“I fight my demons every day,
so I’ve got to continue to work at it.”
Jared Lorenzen
[en route to a goal of losing 100+ lbs.]
“Demons” seem to permeate our lives. They show up nearly everywhere we turn.
But they’re not just “out there” – many of them are embedded in our own constitution, making us our own worst enemy! The apostle Paul – seeking Divine intervention – possibly said it best:
“… the good that I would, I do not,
and the evil which I would not, that I do!”
Romans 7:19 KJV
Paul was a fighter who understood that we can’t leave everything for the Almighty to keep bailing us out, especially when we keep selling our souls to the devil in “Faustian Bargains” … e.g., for that one, very last piece of cheese cake … for late nights out with the partying crowd … for indiscriminate tweeting and twittering … for not doing our homework … for immediate gratifications of all kinds.
Fact is: We have “First-Responder” accountability for our own welfare
in dealing with our own “mini-demons”.
“Who’s driving?” is the first issue to be settled. “Who’s in charge?”
If we let the “demons” in our over-sized “Pleasure Center” have full reign, they will not only run rampant through all the vices and victimizations in short order, but will grow the Pleasure Center to an unwieldy, predominating influence … if they have not already done so!
So we have to establish boundaries and keep ahead of the demons, who are experts at moving the goal posts.
It helps to keep a “loaded” agenda in play, with postings that correspond as closely as possible to our intrinsic values and ultimate goals.
And it helps immeasurably if our intrinsic values and ultimate goals are both unassailably noble and impeccably articulated. Establishing and committing to meaningful “stretch goals” – both daily, hourly and life-long – is a great way to keep demons out of the loop.
Finally, channeling our energies toward the most transcendent Mission, Purpose or Aspiration we can muster will leave most demons in the dust. Only then can we leave it to the Almighty to take care of the rest!
Let’s take full charge of our own welfare! Be brutally intolerant of personal “demons” and unassailably committed to making YOU and YOUR WORLD the very best they can possibly be. The alternatives are not nearly as attractive as one might think … or as the “demons” might have you believe, particularly compared in retrospect to “what mighta been”. You’re gonna like the way you feel, and you’re gonna like the more favorable space(s) you get to inhabit :: I guarantee it! Quartermaster
