Purpose Driven Life: Day 11

BEING A FRIEND OF GOD



POINT TO PONDER:

God wants to be my best friend.


VERSE TO REMEMBER:

"The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him." [Psalm 25:14a]


RICK WARRENS THOUGHTS:

Your relationship with God has many different aspects: God is your Creator and Maker, Lord and Master, Judge, Redeemer, Father, Savior, and much more. But the most shocking truth is this: Almighty God yearns to be your Friend!

"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you." [John 15:15].

THERE ARE TWO PRIMARY WAYS TO GROW IN FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD: (i) Through CONSTANT conversation; and (ii) Through CONTINUAL meditation.

Friendship with God is built by sharing all your life experiences with him.

A common misconception is that "spending time with God" means being alone with him.
Everything you do can be "spending time with God" if he is invited to be a part of it and you stay aware of his presence.

Practicing the presence of God is a skill, a habit you can develop.
You must train your mind to remember God.
At first you will need to create reminders to regularly bring your thoughts back to the awareness that God is with you in that moment.
Benedictine monks use the hourly chimes of a clock to remind them to pause and pray "the hour prayer." If you have a watch or cell phone with an alarm you could do the same.


D-MONK'S THOUGHTS

As an addict and a Christian, I yearn and hunger for an experience of the presence of God. I want to make myself available to God always. But, for whatever reason, I don't.

I have been reading some of the reflections of Brother Lawrence recently. He is a monk who sought to put everything he did in the presence of God. Whether it be prayer, washing the dishes, or taking a walk, he always sought to keep the presence of God in his mind.

I think God can and WANTS to be a friend. The question is whether I am willing to open my life to him. He stands at the door and knocks, will I let him in?

Merry Christmas!

As recovering addicts we believe in a higher power that can restore us to sanity.

As we turn our lives over to the care of God as we understand God,
D-Monk goes home to celebrate the infusion of that Higher Power into our own world.

Christmas celebrates the Incarnation, the willingness of the divine to shed its divinity and enter into our human history.

"By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace."

--Luke 1:78-79

Whatever your belief ...
whatever your Higher Power ...
whatever your circumstance as we approach this Christmas ...

I wish you Peace, Joy, and Hope for the coming year!

A Time of Dryness

The addict is living in a time of dryness. He is thirsty. Like the skeleton in the Police's "King of Pain," the addict chokes on a crust of bread.

Where is life? Where is the water? Where is the fountain for the addict's hope?

In the desert, life goes on ... The addict stumbles and cycles through the same self-defeating behaviors. Occasionally the addict sees an oasis on the horizon ... but, alas, for the addict each oasis turns into a mirage.

And yet it is not that each oasis is unreal. The hope offered in each place is very real. Rather it is that the addict's eyes are covered with the scales of self-reliance and entitlement. Until these scales are knocked away from the addict's eyes, any oasis--real or unreal-- will be nothing but a mirage.

Until these scales are knocked from the addict's eyes, life will remain dry. The addict is cursed to wander the desert, alone and thirsty, with nothing but a crust of bread to meet his ever increasing hunger for something ... someone ... real.

Oh, my dear Love ... to be the Salt of the Earth!

The Addict Goes to New York!

The addict has been away this past week on a business trip:

NEW YORK CITY!


I have to admit that I am not always excited about traveling for business, but a trip to New York is something special. The addict has not been to New York since he was a kid (a long long time ago).

What a trip!

While most of the trip was spent on Long Island, the addict and a business partner had some free time last Tuesday night and we made sure we got into the City (that is definitely with a capital 'C').

As soon as we were checked into our hotel, we took a train from Hicksville to Manhattan arriving in Penn Station. We then spent several hours walking the streets of the Midtown area of Manhattan.



WOW!

For a person who is used to thinking of Minneapolis as a large city, there are no words to describe Manhattan.

WOW!

So many people! So many places! So many buildings! So many cars!

WOW!

The addict was lucky to have some time to spend in Manhattan and he was not afraid to be a tourist. So the addict made good use of his time and hit all the spots he could in one short evening.


TIMES SQUARE


WOW!


ROCKEFELLER CENTER (With the great big Christmas tree)


WOW!


THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING


WOW!


The addict simply doesn't have the words to describe New York.

WOW!

But the addict is very grateful for this one small opportunity for a visit.

I hope I can go back.

WOW!

Down Again

This past week has been one of ups and downs for the addict, or should I say one of up and downs? For, in truth, the week has been all down with the exception of Tuesday, the addict's birthday.

Two weeks ago the addict had an uncommon sense of serenity. The addict was both clean and sober. That is to say, the addict was sober--he wasn't acting out; and the addict was clean--he didn't even want to act out.

This brief period of serenity was experienced by the addict as a tremendous gift. Not for one moment did the addict attribute sobriety to his own efforts. The addict has struggled long enough to know that he is powerless over addiction. Sobriety, when it comes, is a true and special gift.



But today the addict is not sober. What happened?

I really wish I knew. I see numerous possible explanations:

+ the addict began to feel secure in his sobriety; perhaps he let his guard down;

+ the addict has not been taking his meds for depression; this leads both to feelings of anger and anxiety, and increases the addict's exposure to compulsivity which includes the temptation to act out even when nothing else is wrong;

+ the addict's job has been stressful and stress always adds to the propensity to act out.

It is frustrating to go through these cycles. Sobriety one week, shame and resentment the next.

Nothing else to say now. Just another confusing week in a life full of stumbling behavior for one who both feels and is powerless.

"Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean!"

A Word for the Day

Help!
I need somebody
Help!
Not just anybody
Help!
You know I need someone
Help!

When I was younger
... so much younger than today
I never needed
... anybody's help in any way
But now those days are gone
... I'm not so self assured
Now I find I've changed my mind
... I've opened up the doors

Help me if you can
... I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate
... you being 'round
Help me get my feet
... back on the ground
Won't you please
... please
... help me

---The Beatles, "Help!"

Turning Forty

Now I've got a wife who really loves me
She makes my life so sweet
And a little baby daughter
Who plays games around my feet

And my life is very different
From those lazy bachelor years
But if I had the chance to go back
I'd rather stay right here

Turning Forty!

Well now forty aint like fifteen
And it's not like twenty-five
My back's a little stiff
And there's some lines around my eyes

But I've still got my energy
And I've got most of my hair
And I'm not too old to rock 'n roll
And I'm not really scared

Of turning Forty


---Adapted from Randy Stonehill's "Turning Thirty"

Addict's Plea ... On Bended Knee

So long ago
... I drew a line
... for myself in the sand
Time after time
... I moved that line
... when I crossed it again and again
Here we are
... back at the same old place
... down on the ground on my knees
But I'm still staring you
... right in the face

I know
... that I've been afraid
And I'm getting jaded
... more and more every day
I don't really care
... what anybody says
I ain't gettin' closer
... while I'm running away

How many times?
... on a raging sea
If you see me going down
... you gonna rescue me?
If I turn back to you
... on bended knee
Will you unlock my cage?
Will you set me free?
Set me free...

---Mike Roe, "I Buried my Heart at Wounded Knee" (The Boat Ashore, 1997)