Friday, March 21, 2014
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
At first, I resented it when my friends in the program told me to be God or let God.
-- Myrna K.
Who consciously decided to play God? Not me. Not you. But many of us have a terrible time letting God run the world. No matter how much we resolve not to, we take responsibility for things we can't control. That's what playing God is, and that's what a lot of us have practiced for a long, long time. Playing God is not only hard work, it's also a good way to ruin relationships. People just don't like to be around would-be mortal "gods" whose clay feet are all too visible. Our good intentions don't make people feel less defensive about us.
Letting go isn't easy. Especially if we confuse letting go with not caring. Of course we care. But that does not and must not mean we are responsible. Can we care enough to let others make their own mistakes, earn their own victories, and take responsibility for their own lives? Not to do so, no matter how we may feel about it, breeds dependency in both them and us.
We must care enough to let them be.
Today, I will be aware that "doing for" someone else is also "doing to" him or her.
At first, I resented it when my friends in the program told me to be God or let God.
-- Myrna K.
Who consciously decided to play God? Not me. Not you. But many of us have a terrible time letting God run the world. No matter how much we resolve not to, we take responsibility for things we can't control. That's what playing God is, and that's what a lot of us have practiced for a long, long time. Playing God is not only hard work, it's also a good way to ruin relationships. People just don't like to be around would-be mortal "gods" whose clay feet are all too visible. Our good intentions don't make people feel less defensive about us.
Letting go isn't easy. Especially if we confuse letting go with not caring. Of course we care. But that does not and must not mean we are responsible. Can we care enough to let others make their own mistakes, earn their own victories, and take responsibility for their own lives? Not to do so, no matter how we may feel about it, breeds dependency in both them and us.
We must care enough to let them be.
Today, I will be aware that "doing for" someone else is also "doing to" him or her.
From the book:
Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty. © 1987, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation
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