This past week I was out of the office nearly all week because I was sick. It is not often I get that sick, it happens about once a year. I thought it was some allergies/hay fever stuff, but when I got a fever and my body became incredibly weak I knew it was more than just allergies.
I rested and by Friday night I was feeling a whole lot better. In fact I was feeling so good that on Saturday I got up went for a run, did some work around the house, did some studying and then went to a baseball game in the evening. Not even thinking, but it was too much too soon. I awoke on Sunday with my symptoms backs and feeling pretty rough.
This taught me a few lessons about pushing myself too hard, dropping my guard and easing back into my normal routine. It also reminded me of any bad habits, struggles and sins that have overtaken our lives and how easy they come back if we are not careful.
Too often something may consume our lives for a while. We may have worked hard to get away from that habit or sin and then one day we will feel free of it. It doesn’t bother us anymore, our lives are not controlled by it; so we drop our guard, we go on in life like it was never a part of our lives and we expose ourselves to things that once would have got us into a lot of trouble, all because we are feeling better! The most often occurrence in these cases is that habit, sin, struggle or illness will return. These are three reasons why:
1. Feeling better doesn’t always mean your better – Our feelings have a tendency to distort what is really going on. Just because you feel strong does not mean you will not crack under the heat. You often feel better before your body is fully recurred. When overcoming problems, sins and habits you often feel you have overcome it before you have fully removed all traces of those things in your life.
2. We let some symptoms remain – I should have known on Saturday that I still had a bit of the virus in me. All that was left were the symptoms I started to feel two weeks ago (two weeks ago I didn’t know I was sick). We often overlook our minor symptoms because our major ones have gone. In overcoming habits, sins and struggles all the symptoms need to be removed, otherwise it is inevitable they will return.
3. We start back too strong – I have seen people who are recovering from addictions take life on 110% after they feel they have conquered their addiction only to slip back into it after six months because life was too hectic and their guard was dropped. Unless we ease back into life after overcoming a sickness or problem it will often bite us back. When we ease ourselves back our guard stays up, we become watchful and we do not create a fertile ground for that sickness, habit or problem to grow once again.
If you are recovering from a sickness, from a sin in your life, from a long standing problem that has consumed your life don’t make the mistake I did, go at it like there was never an issue.
What issues have you thought you got over, but only to return? Why do you think it returned? What things do you think we can put in place to stop our problems and/or struggles from returning?
