Dr. Paul Jenkins teaches that the way to appreciate our current circumstances is simply to think of something worse than what we're now experiencing. It allows us to develop gratitude for our current situation. No matter how bad it is you can ALWAYS think of something worse. This is an appropriate use of the imagination. If we want to feel depressed about our current circumstances, then think of something better. There you go, you're now unhappy! That's an inappropriate way of using our imagination. Either way you're using your imagination. Why not use it in a way that helps you?
I look at my current situation and in contrast to what my life used to be I'm blown away. I'm just your average, imperfect person who works everyday, doesn't have any obvious talents, is trying to learn how to better provide for my family, and struggles with anger. Why is it amazing that this is who I am? It's amazing because of how waaaaaay below-average I used to be. For me, thinking of something worse than my current circumstances is easy because I don't have to imagine, I just have to remember.
Sorry to be a little graphic but think of a worm feasting on the flesh of a rotting animal corpse. That little worm is more respectable than I used to be. My life used to be so messed up and dysfunctional. I'm not going to talk about what that dysfunction looked like. When you enter into a life of sin you enter captivity from which you may never return. And a lot of people don't return from the type of captivity I'm talking about. Part of the reason being that "the moment you sin you begin to lose your ability to reason." Even with Jesus Christ ready with open arms, we have to act and the chances of a sinner consciously choosing to return are as good as a person choosing to walk into a literal fire. Why would I do that? John 3:20 "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." The more removed from God the more painful the reproving appears. But it is possible. People have been known to jump into literal fires. The reasons they do is instructive.
I guess this post is meant for people who have been there. We used to be in deep murky darkness but literally through the Grace of God and His Son Jesus Christ now are soaking in the rays of a light we didn't know existed. Maybe we did know it existed but our hearts couldn't conceive of what great things the Lord had in store for us. Not because of any worthiness on our part, the Lord in His infinite mercy snatched us up from an awful hell. Are you still soaking in those rays? If you've felt the song of redeeming love can you feel so now?
I often sit in Church on Sunday and look at my beautiful little family and think of when I used to attend church alone, sit by myself and feel like no one in the world cared that I even existed. Now here I am with the 3 most beautiful ladies on the planet and they couldn't love me more. I'm so blessed. I have peace. I can't even believe I'm writing that. Peace, real life peace!!! Not that I don't get annoyed or frustrated. But I've found that annoyances and frustrations can co-exist with peace. It's peace that helps me get through struggles. When you don't have peace, every little struggle is a nightmare.
This morning I was feeling the weight of some of the things I'm struggling with right now. Then a song came to mind, "So Far Away" by the band Staind. I listened to it and started bawling like a baby:
Now that we're here so far away, all the struggle we thought was in vain
All the mistakes one life contain they all finally start to go away
Now that we're so far away and I feel like I can face the day
I can forgive and I'm not ashamed to be the person that I am today
Thinking of something worse than our current circumstances in order to develop gratitude for where we're at is an appropriate use of the imagination. Then with that spirit of gratitude we are empowered to look to the future and think of something better and then build it.
I look at my current situation and in contrast to what my life used to be I'm blown away. I'm just your average, imperfect person who works everyday, doesn't have any obvious talents, is trying to learn how to better provide for my family, and struggles with anger. Why is it amazing that this is who I am? It's amazing because of how waaaaaay below-average I used to be. For me, thinking of something worse than my current circumstances is easy because I don't have to imagine, I just have to remember.
Sorry to be a little graphic but think of a worm feasting on the flesh of a rotting animal corpse. That little worm is more respectable than I used to be. My life used to be so messed up and dysfunctional. I'm not going to talk about what that dysfunction looked like. When you enter into a life of sin you enter captivity from which you may never return. And a lot of people don't return from the type of captivity I'm talking about. Part of the reason being that "the moment you sin you begin to lose your ability to reason." Even with Jesus Christ ready with open arms, we have to act and the chances of a sinner consciously choosing to return are as good as a person choosing to walk into a literal fire. Why would I do that? John 3:20 "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." The more removed from God the more painful the reproving appears. But it is possible. People have been known to jump into literal fires. The reasons they do is instructive.
I guess this post is meant for people who have been there. We used to be in deep murky darkness but literally through the Grace of God and His Son Jesus Christ now are soaking in the rays of a light we didn't know existed. Maybe we did know it existed but our hearts couldn't conceive of what great things the Lord had in store for us. Not because of any worthiness on our part, the Lord in His infinite mercy snatched us up from an awful hell. Are you still soaking in those rays? If you've felt the song of redeeming love can you feel so now?
I often sit in Church on Sunday and look at my beautiful little family and think of when I used to attend church alone, sit by myself and feel like no one in the world cared that I even existed. Now here I am with the 3 most beautiful ladies on the planet and they couldn't love me more. I'm so blessed. I have peace. I can't even believe I'm writing that. Peace, real life peace!!! Not that I don't get annoyed or frustrated. But I've found that annoyances and frustrations can co-exist with peace. It's peace that helps me get through struggles. When you don't have peace, every little struggle is a nightmare.
This morning I was feeling the weight of some of the things I'm struggling with right now. Then a song came to mind, "So Far Away" by the band Staind. I listened to it and started bawling like a baby:
Now that we're here so far away, all the struggle we thought was in vain
All the mistakes one life contain they all finally start to go away
Now that we're so far away and I feel like I can face the day
I can forgive and I'm not ashamed to be the person that I am today
Thinking of something worse than our current circumstances in order to develop gratitude for where we're at is an appropriate use of the imagination. Then with that spirit of gratitude we are empowered to look to the future and think of something better and then build it.