When are you going to LIVE?
In his book, No Future Without Forgiveness, Archbishop Desmond Tutu makes an alarming statement that has stuck with me for the past week and I want to share it with you in hopes that it will provoke you to LIVE!
”…The past, far from disappearing or lying down and being quiet, has an embarrassing and persistent way of returning and haunting us unless it has in fact been dealt with adequately. Unless we look the beast in the eye we find it has an uncanny habit of returning to hold us hostage.” (p. 28)
This particular passage captures the essence for why I do what I do. This is, the fundamental reason behind Real Lyfe blogs…because the majority of us are afraid to deal with…THE PAST! As if it’s a big monster, we’d rather shy away from it and make-believe everything is okay when it’s really not okay. I was speaking to a doctor this past weekend and we were talking about the alarming statistics of HIV and how 2/3’s of African –American women are infected with HIV and don’t even know it. It’s amazing and alarming, the fact that someone can be carrying something inside of their body that can kill them and not even know it.
Hmmmm…let me ask the question and maybe this can catapult us to the nucleus of our discussion for today because, let me go personal for a moment, I, for one, have made it a focus of mine to deal with the issues of my past…the reason being, I don’t want my kids to have to deal with my indiscretions and mistakes because I was a punk and didn’t have the strength or courage to deal with them myself. I don’t know, I may be alone on this particular issue, but what Archbishop Tutu says in his book is absolutely true. The majority of us would prefer for our yesterday to be swept under the rug rather than deal with particular issues that we’re afraid of dealing with. We run around, as young folk would say, “scurred” always wondering if someone is going to find out about our embarrassments and we wonder if they’re ever going to be used against us. Why are we so scared? What is there to be scared of? I mean, for most of us, if we were to be totally honest and real with ourselves, our life is hell on earth; we put on the façade for people because we claim, “we don’t want folks knowing our business.” The tripped out thing is that the people you’re trying to deceive know your business anyway, so why all the lies?
Look at the last sentence of Bishop Tutu’s statement…”Unless we look the beast in the eye we find it has an uncanny habit of returning to hold us hostage.” I don’t know about you, but that hit me like a ton of bricks…I was talking with my pastor this weekend and I was sharing with him that I am finally, at the age of 31, learning how to LIVE! As old as I am, I am finally getting to a place where I can LIVE and not be encumbered with my past. That’s a statement that most people can’t make because most of us are caught up in the rat race, trying to keep up with the Smith’s and the Jones.’ For real though, can you take a look at your past and say that you’ve settled the memories that haunt you? The memories that have kept you locked up unable to LIVE? There are some people who are on their third or fourth marriage, and that one is almost over, all because you were molested in your childhood and you are unable to trust the opposite sex! You are unable to LIVE!
Let me conclude this by asking one question…”are you afraid to deal with your past? Are you afraid to really settle the issues once and for all?” I’m asking this question because I’m wondering how many more people have to be infected with HIV all because we need to cover our pain with multiple partners? I’m asking because how many more divorces can you endure, all because you’re afraid to stretch out and LIVE? How many more kids will be victimized by abuse whether sexual or physical, all because you didn’t settle the issues in your past?
When are you going to wake up from your sleep and LIVE?
ROBIII+
”…The past, far from disappearing or lying down and being quiet, has an embarrassing and persistent way of returning and haunting us unless it has in fact been dealt with adequately. Unless we look the beast in the eye we find it has an uncanny habit of returning to hold us hostage.” (p. 28)
This particular passage captures the essence for why I do what I do. This is, the fundamental reason behind Real Lyfe blogs…because the majority of us are afraid to deal with…THE PAST! As if it’s a big monster, we’d rather shy away from it and make-believe everything is okay when it’s really not okay. I was speaking to a doctor this past weekend and we were talking about the alarming statistics of HIV and how 2/3’s of African –American women are infected with HIV and don’t even know it. It’s amazing and alarming, the fact that someone can be carrying something inside of their body that can kill them and not even know it.
Hmmmm…let me ask the question and maybe this can catapult us to the nucleus of our discussion for today because, let me go personal for a moment, I, for one, have made it a focus of mine to deal with the issues of my past…the reason being, I don’t want my kids to have to deal with my indiscretions and mistakes because I was a punk and didn’t have the strength or courage to deal with them myself. I don’t know, I may be alone on this particular issue, but what Archbishop Tutu says in his book is absolutely true. The majority of us would prefer for our yesterday to be swept under the rug rather than deal with particular issues that we’re afraid of dealing with. We run around, as young folk would say, “scurred” always wondering if someone is going to find out about our embarrassments and we wonder if they’re ever going to be used against us. Why are we so scared? What is there to be scared of? I mean, for most of us, if we were to be totally honest and real with ourselves, our life is hell on earth; we put on the façade for people because we claim, “we don’t want folks knowing our business.” The tripped out thing is that the people you’re trying to deceive know your business anyway, so why all the lies?
Look at the last sentence of Bishop Tutu’s statement…”Unless we look the beast in the eye we find it has an uncanny habit of returning to hold us hostage.” I don’t know about you, but that hit me like a ton of bricks…I was talking with my pastor this weekend and I was sharing with him that I am finally, at the age of 31, learning how to LIVE! As old as I am, I am finally getting to a place where I can LIVE and not be encumbered with my past. That’s a statement that most people can’t make because most of us are caught up in the rat race, trying to keep up with the Smith’s and the Jones.’ For real though, can you take a look at your past and say that you’ve settled the memories that haunt you? The memories that have kept you locked up unable to LIVE? There are some people who are on their third or fourth marriage, and that one is almost over, all because you were molested in your childhood and you are unable to trust the opposite sex! You are unable to LIVE!
Let me conclude this by asking one question…”are you afraid to deal with your past? Are you afraid to really settle the issues once and for all?” I’m asking this question because I’m wondering how many more people have to be infected with HIV all because we need to cover our pain with multiple partners? I’m asking because how many more divorces can you endure, all because you’re afraid to stretch out and LIVE? How many more kids will be victimized by abuse whether sexual or physical, all because you didn’t settle the issues in your past?
When are you going to wake up from your sleep and LIVE?
ROBIII+
posted by Pastor Rich at 10:30 AM
1 Comments:
Pastor B,
I must say, you hit home on this one. It's good to see that someone is willing to tell the Emperior that he has no clothes on. Wouldn't all of our relationships, interactions, and attempts at ministry be more meaningful if we didn't have to manage both our current demons along with those from our past? Cincy Tony
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