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Have you ever wanted to simply forget about something? Not just run away from the tension or trauma, but put it completely out of your mind?
While running away from the past is a temptation we’ll all experience at some point in our lives, numbing the past may be an even greater temptation. Some may attempt to numb the challenges of life with drugs, sex, or alcohol. But others may go another route – numbing with food, tv, social media, video games, sports, or other unhealthy patterns.
The downfall to these unhealthy choices is that when we numb the darkness in our lives, we also end up numbing the light. There may be less tears, but also less laughter. Less depression, but also less joy. An ongoing pattern of mediocrity may take hold, leaving us resenting those who appear to be living joyful, content lives.
The solution, of course, is to identify the areas of our lives in which we may be numbing, and to begin forming a healthy lifestyle. A life of engaging with God and with others. A life of observing the beauty of it all. A life of real wonder.
READING & JOURNALING:
COLOSSIANS 3:5-13, PSALM 139:23-24
Think of a time when you tried to block out or numb the challenges of life. What was that like? Did you discover that numbing the darkness also numbed the light?
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, I may not regularly numb the challenges of life in ways that are too unhealthy, but I still recognize that numbing with food, tv, social media, video games, sports, or other ‘normal’ activities doesn’t help me to grow closer to You. Today, I ask that you point out anything in me that may be distracting me from more fully knowing You. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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