Any spiritual path has to end up or lead to love. My path is a person, Jesus Christ. The goal is union through love of and with Christ. But all spiritual paths start out as obedience to a rule. God gave my ancestors rules written on hard stone. These rules were hard to follow. Don't wait around until you love the God of the rules. Obey first. Even obey out of fear of the consequences. Eventually, you come to love the rules because you come to love the God who gave them. A good guide can show you the way.
When someone is a guide to another, new to Recovery, the guide does not say, "We have these wonderful steps. Love them and your HP." No, the guide kicks a little butt and says, "Do this or else the consequences will be formidable." Addicts don't love rules or obedience to another. They only obey because there is no other way for them. If they stay with obedience, in time love for the whole program can develop.
The mistake we make with children is that we try to begin with love and expect obedience to follow. "Jesus loves you," we say, and then wonder why children don't follow the rules? My Mom kicked a little butt, and we all hopped to. Obey or suffer consequences. Today, I love Jesus. Thank you Mom.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
While mom kicked butt, she also lead us to Bugs. Mom was a wise woman.
ReplyDelete