Blog for December 4th, 2023
Gift: something voluntarily transferred by one person ( or deity) to another without compensation. Or, the act of giving.
At this “gift giving” time of year, I definitely have “gifts” on my mind, I am noticing them everywhere, in all kinds of ways, some are tangible, some are not. Some are divine, some are manmade or came about through serendipity and creativity of others.
So, here I am, day three of being stuck home sick. I know I’ll be ok, but it’s wearing on me. We gotta eat so I was working on a pot of chili beans when my husband brought in a package that had just been delivered. It was an unexpected surprise gift from a very nice lady that I met on a plane when leaving Fairbanks. We had chatted it up pretty good all the way to Seattle and have become email friends. About two weeks after that trip she had sent me a book she wrote about her travels in Alaska. I loved it. But today, without knowing it at all, she sent me a beautiful dream catcher with a short note. Wow! That may sound simple to you, but to me, it was an amazing gift and couldn’t have come at a better time. I was feeling down and this unexpected gift really lifted me up.
Meanwhile, my friend that was also stuck at home sick for several days had got his one year clean on his first day home sick with covid, he is also struggling with the isolation of being stuck at home sick, plus, he hasn’t been able to celebrate his first year clean that he worked so hard for. So, I texted him and said, let’s go to New Zealand, so off we went!
It is an NA zoom meeting that I like to frequent from time to time, because they are so sweet, kind and loving and I love their accents. Towards the end of the meeting, I shared about my dream catcher gift and about my friend who was also on the meeting with us had one year clean and was home sick too. They ended up giving him the gift of a virtual key tag and it totally lifted him up. It was so sweet of them. An unexpected gift.
They congratulated him. It made him so happy and grateful. Their inclusion and recognition of him was a gift. The fact that they run meetings every night for about twelve hours (an hour at a time) is also a gift. They are a great bunch of recovering addicts. We were both lifted up. That’s how my God works, with surprises, with friends celebrating the gift of life in NA, with healings and time spent with family and friends.
Another gift that I enjoyed this very day was I got to go see a play at the college I work at of my favoritest Christmas story a “Christmas Carol” and my husband and I went on a double date with my daughter and son-in-law to see the play. It’s been planned for almost two weeks, but it’s really surprising and amazing to me that they would want to do that with us. I kind of gave up years ago trying to get them to do stuff like with us, but since he quit drinking, he is a changed man, another unexpected gift, thank-you God.
Then, sometime around Thanksgiving I missed placed my wallet, you know, the one that has my whole life in it! Ugh! I didn’t miss it for days because after I took the grandkids to a movie and trampoline place, I hadn’t needed it. Then I got sick and didn’t care about anything. I was starting to think about it a little and finally looked around but could not find it. Tonight, I took a deeper dive and found it after a frantic search. Right where I left it, hidden in a box with papers covering it! Isn’t that ridiculous? Who does that with “their life”, I can be careless and forgetful, but God has my back and directed me to it, another gift. Thank-you God.
Those are just a couple of incidents from the past couple of days, if I started adding up and talking about all the gifts that I have gotten since I got clean in April of 1985, there would not be enough ink, paper, time or recall to tell of them all. So, I will just break it down like this:
*Disclaimer: When I surrendered to the disease of addiction, I only wanted to stop using drugs. I did not have all these wonderful gifts that were laid on me in mind. I just wanted out of hell, I got that and more.
My first gift in recovery, is the fact that God gave me NA and NA gave me God. I reignited my relationship with the God of my understanding when I got clean.
Then, I got recovery through working the steps, meetings, being of service, helping others and I started going to church and even being of service there. I finished raising my kids drug free- what a huge gift that is. I went back to school, earned four degrees and two certifications. I got jobs and finally a career that I settled into and spent the next twenty-two years devoted to it. I got to retire with benefits. God is good, what a gift. According to high school teachers and my counselor, I would never amount to anything.
I got married! At three months clean to the most wonderful man in the world, we have been married since then, but together forty-two years. Before him, a two-week relationship was a very long time to me. My marriage is one of the greatest gifts I have ever had and guess what, we’re still having fun! I have the gift of being a mother, grandmother, sponsor, friend, aunt, cousin, daughter, sister, even a good neighbor. No more all-night parties keeping them up all night.
I have had the gift of being able to stay clean in the face of the death of my most dearly loved family and friends. I have had the gift of healing, surviving, and knowing who I am and what my purpose is. Something I sought with deep desire. I have had the gift of unconditional love from my sisters, brother, husband and especially God! What a gift! And all I had to do for all these gifts? Nothing. I just stayed clean. So that now, maybe, I get to BE a gift to others at times.
Question of the Week: Have you had any unexpected gifts lately?
