Drugs Anyone?

Have you noticed how many commercials these daysare related to the pharmaceutical industry?
I have.

Commercials, in general, annoy me.  Some more than others.
Some are simply ridiculous, though some are entertaining.
One that keeps popping up on Pandora steams me.

It is for a drug trial to help children with ADHD and/or dyslexia.
Could it be possible that there might be another way to treat these issues?
Is it possible that some of the observed behavior is not as much a condition as a symptom of one's environment?

When we were raising our boys, two of them were diagnosed as with ADD.  There were many issues to deal with in our family at the time and so I accepted the labels and the prescriptions.  This would not be my response today..

It seems to me that we are awfully quick to label.  Of course, if one is labeled then we can more easily find a drug to address their problem!
Please do not misunderstand me.  I am not saying that drugs never help or should never be used, but just that we are so quick to dispense them.

A few years ago I was in my doctor’s office for my annual physical.  It was just over a year since my honey’s accident and he, as well as my life, had dramatically changed.
At that time I had been feeling a bit blue.  I do not recall what my doctor said, but I responded by bursting into tears.  He immediately wanted to prescribe an anti-depressant for me.

What was wrong with me feeling my feelings and working through them?  Was masking them more important??  I assured him that I would rather deal with my feelings,which were legitimate, but if it became too much, I would let him know.
Papa and I, with help from my friends, worked through it.

So what is the point of this post?
Our society is in the midst of a drug epidemic.
The majority of those in our jails and prisons are there for drug related crimes.
On a regular basis we are burying our young due to an overdose.
Rehabs and the like are flourishing businesses.

The majority have been weaned on the philosophy of drugs being the answer or at least a good part of the answer.
It seems easier to drug our young than to address their real needs.  

What are their needs?
A stable home.
A sense of their value in our eyes and even more so in the eyes of their Creator.

We are a broken society.

I spend time volunteering at a drug/alcohol rehab.  For the majority, who pass through that place, they have been given little in the way of a foundation.

Addiction is a family disease.
Yet, many family members do not see that their loved one who struggles with addiction is not the only one who needs recovery.

I grew up in a dysfunctional home.  Who didn't?
We are all broken and our God recognizes this fact.
That is why He sent His Son.
We need fixing.
He says that He makes all things new!

Papa makes available all the tools we need for wholeness.
Those tools often come in the form of relationships, first with Him and then with one another.
He reached out to us and we are called ot reach out to one another.
In love.

Karl Marx is quoted as saying that

 "Religion is the opiate of the masses."

 In James we can read,

"This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

Now, Mr. Marx,  that is a drug that makes sense!