process. Using Jesus as an example of the ultimate reframer, Arterburn not only dissects barriers to this process (we looked at some of those in our first two weeks of devotions) but delivers antidotes (humility and willingness). He also casts a vision for us founded on belief in God and informed by the character of God. This reveals not only God’s prevailing purposes but our life’s work. Commitment to the discipline required for such a radical shift in thinking, doing and becoming will necessitate divine intervention. He concludes his study with these words: “Life is good when God is our strength and we have set our hearts upon a pilgrimage. In God’s strength, we are moving toward something better. We are on a journey, and all we are is focused on that pilgrimage toward something better. Our hearts are not set on the daily struggles we experience. Our hearts are not set on a past we cannot change because we are moving toward something far greater. It is a future of wholeness and healing, so we accept the challenge to keep on moving.” (pp. 225-226)
"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein
Many of us have been more focused on our struggles than solutions. Are you ready to try a new strategy?
Recommended reading: Exodus 10 and 11 in the morning; Matthew 20 and Psalm 25 in the evening
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23 TNIV
1 comment:
I think of this (for me) as the difference between "good behavior" (and trying to tick off a list of good things to do).... and transformation. The BELIEF that when I follow the Christ centered twelve steps i WILL be changed from the inside out. And for me it DID start with "doing" what i was told. When i FINALLY started doing what trusted people suggested-over and over-whether i felt like it or not-i started seeing differently, FEELING differently and THEN came understanding instead of mimicking. But that wasnt until i had tried EVERY other way to get out..(or to stay IN really) I couldnt just "give" my trust to God anymore than i could "give" it to someone else who i didnt know. SO little by little i got to know the character of God as lived out through others in my community. Many with the same story as me and some MUCH more tragic. I saw these peoples children grow up, not without problems, but wind up making it despite the addiction or dysfunction they were brought into. Children, and sometimes husbands and wives, learning lessons in their consequences-their sufferings. I cried with mothers & wives who later cried with me about hard decisions that had to be made. Teresa asked us in a class once called Help For Hurting Parents (my children were young and i was hoping to aviod becoming one) "you will fight for your children make no mistake, the only question is, how big a battlefield do you want to fight on?" Those words sunk in even if i forgot much else of the class- sorry i digress, but it goes back for me in having to make choices that didnt seem right, would make me unpopular and were even scary sometimes. And it all started when i was empty of any more ideas of my own and something else was working for other folks. In other words, certain people had something i wanted so i did what they did to get it. And those same people are my accountability partners today-because im never gonna "get it right" on a constant basis. But that doesnt mean when i dont "get it right", I cant MAKE it right.
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