we like our problems. we say we don’t, but we do. the back and forth, the need for things to be set aright, we like it. things needed to be fixed in our lives set as seeds promising harvest, the hope and whisper of life better, easier. more than our problems, we adore their solutions. the fix.
on some weird level that makes much more sense than we’d like to think in times when life is thinnest, we like having problems.
you know the friend who is so easily, almost readily, found by problems. the coworker who takes issue with every issue everyday. the hurt neighbor who hurts so defaultly.
my heart that only wants to give up while the game is still going on all around, halftime still in the approaching future.
we feed them. ...the problem. the issue. the burden.
we live and were raised in a culture and context hell bent on helping itself with pills and smiles, drinks and relationships and words and books rehashing strategy for every possible wrong that could ever possibly exist in our lives. people who need healing from everything behind, cultured to being better ahead and close to our problems lingering now and always.
we feed them. ...the monkey on our back.
our fed monkeys own our focus and distract us from what really matters.
we’re firestompers running around putting out tiny fires burning instead of firestarters burning clean from all clinging to us. we’re fighters of every little creaking problem and thing that goes bump in the night, chasing shadows, instead of fighters fighting for all the promise that lies in the day ahead and all that really matters.
...the couple reading books about how to make their marriage better while it all just keeps falling apart ...the leader who always has an answer for everyone else but his own crumbling life
we miss the mark because our hearts really belong to our problems and their fixing.
starve the monkey that rests so heavily and regular on your back. focus on life and living it each day. be okay with not being totally ok while you reclaim your life, your focus and determined intent.
your problems will always be there, but that day won’t be. everyday lived under the primary arch of your problems is another day spent feeding the monkey on your back. he’ll never go away as long as your feeding him (it).
those problems holding on and being held need to be killed off, starved of your full attention and forgotten, though they don’t give up.
starve the monkey.
[read :: Hebrews 12:1; Psalm 55:22]