THE VACATION LIE OF NORMALIZED DETACHMENT
Some of the guys who had been regulars at the Holy Cross Youth Center would sometimes disappear for awhile. It could be months or years before they came back, but it was always the same. When I asked them where they had been, they replied; "I've been on vacation." That was a kinder, gentler way of way of saying; "I've been in jail." It's a lie.
The young people had done something illegal to cause themselves to be detached from society and placed behind bars. Order in the world is maintained by law. If you break the law, you will live as a detached person. Sadly, generations of families have normalized detachment and given it a new name - vacation. It's just an accepted part of life. Dads go away for years at a time while their sons and daughters grow up with Dad on vacation. That is a sad and accepted normal passed on generationally.
A fast is a detachment from normal habits with the desire to give greater order to your relationship with God. That should be your new normal. Some habits that you give up might become permanent like giving up sugar altogether. Maybe words of vulgarity can be replaced by words of integrity. Many people go to jail due to unchanged habits. As you learn new habits, put them to use as a teacher of new habits.
The young people had done something illegal to cause themselves to be detached from society and placed behind bars. Order in the world is maintained by law. If you break the law, you will live as a detached person. Sadly, generations of families have normalized detachment and given it a new name - vacation. It's just an accepted part of life. Dads go away for years at a time while their sons and daughters grow up with Dad on vacation. That is a sad and accepted normal passed on generationally.
A fast is a detachment from normal habits with the desire to give greater order to your relationship with God. That should be your new normal. Some habits that you give up might become permanent like giving up sugar altogether. Maybe words of vulgarity can be replaced by words of integrity. Many people go to jail due to unchanged habits. As you learn new habits, put them to use as a teacher of new habits.
DAY 15 WORD
Colossians 3:9-11 The Message Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.
DAY 15 PRAYER
How long O Lord before they learn?
How long O Lord until young people understand
the lie of normalized generational curses?
Fathers leave sons and daughters for years,
lives wasted behind bars.
The love of a Father is not known in their families.
Help us God with a fresh start.
Cause us to become detached from the lies of the world.
We have been created for so much more than this.
Give us order in Your kingdom.
Give us a backbone to stand up for children and say
"I will not be detached from you as a father!"
You God are a Father who desires that none should perish.
Teach us Your ways O God.
Renew our relationship with You through a clean heart
Order our thoughts with Your compassion.
We wait with openness as we walk with our eyes fixed on You.
In Jesus Name.
Amen.
How long O Lord until young people understand
the lie of normalized generational curses?
Fathers leave sons and daughters for years,
lives wasted behind bars.
The love of a Father is not known in their families.
Help us God with a fresh start.
Cause us to become detached from the lies of the world.
We have been created for so much more than this.
Give us order in Your kingdom.
Give us a backbone to stand up for children and say
"I will not be detached from you as a father!"
You God are a Father who desires that none should perish.
Teach us Your ways O God.
Renew our relationship with You through a clean heart
Order our thoughts with Your compassion.
We wait with openness as we walk with our eyes fixed on You.
In Jesus Name.
Amen.
DAY 15 DEEP THOUGHTS
- Ask God to give you the wisdom to recognize the pre-inmate stage where somebody is in danger of becoming detached.
- Will you visit or write an inmate who is detached from their family? Can you be God's attachment to an inmate?
- Can you be a father to children whose dad is living the vacation lie behind bars?
- What do you need to detach from your life to become more attached to God?
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