A
few days after my son and I were speaking about what addiction was,
my daughter-in-law, from a different son, was talking about
addiction. She did not even know what my other son and I had been
talking about. She was saying that many behaviors can be addiction. I
can't remember all the things she listed off, but I do remember one
of them. It was positivity. I had to think about that, because I am
known for my positivity.
So,
the question is, “what constitutes addiction and what constitutes
self discipline?” If what my son, daughter-in-law and I have been
talking about is true (and I think it is), some things can be an
addiction to one person and self discipline to another. How do we
know the difference?
I
believe the difference lies in the motivation. Since my brain stopped
at the word, “positivity” when my DIL was talking, I am going to
use that as an example.
In
the first chapter of James, it says, “Consider it all joy my
brethren when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing
of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have it's perfect
effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
So, am I supposed to see my trials as a positive thing? Yes. In
Romans 8:28 it says, “All things work together for the good to
those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” Do I
have reason for joy even in the really hard things in life? Yes. Does
that mean that I constantly have a smile on my face and never cry?
No. Jesus wept. If He cried, I can cry. So, when can positivity be an
addiction and not self discipline? I believe it is when we are not
truly looking at our circumstances and don't really want to. Godly
positivity is a knock down, drag out fight with our circumstances. It
is saying, “I see this stinking hard thing, but I am not going to
let it conquer me. I am going to remember that God will bring about
good in this thing, even if the thing is not good. I am going to
focus on doing what is right in this thing and remembering that God
doesn't waste my pain.” There is absolutely no negative thing in my
life, because although not all things are good, God can bring about
good in my life because of them. However, if I choose to ignore the
heaping hard things in my life and just wear a smile and say, “Life
is great. The sun is always shining, blah, blah, blah...”, I would
be addicted to ignoring my problems instead of engaging my problems.
Yes,I play the glad game and I love the movie “Pollyanna”, but it
actually helps me to evaluate the stinking hard things and figure out
how to deal with them in a God honoring way.
Addiction
to positivity glosses over the problems so that we do not need to
engage. Very understandable. Sometimes engaging is very painful. The
self discipline of being positive engages the problem, with the
knowledge that God as our Father has allowed a trial into our life
for a purpose. We may not always see the purpose, but instead of
glossing over the problem or drowning in the problem, we seek God in
the problem and allow it to do it's good work.
Now
it is your turn. What things do you do repetitively? Is it an
addiction or is it self-discipline? I plan to keep my mind engaged,
because there may be other things that are addiction to me. I want
self-discipline, but I don't want addiction.
(The
picture represents my daily “knock down, drag out fight” with
stinking hard things and the choice to be positive anyway. If she
were still here, she would read this before I posted it. I loved that
she did that for me, but the positive thing is that God is
still here.)
