Engage

It occurred to me tonight while I was smoking a cigarette that when we self-medicate, we essentially withdraw from God's presence and from His reaching out to heal our wounds. We try to fill the void ourselves. There are many things I do to escape from an often painful reality: sleep excessively or not enough, smoke, overeat, seek entertainment when there are pressing tasks at hand. But the solution is not to escape from the threat of despair, but to engage. It is easy to forget how many people there are working to make the world a better place. We will never achieve utopia (literally "no place") or fully eradicate suffering, but we can still reach people with kindness and positive action. We can still tend to the Creation. We can still offer our hearts and lives to Him for restoration and renewal. We live in a fallen world, but it is also a beautiful one. And ultimately, Reality is His domain. Hope lives.