temptation...

...when it rears its ugly head...how do you respond?

the traditional approach to temptation has been war...fight it...don't surrender to it...find strategies to deal with it...kill it before it kills you...what is it like when we take this approach to our temptations?

when a temptation rears its ugly head...we rush at it...blind-folded...swinging madly...we are afraid to look at it and especially afraid to ask what this temptation or sin means about who we are...somewhere in our consciousness we hear a voice..."if you commit a sin like this...if the temptation even crosses our mind...you must be a very bad person..."

ever thought that?

we try to beat the temptation to death...but in fact we only knock it unconscious...so to speak...we stuff it into a closet and pound a few nails into the door..."well...that's dealt with..." we tell ourselves...but temptation and sin monsters thrive in dark closets and will emerge larger and even more threatening another time...and so we find ourselves caught in an overwhelming spiral of guilt...lack of self-knowledge...and powerlessness...

thre is another way to approach temptation...we do not deny the problem but see it first as a symptom...when the temptation or sin monster crawls out of the closet...we need to stop before we bludgeon it and ask what its presence is telling us about ourselves...

our reaction to our own temptation can be like our reaction to a child who displays some unexpected behavior...like shoplifting...or smoking...our first desire might be to shout or spank the scoundrel (kidding!) into submission...but that would be a shallow response to the problem...the wise parent will try to find out what this behavior indicates about the deeper needs...problems and feelings of the child...

and so with our temptations...why do i find myself wanting to buy that pair of red shoes...or that piece of chocolate cake? why do i find myself gossiping about a neighbor...or nursing a grudge toward someone who has hurt me? self-examination...understanding ourselves...is an essential step in beginning the journey towards holiness...even paul instructed the christians of corinth to examine themselves...when we look within...we see that often we have not examined or known ourselves or the power of our emotions...

it's little wonder that we as women (and men) don't understand ourselves...we have often believed garbled tales about ourselves...for years if we have turned to psychology or sociology for insight...we have read studies that relate more to male moral decision-making than our own...it would be remarkable if we weren't confused about ourselves...this confusion has made us vulnerable...and when we are out of touch with who we are and with our emotions...we are more likely to fall for temptation...

each of us must decide how to handle temptation...how to deal with it head-on...find true freedom...and begin to build holy and fulfilling lives...