My cousin Cindy is an addiction counselor. During a recent visit, I listened to her tell about her work with addicts. I was struck that one of the most important things she focuses on in counseling is honesty. I know this is important, not only for addicts, but for those who love them. I know this because one of my sons began his descent into addiction as a teenager, still living in our home. For families, the early years of addiction are a dance of denial. We really don’t want to see the truth, refuse to believe it’s happening in our family, to the child we have loved and thought we were raising well. If the whole thing is hard for a family to admit, it’s doubly hard for someone abusing drugs and/or alcohol. It becomes a vicious cycle, because those substances allow the user to run away from whatever is troubling him or her, at least for a little while, instead of admitting, facing, and dealing with it. To hear Cindy tell it, a lot of addiction counseling deals with honestly facing reality. My hat is off to any addict who does this, as reality is difficult for all of us. My son, who is recovering now, recently told me, “Life is hard sober.” “Life is hard, period,” I told him ruefully.
I’ve thought about the daunting and challenging journey of recovery, how scary and painful it is to face the truth from which drugs have provided a respite, a fleeting escape. I’ve thought about what I can do to help. I don’t think I’m called, as Cindy is, to be a counselor, but there is something I (and you) can do to support those who are engaged in the daunting work of recovery. Below is a picture of the shawls I sent off this week to Cindy to use in her practice. My hope and prayer is that people facing hard truths and struggling to be free will sense God’s presence giving them courage and strength in the shelter of a prayer shawl.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1
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