Blog for December 23rd, 2024
Joy, Service, Love, and a Cheerful Giver
There seems to be a theme here, is it because it’s Christmas time? I don’t know, I don’t think so, well maybe, but I do think people are a little gentler, giving, kinder, compassionate and loving this time of year. But the theme I was thinking of was the meditations that my husband and I read daily.
For a few days running, they all seemed to mesh together. That has happened before, but I was very aware of it on these past few days because my sensitivity was heightened when Jim and I went to Death Valley. We spent one night out there camping and it was beautiful.
The purpose of our little sojourn was to commemorate this week from forty years ago, when my husband had gone there and spent a couple of days assessing his life. He went to Scotty’s castle and visited Scotty’s grave and poured his heart out (to God) about the bad shape he was in, due to his addiction and the mess his life was in, one more time.
It was due to that life-changing event that he ended up getting clean and when I seen the seriousness he had in changing, I too jumped into a new way of life. I was also very sick and tired of being sick and tired.
As we sat at our campsite, out in nature, in the sunshine, reading our meditations together and praying, we were filled with so much gratitude, love and joy. We read about being of service to God and others, about being a cheerful giver, and to try to give back what has so freely been given to us. I believe we both have tried to give back with loving, thankful and grateful hearts.
Our love for each other and God has also deepened over these forty years of recovery. Not just to each other but our family, as well as to NA and others. What a blessed and wonderful life we have been given, and we do not take it for granted or take our responsibility to share our love and recovery lightly.
Question of the Week: Are you a cheerful giver? Do you feel the joy of season?
Acts 20:35, 2 Corth. 9:6-8.
