Day 23: Staying Steady

     Often in my own life I've gone through lulls of emotion, purpose, and vision where I've had to sort of regroup and make the decision to stay on the same path. There is something in my gypsy soul which longs for adventure. Strange but true that some of me at this late date thinks longingly about packing up, taking off and trying my hand at living in a foreign land. It is a romantic notion that we can break camp so to speak and just take off from our present life and responsibilities, leaving it all behind to pursue something new and exciting.

    Part of my job as a counselor at the treatment center where I work involves lecturing three times a week. My lectures are 75 minutes long and are on topics preselected by our agency. The men and women, 36 in a lecture hall at a time, have often come to treatment, right from the street. They are used to, "running and gunning" as we call it. They've been committing crimes, using drugs, living a wild and crazy life where no rules is the rule.  So here I come, papers in hand to try to teach them how to live, or at least how to get a plan in place of how to try to live. It's a challenge to keep their attention. I tell stories, use analogies, prepare handouts, I even ham it up a little. I can do a gangster swag walk that cracks them up. Or I can place my hand over my heart, look them in the eye and tell them, "I feel you." (a street-wise phrase for, I understand.)

     My attempt is to keep it real, but give them a message of hope mixed in with whatever educational component I'm required to deliver. I try to always make up a handout that's geared to simple principles, broken down into steps, or smaller pieces that are easily grasped. Oh, I don't for one second think any of them are stupid, just exhausted, worn out, some of them still coming off drugs, and for the most part wondering how in the world they wound up broke, on DOC and in treatment. More than anything else, I think this, "That there but for the grace of God, go I." I pray for constant wisdom, and renewed purpose, since the sheer numbers of clients can be overwhelming. I'm hoping I don't get to the place where anyone of them is just another name; another series of paper processing.

 

     When all is said and done, each of us is on this journey called life. Addiction, crime don't corner the market on challenges, they just make things more complicated. I believe no matter what stage of life, or circumstance of life, God can step in and help us figure things out. That doesn't mean that we sit down in our Lazy Boy chair, television remote in hand and step away from being the main participants in our life, but it does mean we don't have to panic in the middle of the storm.

    
      If I were riding along in a sail boat, the absence of wind would present it's own challenge. A storm in life doesn't always equate to turmoil, sometimes, a storm can equate to just keeping on doing the same things, over and over, committed to staying focused on getting the job done. That kind of dedication, purpose, requires that we submit out gypsy soul to the Creator daily and agree to hold steady to the course in front of us, even when we'd like to take off for more exciting adventures.

 
     On those days when the challenge of keeping on the task before me seems a little daunting it gives me a sense of hope that some day I will have things a little easier, whether it's in heaven or on earth, the hills will break forth before me with singing as I go out with joy.  

Today, when facing the challenges in your own life, take hope, take courage, God is still there waiting to help you through. Send up a prayer and believe. The day will come, when the sun breaks through the clouds, the present trial will end and the hills will break forth in singing as you go out with joy. Take care and have a blessed day.