Addiction is a...

  I was talking with a friend last week and we were talking about his past issues with alcohol and his current job at a local detox center.  I learned that you see a lot of interesting things at a detox center, especially when working midnights.  Through this conversation I was reminded of the issues of addictions and how they can over run our lives very easily if we are not careful.  Addictions do not strictly relate to drugs, alcohol or even food.  I know this may sound kind of simplistic, but addiction really is anything that has an improper balance in our life.  What I mean by this is that what ever our addiction is, it either has improper placement in our life, or it consumes our life.  There is nothing wrong with playing fantasy sports, but when one spends countless hours getting ready for ones draft and then several hours daily/weekly on that fantasy sports, there just might be a problem.  I have come to the conclusion in the past that addictions boil down to having a misplaced view of ourselves and or God.  We either view ourselves or God to highly or do not give one or the other enough dignity.  When this happens, we tend to overcompensate with thoughts, attitudes or actions.  This is where we get into trouble.

  Where we try and overcompensate is what I like to call coverings.  These are things that are usually pretty harmless, and often are considered good characteristics.  But these good characteristics can be used and abused into addiction. When we take these good qualities and we distort them, it is often to cover up an issue that we don't want to deal with. One example is that most everyone values hard work and having a good work ethic.  We can even justify it by saying that we need to work a lot of hours to pay off bills, provide for the family, to make sure that one can retire.  These are all good things, but when we are consumed on making the almighty dollar there is something wrong. 

  Another thing that I have learned about these coverings is that they tend to help us avoid reality. We go to them so that we can put off dealing what is in front of us.  I think the biggest reason why we do these coverings is that these things will not disappoint, let us down or tell us no.  These things tell us either we don't have to change, to keep to doing what were doing and that its not us, its always someone else's fault.  These coverings tend to make our dysfunction minimal and the others peoples problem the bigger problem.  It tends to lead to the blame game and an unhealthy balance.  We do not to be told that we are wrong or that we need to change, that is why we keep going to those things that calm us and pets our ego.  In all reality it is a form of escapism and when done for a prolong period of time, it can be vary dangerous and detrimental. 

  The flip side is that we use these coverings to try and change ourselves or others.  We think if we just work harder, pray even harder, stop doing a certain activity, or doing a certain activity, that we can change.  I'm not going to argue that there are things that we need to do, but when we develop the attitude of "work harder" or I just have to push through it, it tends to make things worse.  This type of attitude is more of a works righteousness, or its all about me.  I got myself into this mess, I can get myself out.  Here is the problem, having this attitude is often what got us into this mess, so trying to work our way out usually makes the situation worse because we are usually the ones that got us into the mess to begin with. This is where the grace of God comes in and allowing Him to change us, this is the only way we can experience true freedom.  It is a realization that it is not about me and that I need help and that I need a Savior. 

   I know this is a very simple post on addiction, and that most addictions take years of hard work to overcome.  There also might be a realization that this is something that we will struggle with for the rest of our lives.  We need to be willing to put in boundaries, have accountability and know what our triggers are.  When we do these things and have a willingness to change and even seek professional help to deal with it.  This is when we can start to over come it and grow in grace

Time is....

   One of the best and most challenging times of the church calendar year is the season of Lent.  Lent is very cool because it signifies that Easter is right around the corner and the crux of the Christian faith is about to be celebrated in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Also, all the Easter candy isn't half bad either, especially when we get to over stuff ourselves with Cadbury eggs and Peeps.  In all the joyous hope of what the resurrection of Jesus and sugar highs can bring, there is a part of Lent that is challenging if we chose to acknowledge and participate in it.  This harsh reality is that Lent forces us to not only face our own mortality and the most famous way of exiting earth is through death, but we also recognize that we are not perfect and that there are things that we need to improve on.  There are many people who give up or fast things for Lent that may have a misplaced priority in their life.  It could be anything from certain foods, to television, and technology.  Hopefully, during this time of fasting, we are putting into practice good and healthy boundaries and practices to replace what we are fasting from.  If not, we will find something just as equally destructive to take the place of what we are fasting. During this time of Lent, I have came up with a profound thought for me and that is I have come to realize that throughout the Old Testament, God mentions repeatedly that the Israelites are consistently stealing from Him.  There are various thefts that God calls out the nation of Israel on.  I know I don't like to hear this, but God has called me out on how I steal and one of the more common thefts I do is through time. 

  Through this awareness, I have realized that we all have gifts and talents, and when we do not use them to the best of our ability, or for the right purposes, we are stealing from God.  Some might say, what is the gift of time?  I know we all get twenty four hours a day and seven days a week, but it is how we use that time.  We are all called to use it wisely.  I also know that we all have different amounts of free time, due to family/relationship, church, and work commitments.  I think how we use them signifies how are relationship with God is going.  If we spend to much time and effort in one area, the others are going to become out of balance.  How do I make sure that I use my time well. 

  The first realization I have is that I have a lot more free time than most and heres why.  I am single with no kids, so this frees up a lot of time.  I am not saying that being in a relationship or having kids is a bad thing, but it is a realization that I do not have to invest time into those areas that other people do.  My only real time focus is my job (because I want to pay my bills) and some commitments at church.  I might have a few extra things to do that my mom or others ask me to do, but in all reality, my work commitment is the biggest time constraint that I have to my time.  So I am working through how to use my time better.  Here is some things that I have learned

  The first one is that time is a gift from God and it even might be a spiritual gift.  I know Paul doesn't point blank name time as a spiritual gift, but I think it is as how we use those gifts is a reflection of how we use or don't use our time.  As with any spiritual gift, it can be used for building the Kingdom of God, or for our own pleasures.  I know I am pretty good at taking what I am good at and using it for my advantages and doing things that I want to do.  The time of Lent is suppose to be a time where we are reflecting and finding out how we can use our giftings for God's glory and not personal gain.

   The second realization that I came to, is that if there isn't accountability, things wont get done.  I am learning to allow people in my life to help keep me accountable.  A great way to find accountability, is by joining a small group or creating one.  It is finding a couple people where you all can share what's going on, and pray for each other.  It is more than just praying for warmer weather or someone's stubbed toe.  It is finding those couple people you trust to share life with and to celebrate the good stuff, and to challenge each other on our attitudes and actions.    For me I can waste time like no other, especially on my days off.  I am learning that I need to be more proactive in what I do and not just do what comes to me.  I can waste a lot of time on the internet, but for me it is finding time to do more writing and reading.  I can say I am going to do those things, but if I don't develop a plan, and have accountability, they are not going to get done. 

  The third thing that I have realized is that I have noticed when I do not use my time wisely, that when I struggle with others areas of life.  When I am not making the commitment for my devotional life or am content in just wasting time doing other things,  this is when I tend to struggle with eating and a host of other things.  One of the things that comes to mind is the saying "idle hands are the devils playground."  Now this saying may not be completely true, but when my time because unproductive or even things that God has not called me to do at that time, I know I will struggle.

  The final thing that I have learned is that if you want to know what is important to someone, find out what they spend most of there time doing.  This excludes work, because we all need to pay the bills.  When its not employment time, what we do most of, I have a hunch is where are greatest strength's are and where we struggle the most.  We need to find a balance in life and knowing where our strength's are and where the pitfalls are and how we can work to miss them. 

  One last thought, I have a friend from seminary who is a pastor in Louisiana by the name of Chad Brooks (@revchadbrooks) who has a podcast called the Productive Pastor.  It deals a lot with the issue of time and how we use it in and out of ministry settings.  He is a great resource of how to better use time