Give Up...

Never give in.

Winston Churchill

Would it be possible for 2021 to be more confusing, chaotic and terrifying than 2020? I dunno. But just in case 2021 does not prove to be magically delicious and delightedly different?

Never give in.

Never give in to your certainty.

Never give in to your baser instincts.

Never give in to your tendency to trust and follow only people who think like you, feel like you, do what you do - or wish you could do.

Never give in.

This is not the same thing as giving up. I encourage you to give up on things that no longer serve you - like your habitual ways of self-soothing, or the tendency to forget yourself in favor of catering to the needs and wants of others who you hope will love you.

Give up on your certainty - it is not serving you or the world well.

Give up on living only by your instincts. If God wanted us to live only by instinct, he could have eliminated the prefrontal cortex from his schematic drawings of the human brain.

Give up on finding that one person who completes you. Or that ONE expert who knows all the answers to your pressing problems. This is how we accidentally end up in a cult.

It turns out that it is perhaps true that maturity and wisdom have eluded us not because we did not desire to be both mature and wise but because we do not understand what they look like or the paths that lead to both.

Let’s talk about that in the days ahead. And pray. Let’s pray:

God, I offer my life into your loving care. I turn my will over to you.

I pray that you will guide me and keep me clear, clean, sober in thought word and deed.

I pray that your loving light will guide and sustain every breath I take.

Amen