Don’t Let Them Drown You
Byron Washington, Contributing Writer
As we enter into the second half of the year it is a good time to do a quick evaluation. Most people have started to return to a level of normal and Covid restrictions have been lifted or reduced in many areas. That being said, I want to encourage you to be cautious of continuing to try to pull people out of “pits” (issues, problems, situations, or circumstances) when they do not want to be pulled out.
As a dog that returneth to his vomit, So is a fool that repeateth his folly – Proverbs 26:11
There are people who have a predilection to stay in their pit, no matter what you do, or how you help them; they will make the decision to go back. (Note: I am not talking about people that are fighting big problems, addictions, etc., these are the people that have the ability to do right; yet they prefer to choose opposite.) Some people have spent the last six months dragging people around, and six months later, you are still at square one.
Carrying around dead weight is exhausting. If you have ever carried a child who has fallen asleep they are extra heavy because they are not putting forth any effort, they are just placing all their weight on you. There are individuals we have been carrying along for the last six months and they are not putting forth any effort and it is draining us.
Consider this, a person who is drowning and a lifeguard has to save them. There is a specific technique that the lifeguard must use to help the drowning person. If the lifeguard does not use the right technique, the person who is drowning could injury the lifeguard or worst drown the both of them. There are some people we have been trying to help that if we are not careful they will harm us as we attempt to help them. When I say harm I am not thinking physical (though it could be), but more so derailing our potential or damaging our destiny.
Lastly, it is ok to rearrange your relationships. In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins, uses the illustration of a bus and talks about getting people in the right seats on the bus in order to progress. Additionally, sometimes you have to put some people off the bus in order to go forward.
This is not for everyone, but we all should take a moment and do an inventory of the people we are surrounding ourselves with. We need to assess are the people I am trying to help actually trying to do better, or are they dead weight? Some times it is not the devil slowing us down, it is all the people we are trying to carry. Think about it, pray about it, but just make sure they don’t drown you.
