Addictions
Posted: July 25, 2008
We all need to feel pleasure- we live for it. Our bodies constantly seek ways to fulfill the yearning of feeling good. Sadly, those pleasure-able feelings do not have boundaries. I encounter too many situations where our new addictions are sabotaging relationships. I am talking about blackberries – or whatever name we want to give this wired up, show stealing, dominating little device.
I was sitting in the Toronto airport last week when I watched something that made me very sad. Two friends sitting across from each other, each with a blackberry in their hands. They were attempting to have a conversation – eyes flitting up and down, a smile here and there with the interruptions of “pardon me”, “what did you say?”, “Huh?” They were speaking in staccato sentences because they kept checking their blackberries.
Last week I was out for supper with a friend who kept checking her new addiction every 7 minutes. This uninvited guest disrupted and put an uncomfortable shadow on a beautiful evening.Our brains are wired to capture only one thought at a time. How can we have heart connection conversations with friends AND maneuver our way through our maze of constant e-mails. We can’t do it – it is impossible. How did a little hand held device gain such power over our lives. It is our new addiction and it is disconnecting eyeball to eyeball, heart to heart conversations. Machines don’t send love waves – or are we so hungry for attention that we will settle for second best?
At this self-righteous point in my life, I refuse to buy one of those “crackberries.” But it makes we wonder about my heart connection relationship with my Holy God. Do I give HIM my full attention when I am with Him, or do my thoughts wander over to my grocery shopping list, or my unfinished “do list?” Be still and know that I am God” is the only way that I will know my God. To be so still that my thoughts focused on HIM and HIM alone is the only way I will find the kind of pleasure that will satisfy me. The kind of pleasure that will fulfill all my earthly yearnings. The kind that will save me from destructive addictions.
It’s hard -because there are so many temptations out there. Every day I need to be deliberate about finding a quiet spot that will allow me to have an uninterrupted heart connection time with my God who is the only one who can save me from addictions.
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So true, Heidi! I have had interrupted lunches with friends with whom I formerly had wonderful long *un*interrupted conversations. I miss them! And I’ll not be getting one of those, either.
I totally agree… I love that fact that you said something that some of the rest of us were thinking… that it’s not OK to ignore who you are with… or be only partially present… in any relationship. So hard to call things what they are… addictions… and then ruthlessly cut them out! Thanks for writing about this topic.
Hugs,
LA