Drama Queen

It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. . . . We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it. Ephesians 2:1-3, THE MESSAGE

She was delightful. She was kind, stable, friendly, sweet, and a quiet joy. But she once commented, “As my kids got older, like all teens, they were out with friends more and more. Sometimes I wondered if it was because we weren’t very exciting.”

Excitement is way overrated, especially the excitement that comes from living in danger. Drama, trauma, conflict, and crisis—that is a usual day for many women. Is that how you define being “alive”? Are you bored if the day is simply full of responsibility and duty? It’s easy to become addicted to the adrenaline of conflict and chaos. We exchange stability for scenes straight from the soaps.

In the path to wellness, there will be many boring days. Many days will be full of nothing but responsibility, self-discipline, and hard work. But the life of stability builds the potential for excitement minus the drama or trauma! I think that’s why Jesus used this example: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-25, NIV).

How can you move away from desiring unhealthy excitement that puts you in danger or continual drama and move toward the kind of healthy excitement that develops from newfound opportunity when you reach out to your God-given potential? The key to hope is self-control, plain and simple—doing what’s right no matter what you feel like doing.