Posts Tagged: addiction

“LIVING FOR THE MOMENT OR IN THE MOMENT?

My daily affirmation for today is as follows: “Today, by the grace of God, I will focus on the good stuff about God, other people, the world, and myself.

When I sent my sponsor this affirmation, he commented, “My attention for your affirmation is focus. To me it means living in the moment.”

I replied, “Dear ______,

That is a very good point.

Living only for the moment has gotten me into a lot of trouble in the past, and the results of such living persist to this day.

However, living in the moment is a very good thing.

Prepositions matter!  (I think I feel a blog post coming on!  Or, perhaps it’s just the flu.)”

Of course, I may be splitting grammatical/lexical hairs here.  However, I don’t think so.  Here is how I would differentiate between “living only for the moment” from “living in the moment.”

Living only for the moment is another way of speaking of “instant gratification.”  And instant gratification doesn’t particularly gratify anyone in the long haul.  This kind of “living in the moment” means manipulating other people and reality for my own short-term enjoyment.  Such short-term enjoyment obviously feels good “in the moment.”  If it did not, who would ever engage in it?  However, the enjoyment is very short-lived.

But this form of living “for the moment” has huge long-term costs.  It harms other people, and leaves an empty place in my own heart—an empty place that I try to fill by the very short-sighted, immediately gratifying attitudes and actions that created that empty place in the first place.

And voila!  An addiction is born and nurtured!

Living in the moment creatively is another matter altogether.  Living in the moment in this sense means experiencing the present in an open and caring manner.  It means cherishing (or at least enduring) the moments as they unfold.  It does not mean ripping present moments out of their larger context of relationships and future plans.  Rather, this kind of holy “living in the moment” means enjoying the moments as the good gifts God has given to us.

So, for today, moment by moment, am I going to live only for the moment, or am I going to live in the moment?

And how about you?

Opening the Shutters Wide

A comrade in the struggle against addiction gave me a wonderful metaphor today for how to look at our life.  One of our topics was sharing our experience, hope, and strength concerning how to move beyond our own limited perceptions of our own selves.

One brother, Frank (not his real name) said, “Sometimes, I think I’m opening the shutters of my mind just a crack, and looking out on reality.  But the problem is that I am just seeing all the ways I’ve harmed myself and others.”

We all nodded.  Non-addicts sometimes fear that people acknowledge their “addiction” (if there is really even such a thing, according to the very skeptical), in order to excuse their own destructive choices.  I would not deny that there are those who use addiction language in that manner.  However, what I have experienced—as well as I’ve noticed about my fellow-addicts—is that twelve-step recovery programs generally tend to heighten the realization of the radical, multiple harms we’ve done.

So, our real problem is that we tend to think of ourselves as addicts and nothing else.

. . .  Well, back to the comments Frank was making.  He wasn’t quite finished.  His next contribution brought me up short.  Probably did the same for several others.  Our nodding heads suddenly became cocked heads as we listened to Frank say something many of us had not thought of.  Or perhaps, we had simply forgotten.

“But then, I open the shutters wider, and I see more of the landscape.  And what I see is still the evils I’ve done, but I also see a lot of good things I’ve done.”

Of course, my sweet wife has often reminded me of all the good things I’ve done over the years.  Some friends have tried to tell me as well.

However, for the past several weeks, I’ve been struggling with a depression deeper than any I’ve experienced for a long time.  So, perhaps I was just needier and open to hearing this truth this morning.  Suddenly, the shutters of my mind were thrown wide open!

Here is the truth: None of us is a bag of gold.  None of us is a total dirt bag.  What all of us are is a mixed bag.  Humility doesn’t mean opening the shutters only enough to hate ourselves for the very real wrongs we’ve done.  Humility is throwing open the shutters wide, and seeing what is really there—everything, the good bad, and the search-me-stuff.

And perhaps, running fast across the landscape, we may see a loving Father, running toward us to rescue all of his scared little adults and children, who are his prodigal children.

The Long War

I met him in a church basement, a few days into my service in The Long War.  He was old and grizzled and his face was scarred from many a wound.  He was drinking his coffee black, no sugar.

“Come sit down, young soldier,” he growled, somewhere between an invitation and an order.

I sat.

He looked me up and down.  We sat in silence.  His eyes came to rest on my eyes, looking not so much at, as through.  Finally, his voice cut through the silence.

“So, you are new to The Resistance, I see.”

I nodded.

“No scars yet?  Don’t worry, son, you’ll have plenty before they dump you in a grave.  Likely as not, it’ll be unmarked, and no one will weep.”

He leaned toward me, but his gaze was fixed on my soul still.  “Would you like some advice?  Who knows?  It might keep you out of the grave for a little while.”

I nodded.  I was in way over my head, and I knew it.  What was I thinking when I decided to rebel?  Or was I thinking?  But here I was—cold, and lonely, and scared, wondering how long it would be before I was as old and beat up as this warrior.  How old was he?  I couldn’t tell.

“I’m only thirty-two,” he said, apparently reading what I had been thinking.  What might have passed for a smile faded from his face before it could be positively identified.  “Still, I was young not so long ago, like you.  And I thought the war would be over by now.  I know better now.  I know now why they call this “The Long War”.

He sat back, and took a sip of his coffee, and grimaced.  “Some fool has let my coffee get cold,” he said.  He drank the rest of his coffee in two gulps, and sat the cup down on the table, none too gently.

“And now for the advice,” he said.

“The enemy don’t give a rip about fightin’ fair.  The enemy don’t care whether it kills you by night or by day.  And the enemy don’t sleep.

“You’ll be alone, and the enemy will stick a knife in your back, or you’ll be with your comrades, and the enemy will pick you out and pick you off.

“Nine times out of ten, you won’t even see the enemy, but rest assured, the enemy is still there.

“You could surrender, you know.  You’ll want to do that a thousand times.  But remember that the enemy takes no prisoners, except to torture and use for propaganda.  And, of course, the enemy will kill you in the end, anyway.

“There will be times when you’ll think it would be best to end it all yourself, choose your own time, your own method.  But then you’ll remember that there might be someone who loves you, and that you are part of the Resistance, and you’ll fight on, even when you don’t feel like it, even when you want to die.

“The enemy will turn your family against you, friends will desert you, and you’ll be called a terrorist by people who don’t even want to admit there’s a war.  But there’s a war alright.  And you’re a soldier now, and you are the battlefield.  And remember one thing more.”

Here, he paused to make sure I was with him, and not merely thinking about how to escape from this basement, this man, this reality.  When he was sure that I was captured, he said,

“And one thing more, you must never forget: You are also the enemy!”

He pushed his chair back from the table to get another cup of coffee.

I headed for the door, his words echoing, echoing.

“And you are also the enemy!”

“Also the enemy!”

“Also the enemy!”

I stumbled out the door to face the darkness, to face the enemy, to face my addiction.

GRACE AND DISCIPLINE

“GRACE AND DISCIPLINE”

Most mornings, I begin my day with an e mail report or a phone call to my 12-step sponsor.  He has encouraged me to include a personal affirmation, and I’ve been doing that most days for some time now.

Here is our e mail exchange this morning.

“Dear Sponsor,

No violations.

AFFIRMATION: Today, by God’s grace, I will not be timid, fighting off my back foot.  I will be aggressive when it comes to living a good, holy, loving life.

I hope that you have a wonderful day.

Me”

My sponsor replied to my report and affirmation as follows:

“I hope ‘fighting’ is minimal and enjoyment maximum.”

I replied to his reply as follows:

“Dear Sponsor,

The battle to live an enjoyable life is mostly (for me, at least) a battle to live a disciplined and graced life.  When I live as a person who knows that he has received huge grace from God and many people, and when I live a disciplined life, joy is a natural fruit of that way of living.

Me”

I’ve noticed that people who live a disciplined life are not necessarily happy people.  They often are like one definition of perfectionists: “Perfectionists are people who take great pains, and give them to others.”  Some people turn self-discipline into rigor—or even, into rigor mortis!

I’ve also noticed that people who are very well aware of grace are not always happy people.  If they lack discipline, they always have at least a vague awareness that they are not living up to grace.  They have a sneaking feeling that they are somehow betraying the grace they have been given.  This is because that is what they are doing.

I have been (and am still, sometimes) both kinds of people.  I have abused both grace and discipline.

Nowadays, I’m trying to recognize them as twin companions on my journey.  They are both important.  No, that’s not right.  They are both essential!

In a little-known passage in a not-generally-popular book of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul points out in a wonderful way how grace and self-discipline go together.  Apparently, Grace runs a school of self-discipline.  I close with these verses from Titus 2:11-14:

“11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

DTEB

What Is the Glory of God, and How Do I Glorify God?

Yesterday was a difficult day, and seems to have spilled over into today.

My sweetheart gave her notice at work on Monday, and her employers (or some of them, at least) are not treating her kindly.  She is sick this morning.  This is probably caused by the intense stress she is under.

I found out about a possible teaching position on Monday, only to be told on Tuesday that there are “. . . thirty-five highly qualified applicants . . .” already.

And then, there is my guilt.  Why did I not work harder and save more earlier in my life?  Why did I sacrifice all kinds of relationships, money, opportunities, gifts, to the not-so-great god of my addiction?  Beating myself up is not helpful, but it’s such great fun.

I thought of those verses that say that we are to “glorify God in all things.”  How do I glorify God with all this stuff, I wondered.  How do I glorify God with/in the mess I’ve created?

I was also puzzled as to what the glory of God is, and how I could glorify God.  How can I glorify God, if I don’t even know what that means?   So I did what we all do: I googled it.  There were several helpful sites, but this one especially struck me.

http://founders.org/fj56/all-to-the-glory-of-god/, accessed 8-31-2016.

I glorify God by receiving from God, and by enjoying God and God’s blessings: Yes!

I can either look back with regret, or I can look up to where God sits enthroned.  Where I look will determine what I see.

So, how will I glorify God today?  I will receive from God a fresh sense of hope and purpose.  I will receive God’s reassurance that I am loved and have been forgiven.  I will receive and welcome God’s truth that I am influenced by my past, but that I am not determined by my past, and that I can choose to be influenced by my past in a redemptive manner.  My past can make me more humble and more kind to everyone.

One of the gifts God is giving me today is August 31, 2016.  I will receive it and enjoy it!  Above all, I will enjoy the God who gives me this day.

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