Addictions

Good morning all of God’s tenderly loved children!  And that’s all of us.  Good old Paul is still trying to shape us up in Romans. He not only says no quarreling, but to make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

Well, pooh! I’ve given up alcohol, stopped smoking, and as an 86 year old widow my chances of gratifying my fleshly desires are beyond slim. During Covid I switched to a low carb diet, so I even had to give up my addiction to jelly doughnuts. And to top everything off, in the last two years I’ve come to understand those I oppose politically. I think my addiction to feeling I’m right and anyone who disagrees with me is not only wrong, but bad, is my toughest one to get over. But feeling right and virtuous and judging those that disagree as evil is the definition of self-righteousness. And that was the sin Jesus pointed out most often.  It ends up making us push each other to extremes until we become blind to the need for balance.  Even old self-righteous Paul admits we all see through the glass darkly. Nobody knows all the truth and nothing but the truth…but God. The worst sin is pride because we are blind to it. Here’s  a repeat of the poem I wrote when reflecting on the “Body of Christ” in the scriptures.

The Broken Body

Reflecting on the Body,

you the hand, I the foot,

Christ the head and the heart,

someone else the hidden part,

I let the Scriptures

flood my mind with images.

Then suddenly an image

is so harshly real, I gasp aloud.

I see a figure staggering

and stumbling towards me,

arms flailing, head jerking

back and forth in spasms,

body parts all pulling

different ways.

This then, reality:

Christ’s earthly body now.

Lord, forgive us!