{"id":6691,"date":"2020-04-13T15:25:46","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T15:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rosesweet.com\/?p=6691"},"modified":"2022-07-16T19:16:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T19:16:00","slug":"whats-too-precious-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rosesweet.com\/whats-too-precious-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s too Precious for you?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Overattachment makes us ugly<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Gollum is a creepy little character from J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, who came upon a\u00a0 magic gold ring, fell under its spell, and changed from a once kind, gentle Hobbit to a murderer. After strangling his companion to get the ring for his own, Gollum then used the powerful ring\u2013which could make one invisible\u2013for thieving, spying, and antagonizing his friends and relatives.<\/p>\n

He gives me the heebie-jeebies.\u00a0 He’s disgustingly distorted, slimy, devious, whiny, and schizophrenic. And an image of you and me in our most self-absorbed moments.<\/p>\n

The village folk eventually nicknamed him \u201cGollum\u201d from the guttural noises that started emitting from his throat. Changed into a horrible person by his lust for the ring (which he named \u201cPrecious\u201d) he was finally banished and retreated to a deep cave in the Misty Mountains where the ring\u2019s malignant influence twisted his body and mind so that he appeared as a sickly, pale creature with six teeth sharpened into points. He looked to some as a \u201cspider or a starved dog\u201d that cringed and hissed and whined. Nice.<\/p>\n

We all have our “Precious”<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It kills me to admit this but Gollum is in each of us. Gollum had come to \u201clove and despise the Ring, just as he loved and hated himself.\u201d He was torn between his lust for the ring and his desire to be free of it and thus he became a split personality\u2026a living battleground of good and evil.<\/p>\n

You and I struggle with finding something\u2014or someone\u2014who we think will make us eternally happy, give us all the pleasure, power, prestige, success, or security that we need and want, and when possession of that thing or relationship is threatened, we turn into whining, devious nasty little creatures. We manipulate, lie, cheat, steal, and even \u201cmurder\u201d someone\u2019s joy, reputation . . . or even their person . . . to get what we want.\u00a0 Gossip, infidelity, divorce, abortion; they all share the same root.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I have a sad history behind me of failed marriages that had become my \u201cprecious\u201d idols. I thought they would make me happy and that if I was virtuous enough God would bless me and my efforts. But I had it all backwards: God wanted me to want him first, more than anything. Putting him first in my life, indeed, would have been the proper and natural response if only I had not been blind and obsessed with my own \u201cprecious\u201d way, and had truly known how deep was his desire to lavish all his love on me.<\/p>\n

God can make us beautiful again<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Because I finally came to him for freedom, and let him fill me with his love, I can\u2019t sit quietly and let others morph into slimy, schizophrenic creatures that lust after self-directed relationships. In my book about Happiness<\/em><\/a>, I explain the four classic levels of desire, how we get caught in their grip for ultimate good or abject misery . . . and how to break free!<\/p>\n