A Clearer View

By Sarah Bryant, Fellowship Bible Chuch, Rogers, Celebrate Recovery Devotional Team co-leader, 7/29/20

A few days ago I bought a new hummingbird feeder and decided to hang it on a hook suction-cupped to my window. I hung it right next to where I have my temporary, work-from-home desk set up. It didn’t take too long before several humming birds regularly started showing up. My only problem was the screen in the window was blocking me from getting a clear view of them. So I just popped the screen out of the window and…BAM…problem solved! Now I could see them so much more clearly, but guess what, this meant that they could see me more clearly too. I sat there really still at first, waiting to see what they would do. The first one flew up and was a little more hesitant at first but quickly realized there was no danger and began to feed again. Now I get to sit and enjoy their company without having my joy diminished by having to look through the screen.   

This got me thinking about one of the big steps of my recovery. For most of my life I had been very hesitant and distrustful of people. I didn’t want to let them in because of what they might do or what they might see. The things done to me, and the things I had done caused struggles for me in relationships. So I was content to just sit behind the screen. I consistently had friends in life, but always at a distance, nothing too deep. I could never quite connect the way I wanted, because for me to truly see them, I had to allow them to truly see me, and that wasn’t something I was willing to do. 

But a few years ago God got my attention that some things in my life needed to change. I remember the first night I came to CR, within the first 10 minutes at least three people up on stage had already introduced themselves with a list of real, honest struggles. Before the night was over I knew there was something special about this place…something I needed. It didn’t happen immediately for me, but eventually one night I decided to “pop out the screen” and allowed a handful of people a clearer view of me. Just like I did when I popped out the screen and waited on the hummingbirds to show up, I just sat there…frozen…uneasy, questioning, wondering if people would just turn away. But just like the hummingbird, to my surprise, the people still wanted to be around me. And not only did they want to be around me, but they wanted to get to know me even better. They could see me, and I could see them. Slowly I’m learning to develop healthy and trusting relationships, and these relationships help me in every other aspect of my recovery. But it wasn’t until I made the decision to “pop out the screen” that I could enjoy life more clearly.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

-Ecclesiastes 4:9-12-

Click HERE to listen to "I Will Be Here" by Steven Curtis Chapman