9-13-20 Digging Out the Junk
Quote: “We need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” – Desmond Tutu
When I saw this quote from Desmond Tutu, I screamed “Yesssss!” as soon as I saw it. For so many years in my life, I was really good at putting band-aids on my wounds. Until I started doing some digging to find out why I was bleeding or bruised all the time, then and only then could I really heal.
I’ll give you a teacher example. Whenever a student is acting out in class, 99.9% of the time it’s because there is really something else going on. If I take the time to lean down next to a child, get right at their level, and say, “Hey buddy, what’s wrong? Tell Mrs. Z. why you are so (fill in the blank – angry, sad, hurt, tired, etc.).” 9 times out of 10 I find out they hadn’t seen their mom in a few days or they were hungry or they didn’t get enough sleep the night before. If I would have just had them sit out at recess or put their head down or miss out at free choice time, I would have taken care of that moment’s behavior but not the real issue at hand.
And now I’ll give you a super personal example. For many years, I was angry at people whenever they would second guess or cut down something I had worked hard on or was proud of. It hurt me to the core. I would get so unnecessarily offended. I would feel wounded, put up a wall, and then shove them aside. It was a band-aid to simply cover the hurt.
After I went to a counselor back in 2012, we found that I had some deep wounds that we needed to go revisit and dig out some junk. Come to find out, I was trying to get other people’s approval because I hadn’t gotten the approval of some key people in my life. Once I was understood this, I felt like a bolder had been lifted off my shoulders that I didn’t even know was there! I realized I didn’t need to live for the approval of people. I was in this life for an audience of One. If my Heavenly Father was pleased, that was all that mattered. I didn’t need to be liked or approved of or agreed with by others 100% of the time.
See, I had to go upstream and find out why I was falling into the river.
The Bible says in Isaiah 43:19, “See, I am doing a new thing! I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” This verse reminds us that to make true changes in our life, we have to find a new way to live. We’ve got to go back to our roots, dig out the junk, and make way for beautiful, new streams.
I am forever changed because of this new way of thinking. Is your spouse driving you crazy? It’s probably not the toilet seat left up or the sink full of dishes that’s making you mad. You may need to talk and see if there is a deeper issue at hand. Are you tired of your child not listening to you or respecting you? It’s probably not the light left on or the clothes all over the floor that’s making you so angry. You may need to talk and see if there is a deeper root that needs examined.
Take the time to go upstream and do a little investigating. It may just end up saving you from drowning.
Such great analogy, we use this all the time in my line of work- PREVENTION.
If we start at the root of the problem you can help prevent it. It makes me think of the well, when all the people were getting sick. Once they figured out it was because sewage was running off Into the well causing everyone down stream to get sick they easily fixed the problem! 💙💙
YES!! I love that story. If we want to make change, we have to go back to the beginning of where it all started, fix it, and then move forward. 🙂
This is perfect! I have done this in my life n other people’s. One thing I realized was sometimes people really cant help things they do. One big one I have noticed is Generational Curses. I feel like when I bring it up most people look at me like I’m crazy. “Oh that’s not how she was raised” but how someone was raised dont necessarily mean they might not have a problem with certain issues. I like to think of it as weeds..we need to pull them out at the root because it not they will keep coming back n spreading until they slowly strangle out n kill the Flower…so we need to let God do the planting n watering but we need to take action by pulling out weeds and stay rooted in word. THANK YOU Prof Z! Love this blog!
It’s all about digging out those nasty roots. It’s not fun and can sometimes be very painful but the reward is a life of FREEDOM!!!
Aaaahhhh Firstborns! We come into this world and we are the Light and Sunshine to everyone because we’re New and First. Then Life and Other Kids push us aside and we feel like “Hey, I’m still here!!” “Am I enough?”. It’s not good to get the spotlight too much but come on when you are made to shine it’s hard to take a back seat. It’s a game we spend out whole lives trying to figure out. Then one day if we are Lucky enough to understand we finally get that we are the Light and Sunshine to Jesus. He Knows and Loves us because He made us just the way we are. We are still human and “jumping” into Life trying to find the balance in doing what we are called to when no one is watching and still feeling GOOD about ourselves. Keep on Being Light and Sunshine and this Mama and Firstborn will always be cheering in the front row!! I APPROVE this message!! Forever Loving YOU! – Jesus and ME!!
Awww! Just seeing this mama! Thank you for those awesome nuggets!