The Double Ring

Tears............

Emotions that run down your cheeks.

Are they tears of joy..................

or

tears of sadness?

Sometimes they can be both.

I came upon a phrase used by an author that kind of illustrates this principal.

He called it the double ring effect.

He believed that we operate, sometimes, with two emotions running together, yet each one is diametrically opposed to the other.

Case in point.

Tears of sorrow and at the same time, tears of joy.

You may be thinking that this is incredibly dumb, but I'm not so sure.

Yesterday, I received news that a former client had died.
I knew that he had been struggling daily.
That he had wavered back and forth in his addiction.

When the news reached me that he had died, I felt grief and sorrow.
I was flooded with memories of my times with him.

I remembered the last time I had seen him. How he had asked me to pray for him and I told him that I would pray with him. There in that huge room, surrounded by other people, I heard a man pray who was tired and wore out.

As these memories of this individual unwound in my mind accompanied with the grief, I was suddenly flooded with images in my mind of others.
Men who were living life for the first time.
Men who had strung together days, weeks, months and even years of sobriety.

This brought a sense of joy to me.
So there within me, was these two emotions running at the same time.

One of great sadness for the loss......

and

another of great joy for those who were still here fighting daily, going to meetings, getting plugged in to a church. Doing the right thing, but always aware that the old lifestyle waited patiently in the shadows to devour them should they turn back.

Today, I'm o.k.

Today, I'm at peace.

I know that this side of heaven is a struggle.
But we haven't been called to do this or walk out this life by ourselves.

I choose this day to walk with God.

God on you..............

mb