excerpt from Walking WIth God by John Eldredge
“Sometime earlier this year, I noticed I was drinking too often, or more precisely, drinking for the wrong reasons. I’d come home exhausted and frazzled from the day, and I’d turn to a glass of wine or a beer as a sort of refuge and relief, a way to find some peace. Some people use food. Or television. For me it was alcohol. And that’s not good. I began to see it as a reaching for joy – joy in a bottle, joy within my grasp. Yikes. This does not have a good future written on it.
And so God gave me a kind of grace to give it up. To make room in my life for him. It was really that simple. I noticed that when I came home frayed and weary, what I wouldn’t do was simply take a few moments to be with God and ask him to comfort me, to be my refuge and peace. I decided to try that instead.
And so something I’ve enjoyed over the years i gone now. And I have no idea if or when it will return. What I notice is a kind of spaciousness now in my soul in the evening. Room for God.”
I read this excerpt shortly after a conversation with some friends about drinking. I never experientially understood the statement, “I need a drink.” It made sense when I thought about people drinking away their troubles, translation – getting drunk. But when I hear people who I know don’t drink to the point of getting drunk say this, it didn’t make sense to me. I guess I’ve never experienced any kind of escape or calming comfort from a glass of wine or a beer.
But, I can TOTALLY identify to what Eldredge is talking about. But instead of a glass of wine or a beer, I turn to the TV or the 360. Instead of joy in a bottle, it’s joy in a box.
God, grant me the grace to give it up – to make room in my life for him. God, will You be my comfort, my refuge and peace.
