Simple Thoughts Simple Prayers
Thoughts, Reflections, Inspirations, and Prayers
Simple Thoughts Simple Prayers
Understanding Self-Destructive Patterns
Are we unknowingly turning to remedies that are slowly destroying us?
This is simple thought, simple prayers. Here's a simple thought. George Washington was an icon, war hero, leader, president. He was a conquering legend On par with Charlemagne or King Todd or Cyrus the Great or Octavian, only sans all the controversy. By most not all, mind you, but by most standards he was considered a decent, if not good, human being, especially in view of the massive amount of power ceded to him. So it is strange indeed to take this monumental human and read about a less than grand demise. Basically, washington was slowly bled to death. One might expect this of a general at war.
Speaker 1:Only Washington, by this point in his life, was a 67 year old statesman. He was very much retired. He spent his time farming and dreaming and trying just to help out the newly formed United States however he could. But very little of this would cause bloodshed. No, it was the leeches that did that. You see, washington had come down with an illness that left him nearly speechless, with swollen throat and sweating dread. An overseer of the estate was called in and he leached Washington. This was the common practice of the day. This is like their Tylenol I come home and I'm not feeling well and my wife throws some Tylenol at me in the same way, and this day they would just throw leeches on each other and then go sleep it off. And then came the doctors. For a man like Washington, one doctor would not suffice. Three doctors arrived and two of the three physicians this sounds like a continental infomercial of sorts. Two of the three physicians agreed we need more leeches, so they leached him again. And then they leached him again a third time. The youngest of the three doctors spoke against this. He felt the throat operation was a better bet at saving Washington's life and that more bleeding would diminish Washington's dwindling strength. He needs his strength to fight and he can survive this, but we have to stop with the leeches. This doctor was ignored and Washington was leached again and he was bled again, basically to death. He died quickly the next day and he was so swollen and so weakened he didn't get this grandiose send-off speech that you would expect from some conquering legend. He had two very short words. He said "'Tis well". Then he died.
Speaker 1:We hear this tale and perhaps we're somewhat appalled at the care he received. We forget in our modernity that these were the standard methods of the day. No, what we see is what this was. This was the path to destruction. And so it goes At the individual level. In every age, in every heart, there are paths to destruction, and these paths are as common as leeches to the experts of that day. They're totally normal things to those around us. But these things bleed us, they drain from us life, vitality and freedom. They steal from us, they kill us, they destroy.
Speaker 1:And John 10, jesus speaks on the leech work of evil on the human heart. He says that the thief, evil, the evil one, the thief comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. But it's subtly done, it's acceptable, it's sneaky, it might be slow, it can even be applauded while it's going on. But make no mistake, it's the antithesis to life. Having your blood leave your body does not make you more alive, it makes you less alive. So where are the leeches in your life?
Speaker 1:Like Washington, we have a sickness. The symptoms are shame and hiddenness and resentment and bitterness and pain. I mean there's more, the symptomology list, there's more, but it's not about the symptoms as much as it's about where are we turning for healing? Or, even more pointedly, are we turning to a healing that is actually bringing on more and more destruction? The leeches were the cure for Washington, but they were also the cause of his death.
Speaker 1:Do we identify? Do we identify that the leeches aren't working? Do we identify that that's a bad route? Do we identify that, even though everyone else is clapping for this, or that it is destroying me? One doctor stood by and said no, go a different way. He was not heated. But perhaps in our own life there's a physician who says go a different way.
Speaker 1:And we can turn our ear towards that. That's my prayer for my life, and now I'll just pray it for yours as well, god. Help us find a better way. We can't just have more leeches and more leeches and more leeches thrown on to cure us of a sickness where leeches don't work. We need a better medicine, we need a better remedy. So be that medicine, be that remedy for us today. Open our eyes to see the things that are destroying us, make us aware of what's doing. Battle against our bodies, against our minds, against our very souls. And let us fight, let us find better ways, let us listen to other voices, not just the ones of kind of conventional worldly wisdom, but deeper and truer routes of wisdom, of thinking, of truth. God, just help us. Help us not to be stolen from Help us not to be killed, help us not to be destroyed, give us a vitality, give us a strength, give us a courage, give us life and give it to us abundantly. This is our prayer today. Lord, help us, amen.