What Makes Your Day Better?
Somewhere between deep sleep and consciousness, I heard a familiar ring tone. Though I quickly deduced that it was not mine, and easily went back to sleep, then my wife started shaking my knee. A loved one was in an ambulance with a potential spine injury.*
Within a few minutes we were on our way to the hospital. My first cup of coffee, too hot to drink, was in the cup holder, and I was trying to get both eyes open at the same time as I drove. I was feeling pretty good when I parked and confirmed that I was wearing matching shoes, had my wallet, and had remembered to brush my teeth and hair. It was Monday morning, and it felt like an abrupt start to the week.
They only allowed two people at a time to go back, and I was the third wheel. So, I stayed in the Emergency Room lobby. I’ve long thought late nights at Walmart and any time of day in an airport were the best places to people-watch. I was wrong. Most people in a Walmart or an airport want to be there. No one wants to be in an ER waiting room - not the patients, not their families and friends, and this morning least of all the staff. Put all these people who don’t want to be there colliding with one another and there’s bound to be some interesting interactions.
After about ninety minutes, the circus was getting old. Reason had left the building. The weight of the pain and fear in the room was palpable. I had not started my day with the Lord, and that was revealed through my outlook. I could feel myself leaning toward cynical and sarcastic. I didn’t have my Bible, so I pulled up an app on my phone and started to read.
I had just started reading when I heard a loud crash followed by several repetitions of a man yelling F-bombs. I looked up to see a man with his gym shorts (no underwear) around his ankles and his hospital gown over his head lying as though dead outside locked double doors leading into the treatment area. Like a raging bull, he had charged the secure doors. They had not retreated. Everything from his ankles to his neck was exposed for the entire room to see. As administrative staff called for security, he rolled over on his back, lifted his legs, and passed gas. Did I mention it was Monday morning? Then, surrounded by security, administrative, and medical staff, he started yelling that he was in pain and needed meds.
They got him into a wheelchair for a few minutes. Then he jumped up, ran outside and rolled around in the mulch with his shorts again around his ankles. Finally, he reentered and agreed to sit in a chair about 10’ from me. As I watched him, I recognized the look. I’ve seen it far too many times. The twitching. Trembling. Sweating. Radical swings from lethargy to rage. Nausea. Skin crawling and itching. Abdominal cramps. Excessive yawning. He was experiencing opioid withdrawals.
In his mind, only one thing could make his life better – drugs. He thought he would die without them. While people die every day from alcohol withdrawals, I’ve never heard of anyone dying from opioid withdrawals. But every addict thinks he will.
It’s easy for a sober person to watch such a craving and just shake our head. How could anyone think that would make life better?
Of course it’s a lie. Feeding an addiction never makes life better.
Though, I’ve found investing time with the Lord always makes my life better. So much better that I can only reason that people who don’t invest some time with the Lord each morning simply have no idea what they’re missing. It’s how we set our spiritual thermostat for the day, how we establish an attitude of gratitude before facing the challenges of each day. God’s Word is the well from where we draw courage, hope, grace, compassion, and patience.
That guy was completely focused on getting a fix because he was sure it would improve his day. He was passionately chasing a counterfeit because he believed it would help; while we have what really works, and we don’t take the time because we don’t believe what we claim we believe. Imagine, if each of us believed in the value of investing time with Jesus as completely as this guy believed in the value of drugs.
What if we had that kind of passion and commitment without the crazy?
I mean I don’t want to see people rolling around naked because they love Jesus. But what if we absolutely believed that every time we connected with Jesus our day was improved?
The problem is that when we don’t see our circumstances change we don’t see the value. But the addict’s circumstances don’t change. His perspective does. He sees the world through a short-lived warped perspective. And he’d trade everything for that different perspective.
When we spend time with the Lord, we gain wisdom. Wisdom is God’s perspective. We’re not getting some drug-induced artificial perspective. We’re getting God’s eternal perspective. With wisdom, everything changes.
As I watched this poor fellow so desperately pursue what he believed, I wondered what those in the spiritual realm must think as they watch us so easily dismiss what could change our whole lives while choosing to dive into social media, headline news, or whatever vain pursuit has stolen our attention instead.
Grace & Peace,
John
* Thankfully, there was no spinal injury.