When the Apostle Paul shares in the book of Romans that he is “doing the very thing that I hate”, he carries on about knowing what to do and not doing it…wanting to do something and doing another thing… then finally laments, “oh, wretched man that I am!”  What makes us do what we do, even when we want to do something or say something different?

Most of us know about the fight, flight or freeze response to pain or danger (perceived or real), but most of us are not aware that there is a limbic response going on in most of the actions we choose to take.  Perhaps we could say, all? Someone will say something that may “trigger” a response in us to say or do something in defense, even though we know we are not really in eminent danger.  I admit that my husband may say or do something quite innocent and non-threatening in his mind and yet

What Story do you share?

Whenever I am travelling or visiting a new place, inevitably I will run into a new person or two.  I am always interested in what story a person shares about his/her life when we first meet.  A while ago, my husband and I were out for a walk in a little neighborhood where we were staying on a “winter break”.  Some friends of ours let us stay in their house in Costa Rica for 3 weeks to escape the foggy gloom of Sacramento in February. 

We met “Tom” out in his driveway watering his tropical plants.  His face was somewhat worn and when he smiled it was evident that he had not visited the dentist quite enough in his life.  We exchanged the proper “Buenos diases’” and “como esta’s’”  …. “where are you from?”and “how long have you been here?” –the usual.  Very quickly, “Tom” decided to share with us explicit details of how he and his wife met and how they kept going to Cabo to get married, how they partied too much each time and finally 10  or maybe 15 years later they finally did get married and now he was retired here in Costa Rica.  Wow, did we need to know all that?  I walked away wondering what it is that inspires us to tell a story of our life, and which one we choose to share when we first meet another—a stranger.  We all have a story, perhaps not all of our stories are as “colorful” as Tom’s, but none-the-less it is always a story that needs redemption.

Most people in Western society live their lives at a hectic pace, just trying to manage the “cobwebs” of life.  They wrestle out of bed in the morning before getting enough sleep; or they are groggy from too much sleep; or they even suffer from too much “self-medication” such as alcohol, prescription drugs or other substances to numb the pain and escape the stress from the night before.

So many of us wander through the day just trying to put out fires--- living up to unmet expectations, jumping through other people’s hoops or reacting to situations, all because of faulty thinking, and internal pressure—pressure from self or pressure from others.

What would it be like to begin to cut away at the myriad of webs and break away into the freedom of being your true self?  What would it be like to truly know the fullness of the love God has for you---without the pressure of performance? What would it be like to break away from past hurts, forgiving yourself and others—letting go of resentments once and for all?  What would it be like to really and truly enjoy Life, People and God?