KEEP ON SMILING
Until yesterday, the only AA meeting I’ve been to in over a year has been on Zoom and that just didn’t work for me, so I just talked to my sponsor periodically and read AA material. This month is my sobriety anniversary month and yesterday my home group had a full-sized, outdoor meeting and I went to receive my bronze chip for another year of sobriety.
It was so good to see my friends, my people, but I was shocked to see the cost of this past year on most of their faces and bodies, some of us cried as we talked about this past year and the painful isolation.
I came home and repaired a wall around one of the flower beds in the back yard; it’s built out of those very heavy pavers that reminded me that I have arthritis in my hands and why I didn’t become a block mason; however, the wall sure looked nice after I finished it.
Last night I dreamed my backyard was full of buzzards, vultures and I woke up this morning feeling like my bones had been picked clean, so as I rolled over to get out of bed I said to my creator, “Thank you, Lord, for reminding me that I am one with you”; I say this to God every morning rain or shine; it always gets me started off in the right direction.
By the time I got to the kitchen and raised a big, sparkling glass of water to my lips, God’s precious sunlight, made of all those amazing photons, was flooding my brain. Opening the door for the spirit to do its thing in me —- I was reminded that these incredible, tiny, little photons are spread out across our whole solar system like a vast, ever-expanding ocean of light and truth as our precious, ever-replenishing earth sails on and on, perhaps forever, no matter what our dedicated scientists say; perhaps this is our eternal solar ship that holds heaven and earth safely for eternity. What I do know for sure is that every element of God’s creation —- water, air, earth, fire, etc.; —- enthralls me, expands me, and lifts me and my brain to an incredible appreciation of God’s love, joy, constancy, loyalty, wonder, and glory reminding me of who and what I am in His eternal creation.
Now, today, I can get back to the business of taking care of me and mine and what God would have me do today that might bring somebody else some good thoughts and a smile while the sun and the earth keep us warm and fed.
Jack