Hey Partners
& Friends,
She wore several
layers of soiled tattered clothing, a raggedy old stocking cap, and pulled some
type of shopping cart. The cart packed with probably everything she possessed, a
bag lady.
I saw her
several times as I made my way to work through the streets of NYC. She was
always so intense, very busy, seemingly on an important mission of some kind, walking
rapidly from one corner to the next to direct traffic, like a traffic cop.
Apparently she had taken on this job as her responsibility and she was serious
about it.
Her own life
obliviously suffering from serious dysfunction, she desperately needed to be
able to control something in her world.
She had chosen
a monumental task to be sure, directing traffic on the streets of downtown NYC
is not a simple thing. Scowling, waving her arms, pointing at cars, motioning
for them to turn, flailing really, and throwing up her hands as a signal to
STOP! She would get more and more demonstrative as she became increasingly
frustrated with the futility of her efforts. None of the drivers were paying a
bit of attention to her, most didn’t even see her. But here’s the sinister
irony, occasionally a vehicle actually did stop or turn as she directed. It had
nothing to do with her frantic efforts. It was simply because the signal light
happened to match up with her dramatic gestures. The cruelty of this
illustration lies in the fact that when this happened it gave her the
impression she was in control! The reality being, she was totally powerless to
affect the traffic on the streets of NY, it was unmanageable.
Virtually all
of us have areas in our lives that are somewhat like the streets of NY, unmanageable,
out of our control where we are powerless to change. At times we think we have
control because occasionally circumstances line up with our efforts but the
truth is we can not manage at all. It’s like a cruel joke, ultimately the hurt,
habit or hang-up prevails once again. So we garner up our strength and go to
the next street
corner and do it all over again.
Celebrate
Recovery gives people a place to go other than the same old failed behavior, a
way to actually change things. The very first step of CR is;
“We admitted we were powerless over our
addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.”
Unless we able to take this step we find ourselves on the street corner of our
lives desperately trying to direct traffic.
As we walk the
road to recovery we learn how to turn these areas over to the only Higher Power
able to help us, Jesus Christ! Where we consciously choose to commit all our life and will to Christ’s care and control.
There is an
awfully lot of traffic out there for us to manage on our own. In fact it is a
monumental task, impossible without Jesus.
Thanks for
helping us share this message!
In
Christ all things become new,
Jim
& Pam
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