IF THE ONLY PRAYER YOU SAID IN YOUR LIFE WAS "THANK YOU", THAT WOULD SUFFICE. ~Meister Eckhart

Friday, June 22, 2007

06.22.07

You are beautifully you. You are a bright and shinning star. Allow the magnificence of your life to shine brightly in a world that desperately needs your essence. Be encouraged my friends. You are a gift to your world. ~Craig, Table Topics for the Soul
When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me”. ~Erma Bombeck
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Wednesday and yesterday my spiritual brother Dennis R (who will celebrate his 13 years sober, Monday 6/25) and I had lunch with a woman who just cannot get and stay sober. She has plunged from social standing, being a lawyer and mother of two, to sleeping in her car filled with empty wine bottles in the parking lot of Kroger and Jack in the Box. DR arranged some places to stay, including a night in his home, and we were working with her to help her stay sober.
Last night I went with Randall to dinner and after getting home, feeding Bunny, letting him out for his business, I had just changed out of my clothes and settled down when the phone rang--it was DR saying she had gotten drunk at 4:30, showed up at the restaurant where he and his partner were dining. They fed her, called someone in the program to drive her car to DR's and she was in the shower. 12 step call in the makings. So I got up and as I was getting dressed, I stopped and thanked my Higher Power that it was not me in that shower and that I was sober. I drove to DR's and we sat with her and read our favorite parts of the Big Book, focusing on parts that would be relevant to someone that can't stay sober. It was moving for me, and as I read the last part of step 12 in The 12 Steps and 12 Traditions I was filled with the joy inherent in those words. The promises of the 12th step. We, with 13, 10 and 3 1/2 years of sobriety sat there as brothers in the same cause, from the same cloth, with the same purpose. God's work.
DR sent her to bed, his partner came down and we chatted a moment. Then it was hugs and WM and I were off to our part of town. I really am fond of WM, he is no nonsense about recovery but has a wicked sense of humor. I dropped him off and made my way home.
I changed out of my clothes, again, the phone rang. WM had accidentally left with the keys to her car. So it was back into the clothes (if I had graduated to a muu muu it would be easier) and I was off again across town, with Bunny in the passenger seat for company. On the drive up and back I was struck with so much gratitude that it was I who had been called to participate in a 12th step call, and not the person needing sobriety. I already have my sobriety and I have already had that 12th step call that brought me back to sanity.
I slept soundly. Thank God.

5 comments:

dAAve said...

Grateful.

Pammie said...

wow darlin' that's willingness to go to any length on your part.
How lucky she is to know people who really will show up!
I wonder where bunny thought he was going last night?

Zanejabbers said...

My dear, you are so Blessed.A 12 step call is one of the most rewarding things in this program.
They are GOD SHOTS. Love You.

Mary Christine said...

Thank you for sharing a wonderful evening's events with us.

Scott M. Frey said...

I can feel the gratitude from up here in Ohio, my friend.. good work! I will say a prayer this morning that she finds God's Grace at last...

I love the Erma Bombeck quote. I used to read her all the time when I was younger...

WhenI was younger, did I just say that?? lol