Dave Burchett - Waking Up Slowly: Spiritual Lessons from My Dog, My Kids, Critters, and Other Unexpected Places

A NUMBER OF MY BOOK IDEAS end up in a Dumpster, but I never dreamed I would find a book idea standing next to one! The television trailers where I direct major-league baseball games are located well outside the beautifully manicured grass of the Texas Rangers home field and near the containers that collect the daily garbage of forty thousand baseball fans. I live a glamorous life.

In that unlikely place I saw the unmistakable smile of my friend Mike as he walked toward me. I am so glad to see you! I said, giving him a hug. It was the first time I had seen Mike since his detox from prescription-pill addiction. We had been walking together through his life-and-death battle with these drugs. In fact, he read an early version of my previous book Stay during his detox agony and found some help in those stories.

I went to my first Narcotics Anonymous meeting today, Mike said.

What was that experience like?

It was one of the hardest but, at the same time, one of the best days of my life, he said solemnly. I stood up and told a room full of strangers that I am an addict.

I listened while he continued to describe the scene.

When I admitted my addiction, the meeting stopped.

What do you mean, it stopped? I asked.

Every single person in the room walked over to my chair, hugged me, and told me that I was the most important person in the room today.

I felt chills. All of us dream about that kind of community. Every person recognized the importance of Mike taking that painful first step of admitting that he had a problem and he needed help.

But my Dumpster devotion was not finished.

I looked around the room after that moment of love and affirmation, Mike recounted, and I realized something sad. In the past, if I had seen many of these same people on the street, I would have made harsh judgments, jokes, or mean comments about their appearance.

That hit my heart. I have been so judgmental of others without taking a moment of my precious time to hear their stories.

Later, I reflected on the remarkable experience my friend had shared. I asked God to open my heart to see how He could teach me through the people I would not normally seek out. God often uses the least of these more remarkably than the pretty and powerful. Mike had given me a profound and sacred moment by a Dumpster. I wondered how many times I had stumbled over other sacred moments because I was too self-absorbed to notice.

I am inviting you to my own gathering of need and confession, as I stand and haltingly admit some hard truths about myself.

Hi, my name is Dave, and I am proud, hypocritical, and judgmental. I am addicted to praise. I get distracted by the insignificant and stub my toe on the sacred every day without noticing. If you can stand, smile kindly, and shout out, Hi, Dave,then we may have some things to learn together on this journey. You are the most important person in the room right now. Lets learn together how to enjoy God and one another more fully in the moment.

For the threescore years and some change that I have been on this planet, I have operated like the George Harrison lyric, If you dont know where youre going, any road will take you there. Of course, I have a daily to-do list. I make regular plans to advance my career and for my familys activities. But every morning I wake up and basically let daily circumstances affect my mood, my productivity, and my happiness. I suspect I am not alone in that routine.