OCD

As a culture, we often dabble in obsessive behavior, not because we are possessed by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or because we are capable of comprehending the enormous tragedy of this illness, but because we are so afraid of change and letting go to what God has in store for us - so devoid of trust - that we fixate on controlling everything around us. Ours is Obsessive CONTROL Dis-ease.

If you don't think it’s true, or that you don’t suffer from this malady, try this experiment of modernity and development: the next time an unexpected event or the prolonging of a scheduled one encroaches on the time, person, and place for another activity that you have planned to do, pay attention to how long and how often you are fixated and worried about missing the planned event as opposed to immersing yourself in whom and what is actually going on around you.

It is pure illusion to believe that we can control much of anything. We can control appearances, but only for a while. The thin veneer of appearance will “grow strangely dim” as the old hymn goes. About the only thing we have a chance of controlling is whether we are paying attention to the here and now.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:
Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.

I have a metaphorical freezer full of blackberries. I wonder how many burning bush conversations I've ignored and how many times I've missed the opportunity to sink my toes in holy humus?

© 2011 Todd Jenkins