“The doctor
is real in.”
Those words
are written on a psychiatrist stand the character Lucy has in the Christmas
classic, “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!”
That got me
thinking. We’re once again, at that festive time of year, with all of its parties,
concerts, kiddie pageants and assortment of other holiday events. There seems
to be an overwhelming amount of stuff to go to. And yet, during this festive
season, it’s more than difficult to get a doctor’s appointment. Or is that just
my experience?
When I was
sixteen years old, I got the chicken pox at Christmas. Ho ho ho! There was not
much I could do; there was no doctor I could see, because every single one of
them were off for the holiday. So, it was me, the movie, “It’s a Wonderful
Life” (colorized version), some calamine lotion, a couch and itching. Because I
didn’t get chicken pox like most kids, at age six or seven and because I was
this late bloomer, my stint with the itchy stuff lasted about three weeks. It
was not a festive time.
And, years’
later, I seem to have run into the same dilemma repeatedly whenever I try to
schedule an appointment with the doctor or dentist. Most of the time, the
doctor is real out. So, what’s my option? Where do I go from there?
Well,
there’s a potential and dangerous choice out there, left unchecked; I could
turn to my definition of a panacea. Instead of dealing with the discomfort and
pain in the moment, I could choose to numb, escape from and soothe it. Sounds
like classic addiction, doesn’t it? We try to cope and turn to anything to
attempt to make that happen. Those coping methods can include a wide variety of
consumption choices for each one of us: food, alcohol, drugs, sex, shopping,
just to name a few. And the excuse we possibly use for turning to them? The
doctor was out.
Do you feel
that way now, at this festive time of year? Do you feel there is no help for
you? Do you feel hopeless? Addictions, disorders and compulsions can leave us
in that state. It may be easy for us to believe the thought that we’re “the
only one.” We may believe that no one else knows or understands our
predicament. So, we’re justified, therefore, in turning to our solution, rather
than reach for help. If it’s too hopeless for us, if no one’s available, if the
doctor is, indeed, out, why not turn to whatever works? What’s the lyric from
John Lennon? “Whatever gets you through the night…”
But it is
not hopeless. The holiday season is notorious for its loneliness. We keep
hearing how our unrealistic, idealistic childhood expectations often set us up
for disappointment. The hype cannot satisfy our expectations.
And then
there’s the stress. So, we turn to something to get us through, to medicate, to
numb and to escape. And, as we feel like failures, we may also believe the lie
that everyone else has got it together. Not true. Everyone is a mess in some
way or another. Each one of us has stuff to deal with.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:23
All the more
reason, then why each one of us needs God in our lives and in our recovery,
whatever we’re recovering from. All the more reason we need to turn to God when
every other doctor and solution is unavailable to us.
This holiday
season can be a reminder then, that each one of us has access to the same God:
“Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all
things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all
things, and we exist through Him.”
1 Corinthians 8:6
When, not
if, you and I feel alone and overwhelmed by life, addictions and all kinds of
issues, we can remember this is exactly why Jesus came in the first place:
"…It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
Matthew 9:12; Luke 5:31
He is our
great physician, lovingly tending to each of our wounds. Feeling sick and
wounded? Apply Jesus. Feeling hopeless? Apply Jesus. Feeling lonely and lost?
Apply Jesus.
Indeed, when
it comes to Jesus, loving and intervening for each one of us, “the doctor is
real in!”
Copyright © 2016 by
Sheryle Cruse
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