I have nothing to say today. I can't think of anything at all, except to say I have nothing to say. But I made a commitment to write a post five days a week, so here I sit.
I read somewhere writers must write at least 300 words a day in order to keep up with the habit of writing. So, that is what I will do.
Oh, and I also read somewhere that if you don't know what you are going to write about, but you still want to write, just sit down at the time and place you usually write and start writing. They probably didn't mean to inflict that complete randomness to those people who are kind enough to read this blog. But, nonetheless, here I sit.
I guess in some ways, writing is a bit like exercising. You don't really want to do it, and it takes a lot of dedication, but you almost always feel like you have accomplished something afterwards. And when my alarm goes off at that un-godly hour of the morning, I put my feet on the ground and just get up without even thinking. I hope writing can work like that too.
Oh, here is something interesting (maybe this whole sitting down and writing thing really works!). I read somewhere else that when people who are in recovery from addiction more often than not they will throw that emotional energy into something else. And for many people that is religion. I agree with this. I have met many people who have told me they found their "Lord and Savior, who saved me from the demon drink." But I wonder if it is actually the other way around. Rather than their faith helping them reach sobriety, they were able to do that momentous thing themselves. But in order to fill the void of their addiction, they turn to religion instead.
I am not saying at all this is a bad thing. If people can find a religious or spiritual tradition which brings them comfort and peace, then thanks be to God. No need to question how they got there.
And in some ways, I am wondering if this same phenomena is happening to me. There is a type of void left which I am no longer filling with food. And lately a lot of my energy has been going into deepening my faith and supporting my church. Which I think is wonderful. Again, no need to question a good thing.
Alright, that should be about 300 words, yes? Sorry to inflict such randomness on you all, but I am in that kind of mood today. Maybe I will go read my Lenten devotional now (ha ha, but, actually, I am serious).
Hi! As a person in recovery, I think I disagree with your perception of the roll of faith in recovery. Part of the question is a chicken and the egg question, but most people that I know in recovery agree that addiction, while a disease, is primarily a spiritual sickness. The program of recovery that I follow acknowledges as one of it's first step the need to surrender our lives over to the care of a Higher Power. For me, I found recovery and my church the same week. It isn't really an issue of substitution, but an issue of faith and dependence. During the thirty years that I have been free from my addiction, it has become very clear that the only thing that keeps me in recovery is my relationship with God. This isn't because I have put my energy into my religion rather than into my addiction, but because my higher power is the foundation of my recovery. It sounds like a subtle difference, but in truth, it is a critical difference. Many people in recovery would shutter and scream at the comment that we can "do this momentous thing ourselves". The major point of my recovery program is to teach me that I cannot do it myself. That recovery takes both reliance on a higher power, and the strength of my recovery community, It speaks often of the many people who have tried time and again to find recovery on their own, only to fail again and again. Go to any meeting of a recovering group of people and you will hear the many stories of failure at attempting sobriety in a personal vacuum and many stories of success when people learned to rely on their Higher Power and each other. I would love to talk more to you about all of this, and know that there are others in recovery that would like to as well. I also know that you probably wouldn't not expect what you wrote as a casual comment to stir so much of a reaction in my soul. I just think it's really critical that you hear the different voices within the recovery community. While we may sound a bit zealous and exuberant about being "saved from the "demon drink" What that means in our lives is a critical and vital truth. God Bless.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comments! As someone who is not in recovery but working with those who are, you are absolutely correct that I should be careful about making broad generalizations. And I truly appreciate your insight. If I do know anything about recovery, it is that everyone's experience is different. I was reflecting on something I read in one of Anne Lamott's books. She is a wonderful lay theologian and in recovery herself. She was speaking about her church and faith filling a void she used to fill with alcohol. But I have encountered many people who rely on their higher power, as one man recently put it to me, "to hold me together with a string." Again, thank you for your comment and I look forward to our dialogue continuing.
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