BAG OF TOOLS:

~

Who would try to nail boards together without a hammer or
change a flat tire without a jack? To deny our need for
tools would be ridiculous, wouldn't it? Yet many of us have
trouble accepting that we need tools to repair our damaged
self-esteem.

Sheer force of will won't lift a car so that a bad tire can
be replaced and it won't lift a heavy burden from our
spirits either. Insight and knowledge of carpentry can't
pound a nail – nor can insight and knowledge, without the
help of tools, pound the dents out of our battered psyches.

It isn't weak or shameful to admit that a human finger isn't
a screwdriver and a human eye isn't a microscope. Why do we
resist the idea that spiritual work, like physical work, has
its own set of tools? Reading, sharing, praying, and attending
our support group's meetings – these are the tools that help
us do the job. They aren't optional niceties or crutches. If
we need to lay a new foundation, we need to dig a big hole.
And if we need to dig a hole, we'd better be willing to use
a shovel.

My willingness to use the tools determines the outcome of the
job.