The Void

If filling the void were really as easy as doing some shots or smoking some dope, addicts would be the happiest, most fulfilled individuals in the world. Instead we wind up engaging in a pattern of self-destructive behaviors until the consequences become unavoidable and we find ourselves in addiction treatment. This is ultimately for the best, but the problem lies in the fact that sobriety itself does not always cure our need to fill that void. (Quoted from Amethyst, Nov. 24, 2015)

There is always a void, it does not escape any individual on this planet. Websters calls it "holding or containing nothing". I felt it the most in the middle of my addiction when I had no clue how to fill it, and I felt it again when I got the call my son had died, for which I did have an answer. That void, when not able to be filled with an answer leads to destruction.

It sabotages success, it ruins families, it prevents real love, it is a dangerous state of numbness that places us in the position in the exact middle of the chasm of uncertainty. If we are not careful that uncertainty gets too comfortable as we watch, in an altered state of mind, as the world goes by. The proverbial question then comes, "How do we fill that void?"

The easy answer is Jesus. Then again, the answer is always Jesus. But how we get to Jesus, how we come to believe is the ultimate key as to whether we stay in that chasm. If we see him just as God, just as a miracle working Santa Claus, just as another rebel who shook things up, or as a roadblock to having real fun, we never really get the point.

I am not sure how you will find your point, but mine happened when that Jesus became my personal savior, my best friend, my go to guy in any and all situations, and as I watched The Passion Of Christ several years ago, and tears flowed down my face, I knew that I had felt his pain, as he had always felt mine. He became the center of my life, not just a missing piece.

He not only filled the void, he filled my heart with passion, energy and a desire to serve, which also incidentally, fills that void. When you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is with you in the good, the bad and the ugly parts of life, that void becomes an object in your rear view mirror that sometimes appeared way larger than it really was.

But now it is reduced to "holding or containing nothing" that will not hold you back, or pull you down, because He is driving you forward!