Wednesday, March 10, 2010

God does good work...

Whatever the TV people say out there about the economy, it's still pretty tough out here in "fly over country." I've got major manufacturers dropping their chamber memberships to cut costs because they cannot justify the expense to their remaining employees. I have a school district that's staring million dollar deficits in the face, thanks in large part to some of the budget cuts made by the state. I sure hope this improves. I feel like maybe we've reached a bottom, and yet we're still seeing signs that this thing is not improving. There are small businesses that are doing well, but it is still quite spotty. We tend to be behind most major economic trends out here, so maybe that's the deal. Perhaps we're riding the back of the wave and things really are getting better out there ahead of us. I pray for the folks who are still out of work, it's not a pretty picture just yet.

I love the comments I have been reading here with regard to HP and meetings. One common thread I see is our mutual desire to help others who are struggling as we did (do). That's the magic of this fellowship, I believe. An alcoholic can help where sometimes no one else can. We have the credibility, we've been there and done that. We've come out the other side, we understand what loneliness really is. We understand how it feels to not have control over something we want to stop doing so badly.

So, as a sober alcoholic, not only must I attend meetings for myself, but I have a responsibility to be there for the newcomer. And God has this great way of ensuring that plenty of us hang around. He made it so that we HAVE to help others if we want to have a peaceful, serene life ourselves. I can be dry and not drink with the Steps and meetings. I can even feel preety good for periods of time. But as my friend Steve E reminded me, I feel best, this thing works best when we reach out and help others. That's when the humility increases, that's when we truly get out of ourselves and that's when the gratitude really appears. When we help another durnk up out of the morass of self hatred, self pitty, despair and hopelessness, we can feel really good about having given back the miracle that was freely given to us. And we can be excited about doing it all over again.

Thanks God for making AA and recovery the way You did!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's what it's all about--one alcoholic or member of Al-Anon being there to help another. Thanks God we're not all crazy--on the same day! Have a good one!!!

Anonymous said...

That's what it's all about--one alcoholic or member of Al-Anon being there to help another. Thanks God we're not all crazy--on the same day! Have a good one!!!

Syd said...

I think that things are pretty dismal still with regard to the economy. I hope that we will see better times by summer. The job scene is indeed dismal. I am grateful to be in a program where I have learned to not be frozen with fear.