DEMONS

Kathy Salzberg
Aug 22, 2017 · 3 min read

At my church on Sunday, the priest read from the gospel of St. Matthew Chapter 15, verses 21–28:

“At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But Jesus did not say a word to answer her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He replied, “I was sent only to help the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman kept begging with him and paying him homage until he finally relented, performing the miracle of a healing upon her daughter even though she was not from his own tribe.

It got me to thinking, not just about that gospel but about our own “demons.” We all have them, don’t we? Whether it’s our eating, drinking or smoking habits, abusing our meds, overusing our credit cards on things we really don’t need or struggling with our self-worth and depression, not many of us are completely free of such faults. Some of us are delighted at the latest juicy neighborhood gossip while others can never be satisfied with themselves or their accomplishments. Then you’ve got those who are so self-important that they think they are God’s gift to the human race. Call them bugaboos or demons — most of us have inner beliefs that can hold us back, things that we would like to change.

Change is not easy. The woman in the gospel was fortunate to be able to ask Jesus for help for her daughter but although we’ll never run into him personally in our travels, many of us contact him through our prayers. Some seek help and peace of mind from other spiritual practices like Buddhism or meditation while many enlist professional help to deal with their personal problems.

For our spiritual practice to be successful, we need to learn from those who have already found inner peace but we also need to give ourselves constant encouragement. Maybe we were raised by parents who did not know how to parent, who made us feel ashamed and inferior. Once we have achieved confidence in our own strength and belief system, we will be able to diminish and even obliterate the demons that are holding us back. This includes shutting down the voices in our heads that keep us trapped in the past.

Those negative voices take us away from what‘s happening now. We’re stuck, but we can’t see it. Those movie reruns in our minds from past events may feel like reality and keep us from truly acknowledging or appreciating life as it is now but they are not reality. Making the quantum leap to living peacefully in the present and being grateful for the blessings of our lives is one of the best gifts we can ever give ourselves.

We need to embark upon our quest to banish our demons, whether through our own personal journey or the faith that Canaanite woman had for her Savior — and we won’t have to worry about how her pestering annoyed his disciples either.

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Kathy Salzberg

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Kathy Salzberg is a lifelong storyteller, (they called it lying back in grade school) author, retired pet groomer and humorist who is enjoying her retirement.

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