Blog for December 22, 2025
Love
This week, the last week of Advent is Love. What a beautiful way to wrap up the year, to wrap up the season and celebrate the greatest love of all time! I have also been reflecting on the past year, our “ 40-40-40” year. I will not get into the whole looking back until next week, but it sure has been a great year. Memorable, loving, adventurous and a whole lot of love and recovery.
I think on the verse that says “…. And the greatest of these is Love”. And reading the daily advent we are reminded of love freely given, shared and encouraged. I also remember the first time I truly got into my eleventh step, “We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” As I lay there quieting my mind and saying this prayer over and over, deep breathing, relaxing and focusing on the words of this step, I had a vision, I was looking at a little baby, as I panned out and went back, I could see the back of someone’s head looking at the baby, the baby was in the palm of a hand, a huge hand. I panned back some more and could see that another person, which I recognized as myself, was looking at the person who was looking at the baby. The baby was in the palm of God’s secure and comforting hand. So, I was looking at me, looking at me, looking at me.
I was blown away when I realized and encompassed the whole picture and understood the meaning, of God keeping me in the palm of His mighty hand, His strength and love. I asked Him, “Lord what is Your will for me”? I only heard “Love”. Since then, I have done many more eleventh step meditations, and the answer is always the same. Wow! To put it simply, to love is my mission, my purpose, God’s will for me.
Am I always good at it? No, but I certainly try and revert back to it when I have messed up. When I have been unloving and unkind to another. (Mostly, that is just in my thoughts.) Especially when I watch the news. I have unkind and unloving thoughts about people who are out there in our world hurting and using other people. Yet, even still, I know I am supposed to pray for them.
I have even been chastising myself for a reaction I had at our family Christmas last night. A lady who has been a thorn in my side for thirty-three years was rude last night- of course- and I sort of did the same thing back to her. It was all stupid and childish I was really embarrassed about how I reacted to her. I had prayed not to be like that before we even left our house. But hey, I’m human. Don’t worry, I’ve already talked to my Higher Power about it, I’m sorry. It bothers me when I’m like that, it’s petty. I do not want to be a petty person just because someone else is. That’s not very loving is it?
My faith also requires me to love my neighbor, as myself. Humm… that can be a real challenge. I have some pretty good neighbors right now, and I try to show love and compassion when they need it. But it hasn’t always been that way. In the past I’ve had neighbors that I would have liked to put a hit out on! Just kidding, but you get the point. And my faith tells me to love God above all else. That’s much easier than loving difficult people. I might have mentioned before that I am a child of the 60’s, back when we were all about peace, love and rock & roll. So loving others was built into me. Plus, I might have a crazy family, my mom, brother and sisters, but we were always loving. None of us ever meant each other any harm.
They say, “love makes the world go round”. And I would have to agree with that wholeheartedly, on many levels. From worshipping God, being kind and loving to our fellow man, to making babies and procreating. Not only that, I can say that I love nature, music, art, food and just being quiet, peaceful and writing. It all gives me feel good vibes inside of me. I especially love recovery and my sponsees, working with other women and sharing my experience, strength and hope, which is a way showing my love to others in an intimate way.
The advent this week talked about the Good Samaritan. The guy who helped a man left for dead on the side of the road. He had compassion. He went out of his way to help a stranger that a priest and a rich man just ignored and walked past. The Samaritan even paid for the stranger’s care and room and board while he healed. Would you do that for a stranger? Would I? It seems to me that we all walk past homeless and needy people almost daily. Or we drive past them. I know there are many of them these days and our society doesn’t seem to have the accommodations needed for them. All I can do is contribute to local organizations and help the ones God puts right in front of me to help. These are my neighbors.
Speaking of what (or who) God puts right in front of me to help, you can’t get any closer than your spouse or children. I’ve always tried to be a helper to my husband; we are like soul mates that have been helping each other along the way forty-four years now. But these days, it is my primary purpose to be here to help him as best I can, with the Lord’s help. I love him so much and it is easy to care for those we love, isn’t it?
I hope that you too are finding love, compassion, kindness and caring for others who need it in your Holiday giving’s. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday for all your celebrations, keep on loving each other.
Question of the Week: Do you love unconditionally?
