I’m sure all of us could dip into our pasts and pull out a bagfull of gaffes relating to this very season. But since entrance into this program, Christmas has gradually grown and taken on a new meaning. It was slow progress, shedding all the unmanageability and defects I dragged in with me. I had to make a lot of adjustments in this new way of life and the first few seasons were marked with echoes from the past. But the worst defects abated and as my mind and heart began to clear so it was for those around me. The memories began to fade into the past and I was able to begin to open my mind to the possiblilities promised in the practice of this program. I began to think of others rather than myself. A new generosity grew within me. Not so much in presents to give, but in the love that my sponsors and old timers helped me to see and draw out of me as time went on.
That’s what I was thinking about today. Not the complicated rush to get this and that, as dictated by the commercial tradition we’ve grown to know, but the simplicity of spirit which marks the original source of the season. The practice of fellowship we learn at the tables and in the rooms of AA. The feeling of fellowship and sharing which we can bring into our homes and to our families.
I received several emails from a friend of mine, who is spending his holiday away from his family in Iraq. He expressed a lot of this love and fellowship, not just among those of us, who are here and able to touch each other on a daily basis, but for humanity and the family of this world as a whole. He sees it as an opportunity to grow spiritually and though he misses the meetings, he feels its a moment to bring this love the program gives to everyone he meets. It reminded me of what Bill said about those, who fared so well away from home in World War II.
In thinking these thoughts, I want to extend to all of you the simplest of things, that you all may have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas and that we may all grow in hope and charity for the coming year. May all our minds and hearts be centered on our primary purpose and the willingness to carry this message to all we meet.
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