Climbing Out of the Mess

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Be always at war with vices, at peace with your neighbours, and let each new year find you a better man.”  It is a tall order for every human being to succeed on all fronts, for vices can be well entrenched, neighbours can be testy and a new year can be worse than the previous one.

If we allow the world to dictate, then climbing out of the mess that our lives may have fallen into can be difficult. There was this man who had a son born out of wedlock. His luck went from bad to worse when his son died in a vehicular accident. As an escape from all his woes, he indulged in alcohol drinking, wasting his life and dying as a result of the vice.

On the other hand, I had a close friend who indulged in smoking marijuana in his younger days. His father brought him to a rehabilitation centre allowing him to turn his life around. He became successful in many things including disc jockeying, advertising and wellness programmes.

Kicking a bad habit can be very difficult.  One has to declare a war against it; and win battles one step at a time. It all starts with identifying and accepting the bad habit; seeking help when it is beyond self therapy; pursuing an alternative use of time and energy; and working forward to becoming a better person. While the decision to put an end to vice is personal, the battles must be fought with loving support from family, friends and therapists. They are the infantrymen that get the enemies hiding in the trenches.

Most importantly, you must have faith in God who is the chief strategist against Satan who is the real enemy.  As Jesus replied to Peter’s concern on a withering fig tree, “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”  (Mark 11:22-24)

Once you have conquered the vice that once controlled your life, then you will have a better understanding of yourself, leading you to realise how special you are in the universe. From then on, you can attain peace in yourself which leads to having peace with your neighbours as well. Not only will you become a better man in the eyes of people, but the better man God created you to be.