Sunday, December 21, 2008

Last night several of my kids were sick so I knew going to bed that it would be unlikely that we would make it to mass this morning. Thankfully I got up early and the kids woke up and we watched the mass live on TV. I made spiritual communion.

This afternoon I got to go to the CA panel speaker meeting at the treatment center south of town. I got to bring the topic, it was the importance of identification. I thought the point of it was a little lost on the panel but we kept our talking relatively brief and the community asked good questions. The last guy asked the question I had been waiting for, "what did you guys do right after you got out of treatment?".

After the meeting a guy asked me to hear his 5th step. It wasn't a perfectly done 5th step, I didn't go through the qualification interview, or the talk about sponsorship, or the talk about his previous stepwork, but we did talk about rigorous honesty, the importance of disclosing our dark secrets to someone, and the power that this work connects us to which is God.

The guy told me the facts about himself that he discovered from his 4th step and he told me about all the lows that his addictions took him too. He admitted his difficulty with his desire to get high. I was able to share my experience with these matters and how disclosure has helped me. We prayed and we talked and I was grateful for this gift that I needed just before Christmas.

I felt like I was being visited by an angel at times and at times I could see a demon. But in the end I saw a man who was willing, if just for today, and a man who has hope. I end this day with the hope and willingness that I needed.

I saw myself in that man and God spoke to me through this identification.

Thanks be to God for all the gifts and blessings I received today.

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