Wow, if you live anywhere near me you know that it has gotten pretty hot lately. Yesterday we took a little trip to beat the heat. Along with my wife and a couple of friends (pretty much the Friday night band from Celebrate Recovery) I headed up the highway to play music at a friend’s church. I had several fun parts to my day: eating fantastic bbq, going to the bakery in Bishop, playing worship music to an enthusiastic crowd, listening to jazz with Mark, seeing Steve in a bow tie…But one of the best things was watching the thermometer drop as we gained altitude. It was fantastic!
As we left Lone Pine and 103 of soothing Fahrenheit I watched the thermometer closely, desperately hoping to crash through the 100 degree floor and find the 90’s again. It almost happened; we hit 100 in Bishop but didn’t get any lower. I was pretty tempted to drive further north just to get that soothing that I knew would happen. Perhaps Mammoth would be a nice place to visit on a Sunday afternoon…Alas, due to schedules and life we had to return and watched the car’s readout climb up to 113 by the time we got home…at least it was almost 5 in the evening!😖
I think I do this a lot in my recovery. I find myself on a quest to change what is happening in my life, get some success, then plunge back into the “heat” that I had finally escaped. It’s easy to do, because even though I might not like my circumstances, it’s what I know so it become the default.
By leaning on Step 3 (turn my life and control over to God) I can find those cooler temperatures. It’s not always easy, I’ll give you that, but it’s doable. We see bumper stickers with the cliches: One Day at a Time; Let Go, Let God; Easy Does It…There’s so many of them out there. Here’s the thing about a cliche though – in order to become one, there is usually a modicum of truth in there. So I keep stepping, one foot in front of the other…
-Rise Up!
Minister Of Mocha 