Meditation Moment- Prayer for Protection and Safety

There are many prayers for protection and safety. Here is one you may want to use today. Do not rush prayer; breathe.

The light of God surrounds me,

The love of God enfolds me,

The power of God protects me,

The resene of God watches over me,

Wherever I am God is, and all is well.

Amen

Addiction: A Dream Stealer

Addiction robs us of our dreams and steals our joy. We end up in a state of perpetual dis-ease. We lose consciousness of God, our place in his story, and an awareness of how our choices affect others - even those we love to pieces. Our mind develops a specific way of coping with our loss of consciousness of who we are and how much God loves us. We have a limited range of emotions that we habitually experience; we practice certain behaviors that we have grown attached to using to get what we think we need to survive; we have repetitive thoughts and our thinking becomes unproductive as we habitually think about our life in limited ways. This problem is not unique to those of us who struggle with substance use. All humans struggle with loss of focus and fixations. These fixations and coping strategies are ways we deal with our forgetfulness about who we are and who God is.

[Jesus said…] I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

~ John 10:6-10 The Message

Jesus presents in his teaching time and again this idea that he came to give us something good. God demonstrates over and over how he has the capacity and will to bless us. These are not small, hungry, angry narcissistic gods who want us to feed and entertain them. God’s disposition is to love us. His power is harnessed and utilized for the purpose of restoration. Our restoration.

Recognizing Compulsions

My brother was five when he had his first drink. It was a steamy hot day and dad had just cut the grass. He grabbed a beer and sat at the kitchen table. My brother bugged and begged for a sip. Dad, assuming the kid would HATE it, gave him a taste. My brother reports that in that instant he found his purpose for living. Convinced that he had found his magic elixir for life, he remembers that from that day forward he could not wait to drink again.

This did not work out well for him. Not everyone has a Substance Use Disorder with such a clear start date. Some of us have to practice more. But for Gary, his obsession was launched when he did what small kids do - try to copy their daddy’s every move. Over the course of the next twenty plus years Gary still pursued a dream. Culinary school at one of the finest institutions in the world was his biggest endeavor and he quickly proved his ability and giftedness in the classroom. Six weeks before graduation blew his best efforts and was promptly dismissed. Many call this self-sabotage. And it was. But more importantly, it is a symptom of a disease that crowds out all desire for anything but our addiction and the lie that we need it to survive.

Have you ever had a compulsion that took and took and never ultimately gave us what it initially promised? Think about it. Ask yourself - are your compulsions trustworthy?

Meditation Moment- Prayer of Loving-Kindness

This prayer of loving-kindness comes from the Buddhist tradition but has been adapted for this material:

Lord, may I be at peace.

Father, may my heart remain open.

Holy Spirit, guide me as I seek to know myself, experience healing, and draw near to you.

Grant that I might be a source of healing for others.

Even as I am grateful to those who support my healing.

Amen

Breathe slowly and pause at each line. Dare to hope that you can be peaceful, open, supported, healed and walk in conscious contact with God. Even better? Your healing makes it possible for you to be a source of healing for others! Gratitude abounds!

Sacred Suffering

Suffering asks us to figure out what we truly believe. Honestly. Not what I want to think of myself, not what I want to convince someone else to think of me - the plain truth and nothing but the truth. It also requires a certain level of trust in God. Mike O’Neill in his book the Power to Choose says, “There’s no power in something that you’re supposed to believe but don’t.” We need to work hard to evaluate what we really, truly believe about God.

What I believe about me teaches me what I truly believe about God; what I believe about God informs what I believe about myself. These two beliefs are mirror reflections of each other.

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it - we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him - and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.

~ 1 John 3:1-3 The Message