In every instance in the Bible where the word ‘avoid’ is used, it refers to dodging those things and people that drag our souls down, that keep us locked in unhealthy patterns, that promise more than they can deliver. Yet, so often what we seek to avoid is what seems inconvenient, uncomfortable, distasteful, demanding. We avoid the people and things that get in our way, or that confront us with the truth about ourselves, or that intrude on our plans. In truth, it is often the very thing we are avoiding that will unlock our soul from habits that may feel comfortable but actually have diminished our spiritual health.
The very demands of my editor were the medicine I needed to be freed from the stranglehold of writer’s block. As long as I avoided the wrong thing, I remained caught in my own creative emptiness. When I let go of my avoidance. I found that what I had been avoiding was the very ticket to unlocking my soul from that creative emptiness.
When you find yourself trying to circumvent something or someone that seems unpleasant to you, simply ask yourself if you’ve got it wrong. Look well within— you may find you’re avoiding the wrong thing!
Perhaps it's not that we avoid the dragons in our lives that need slaying, or the demons that torment us with this demand or that put- down. Perhaps, to paraphrase Pogo, we have met the enemy and it it inside us. Dying to that false self (or selves) may be the task we avoid, and we transfer to mundane tasks such as writer's block or not doing the laundry the power of that which keeps us truly bound. Thanks for the insight!
Posted by: Jeff from Ohio 9/9/2009 5:58:34 PM
I am going to try this since I have tried other things with no success.
Posted by: Mary 7/1/2009 7:42:18 PM
So thats it'
Posted by: Kevin 1/12/2009 8:38:02 PM
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