I was honored at a Recovery luncheon today sponsored by Hazelden Foundation. \u00a0The luncheon was held here in Naples, FL but it was in response to the work I have done for more than three and a half decades as the result of my own recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon.<\/p>\n
As I stood before the audience to accept my award, I could barely see through the tears as they flowed. \u00a0How did this happen? \u00a0All I can surmise is that it happened because of God’s plan for my life. \u00a0That first drink at age 13 started me down a path that has landed me in the most beautiful position I can imagine, \u00a0a life filled with friends whom I love and feel loved by; a husband who supports me in every endeavor, a family who has forgiven me my many transgressions and a blueprint for living one day at a time that will never lead me astray.<\/p>\n
That’s what we are promised when we pass through the doors of a recovery meeting: friends, healed families and a way of life. \u00a0The blueprint is simple, really. \u00a0It consists of twelve steps that if followed will change every thing about how you live your life. \u00a0How you see your life. \u00a0And how you see every one else in your life. \u00a0In other words, every thing changes<\/strong> when you make the decision to join this way of life, a way that means sobriety coupled with giving back to others what each of us has been so freely given.<\/p>\n This isn’t what I had envisioned for my life when I was young. \u00a0If truth be known, I didn’t have much of a vision at all in my youth. \u00a0College happened because my mom wanted it to. \u00a0After that, I was primarily looking for the next drink or the next relationship partner or the next thrill, whatever it might be. \u00a0No intention that I had was the right one, it seems. \u00a0God’s intention for me was far better than my own. \u00a0And in 1974 that intention led me into my first Al-Anon meeting and then in 1976 my first AA meeting. \u00a0I have been a “double winner” ever since. \u00a0And now I do have an intention: it’s to keep giving away what I have been given; it’s too honor all others, whether “in the rooms” or in the grocery or drugstore by giving them rapt attention. \u00a0And it’s too remember that we are all here by divine appointment and who we meet has been sent. \u00a0Our expression of love to each one of them is the gift that’s always the right one.<\/p>\n We were \u00a0born to be healers. \u00a0You and I. \u00a0And every one we send our love to heals and \u00a0enhances the love that is spreading throughout the universe. \u00a0Our “assignment” here is real. \u00a0It’s purposeful. \u00a0It’s a decision. \u00a0Let’s join our hearts together and make it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was honored at a Recovery luncheon today sponsored by Hazelden Foundation. \u00a0The luncheon was held here in Naples, FL but it was in response to the work I have done for more than three and a half decades as the result of my own recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon. As I stood before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-karens-musings","category-reflections-in-the-mirror-you-and-yourself"],"yoast_head":"\n