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.