A recent review of a book on gambling caught my eye---we live in Las Vegas and gambling is all around---not just the casinos but drugstores, supermarkets, gas stations. The video poker machines are EVERYWHERE. The book was making the point that what makes these machines so addictive is that they relieve boredom. There is just enough "winning" to cause excitement
The larger point was that addiction often (not always-but often) begins as a way to deflect our boredom. "I'll have a drink...I'll smoke some weed...I'll take a hit" to relieve my boredom. We may not say it that way but that can be a message we give ourselves.
This book challenges us by saying that the opposite of boredom is not just finding some work to take our mind off our boredom but the opposite of boredom is extravagant joy. I was reminded of that as my visiting family and I visited the Red Rock State Park here just out of Las Vegas. Maybe it wasn't "extravagant joy" but it was an awesome sense of God's work in the ongoing creation of this world.
A quote from the book, "Celebration cannot occur without seeing the world as God sees it, without loving its goodness; in fact God's very nature is celebratory, an endless dance of mirth."
Do I think of God's very nature as mirth? Or do I live in "fear" of His nature?
Today can I take time to see the world as God sees it and celebrate with joy? Extravagant joy?
Blessings-Penny
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