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The Christian Bipole

Mental Health for the Christian: Radical Acceptance

Have you ever wondered what is meant by the term "Radical Acceptance" and why it is so important when dealing with mental illness? Well, here goes my attempt at answering these two questions. Along the way I will highlight how Christians are in an advantageous position to practice radical acceptance.


The verywellmind.com website says that, "Radical acceptance means practicing a conscious effort to acknowledge and honor difficult situations and emotions. Fully accepting things as they are, instead of ignoring, avoiding, or wishing the situation were different, can be a critical step in moving through a difficult experience..." As such, radical acceptance is a central piece of cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy.


When I was struggling to understand radical acceptance, the Serenity Prayer was brought to my attention. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." I find it interesting to see radical acceptance expressed as a prayer to God. And it is precisely here that Christians have a leg-up on others. We know we can pray to God for His help with this. We are "experts" (or should be) in turning things we can't control over to Him. Paul enjoins us "to present (our) bodies as a living sacrifice," and so we should.


But how does one practice radical acceptance? As with the Serenity Prayer, prayer is an important step. We take a deep breath, give our situation to God, and accept that "stasis." Ask yourself, is there anything more I can do? That's the "courage to change the things I can" part of the Serenity Prayer. But once we have done all we can--and that's the "wisdom to know the difference" piece--it's time to accept things as they are, and also to accept ourselves as we are. That's the hardest part, in my experience. I so badly want to be other than I am.


I take solace from Paul's experience. We have only a vague idea what Paul's so-called "thorn in the flesh" may have been. (2 Cor 12:7-10) But he desperately wanted God to remove it , pleading with Him three times to do so. God said, "No!" That His grace would be sufficient. That His power would be made perfect in Paul's weakness. And what was Paul's ulitmate conclusion? It was nothing less than his radical acceptance. You can find it in 2 Cor 15:10--"But by the grace of God I am what I am." You may have heard the phrase, "It is what it is" as a statement of radical acceptance. For the Christian, a better statement would be "I am what I am!" Or I am where I am." Or "I am how I am." But make sure to add the "by the grace of God" part. By the grace of God I am what/where/how I am." Amen.


Blessings!

The Christian Bipole



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