A theme shared by C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton was that any good thing carried to extreme becomes a bad thing.
One good thing that Americans have carried to an unhealthy extreme is an overemphasis on self-reliance.
Americans, particularly men, have been reared since the middle of the past century to cultivate self-reliance, to assume responsibility for their lives.
Few would argue that this is not a valuable trait, but self-reliance without the counterbalance of a relationship with God and Christ always leaves us short in a crisis.
In The Problem of Pain , Lewis observes that man's illusion of self-sufficiency must, for man's sake, be shattered.
Spending three decades as an Army Airborne Infantry Ranger, I was trained in self-reliance as a recipe for life. Indeed, I had allowed self-reliance to become my doctrine of self-sufficiency.
When an accident took the life of my son, though, I found myself completely ill-equipped to deal with that situation.
The death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the destruction of a relationship and the substance addiction of a family member are all human conditions that quickly reveal the inadequacy of self-sufficiency as a foundation of living. The point is that nearly everyone will someday be confronted by a situation where we must turn to God and say: "You must do this. I can't."
This is not an admission of failure, nor is it an indication that we haven't tried hard enough. This is simply acknowledgement that life confronts us with crises that we are unable to deal with by ourselves. These are opportunities to call on God in faith, to recognize when self-sufficiency is insufficient.
The story in Mark 4 about the self-reliant disciples fishing on the Sea of Galilee is instructive. These men were professional fishermen who had, no doubt, confronted storms before and, by their skill, perseverance and courage, survived. This storm was obviously different, however, and the disciples were terrified.
Recognizing as the boat was sinking that their skills were insufficient to save them, they called on Jesus, who was asleep in the stern.
The Lord woke and rebuked the wind and the sea, commanding them to be still.
God wants us to call on him, to trust him. If we do so in faith, God will come to our aid, too.
The Rev. James Silcox is the associate rector of the Episcopal St. Paul's Church in Augusta.
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There is no better time than now for our nation to call on him.