The other day I came into the church building to find that the Men's toilet was clogged. And I mean really clogged. I spent quite some time working to get it unclogged and working again. The plungers I had did not work, so I had to and get a specialized plunger from the hardware store. I came back and got to work, it still took me about another five minutes of work, but I finally got the toilet flowing again. This now meant I had to clean the toilet itself. As I was cleaning I started grumbling "who would leave it clogged like this and not say anything?" and then it occurred tome that we all do the same things with ourselves.
How often do you experience something that causes you anxiety or another emotion and you just pack it away? How many of us have been through a bad experience and just don't process it but try to lock it away in our minds, only for it to come out when we are trying to fall asleep? I know that I have allowed this to happen to me on many occasions, which is interesting considering the time I have had to put in to training on not doing that very thing. Now, I believe that these things that can "clog us up" do not have to be BIG in nature, they can be little things that over time really start to block you.
So what do we do? Well, the first step is probably acknowledging that we have the clog to begin with. What is stopping us up? What is keeping us from moving forward? Perhaps in our willingness to acknowledge, we can process through some of the things and that will take care of it. But perhaps you need more than a simple moment with yourself? Now it might be time to bring in the plumber. After taking a look at what you got going on with yourself, perhaps you need to seek out better support like close friends, a support group or a mental health professional like a counselor or Psychiatrist.
Unfortunately, our society is still working on accepting mental health as something to be cared for and even the same with spiritual health. It is important for us to acknowledge and accept that we may need help, and that is OK! As we are preparing ourselves to go into a New Year, I invite you into a time of unclogging. Perhaps you might need to seek a more specialized help and cannot get there before the new year. THAT IS FINE!! If you start of this next year with the attitude that you are going to take better care of yourself by trying to keep things flowing and not getting clogged, then I can imagine that you will have a great next year.
In scripture it says "Love your Neighbor as Yourself," well, we part of this is loving ourselves, so if we are to care for our neighbors, to care for others in our lives, then we need to make sure we are taking care of ourselves so that we can care for others. Please take care of yourself and have a GREAT New Year!!
