Too much of a good thing, maybe

We all have our addictive behaviors. Frequently, those of us self-described as morally upright and productive folks see these behaviors as nothing more than good habits and many of them are. But, all of us have our own addictions -- such as a quick and staunch denial of any validity in the suggestion. Ouch!

The thought isn't new; it, like everything else I might happen to say or write, isn't original. I was introduced to it while in seminary. Gerald May's now classic "Addiction and Grace" set it out fearlessly and was one of the primary challenges of my middler year. Much earlier in history Ignatius of Loyola's focus on human attachments in his Spiritual Exercises had much the same theme. And, in real life, a dear friend who read voraciously was challenged by her spiritual director to give up reading for Lent one year, his observation being that her thirst for knowledge, her focus on knowing, was beginning to take a dangerous position in her life. Addictions of alcohol, nicotine, drugs are not the only options out there. We can be addicted to power, to money, to exercise, to food, to people, to worry, to control, to being needed, to admiration, to being right, to putting one's self last, to electronic gadgets, to Facebook, to shoes.

I thought of all this and more early in the day when I took Tal out to breakfast at the beginning of a long list of errands, Monetta to Aiken. We went where? To my new favorite, to yesterday's lunch spot, to Barristers. I think I'm sort of addicted to the place and to how I feel when I'm there.

And you thought I was going to get too serious ...