Where are you looking?

Your eyes will always dictate where you are going. If you are looking forward, your body will have a forward lean and motion. If you are looking to the side, your body will begin to move in that direction and orient itself in that way as well. The same goes for looking behind you or in any other direction. Wherever you look, chances are you will move in that direction.

This idea of looking in a direction dictates movement was something I had to learn in my addiction recovery journey. For so many years, I figured if I just focused on abstinence and sobriety I would rid my life of this addiction. Unfortunately, this was not the case. When I was focused on abstinence and sobriety, I found myself looking in the direction of pornography and judging my success by how far I was from it. In essence, I was looking toward my addiction but trying to walk to Christ. This act is very unstable and often leads to relapses - which I experienced a lot of!

It wasn’t until much later that I realized that days of sobriety are good, but learning to look toward and walk to Christ is much better. Don’t get me wrong, days of sobriety are good. In fact, I would argue that days of sobriety is the key indicator of success initially. Why? We are learning to walk away from pornography and turn to Christ. Notice the language there: turning to Christ NOT walking to Christ. Once the turn is made and we are facing Christ, the days of sobriety become less of a key indicator of success and more important key indicators of success become important. Some of these indicators of success are: daily prayers, daily scripture study, attending church services, acts of service, attending group meetings (if you choose to do so), journaling, and quality time with family. These actions become very powerful during recovery because they help us walk to Christ. Does this mean stop keeping track of your days of sobriety? Absolutely not. Each day of sobriety should be celebrated. There are sobriety days milestones that should be celebrated! Between each milestone though, we should see some of the more powerful key indicators improving and increasing in our lives.

This is just as the Savior, Jesus Christ, taught: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” (Matthew 6:22) If we are looking toward the Savior, Jesus Christ, we will be filled with his light and hope. This light and hope is what we bring lasting conversion and recovery from addiction!

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