At the meeting today a young woman was coming back. She had tried the program a number of times. She sat right in front of me and when she turned around I could see the ravages of her alcohnlism in her face. Whew! Breathtakikng.
When I got home I turned on the computer and on the internet it was talking about a DaVinci painting which had been recovered, which had been valued at $55 million. Now that gave me pause. I had to ask myself how others arrrive at the value of something. Imagine. It’s worth all that money! And it made me think of what we value and why.
If I were able to ask that young woman what she valued, I would probably hear her say that she didn’t place much of a value on herself. And I don’t think she would have been impressed with the DaVinci painting. But I do think she values something. Her life. Or else why would she have been sitting there this morning?
I had to think of what do I value in my life and I knew instantly it was my sobriety. Everything else is relative. That’s absolute. I value the program more than any price they could put on anything. It’s beyond cost. I value the steps which have allowed me into being able to participate with others in sobriety. I place a limitless value on the introduction to a relatlionship with the God of my understanding, who graced me with this sober state of life.
I cannot begin to think of the value I place on being able to sit these hallowed rooms with others like myself. And I have come to value my life, my sober life, like nothing else before.
There was a time when I placed a very high value on alcohol. It was a prize beyond esteem. It was something I would have given my life over my family, my work, or anything else, even my own life.
I think it is amazing how much my values have changed. Looking back, it was almost overnight. One day I was drunk and the next day sobriety was born within in me. All because of a desperate prayer as the result of such an inner desolation created by alcohol.
I’ve even lost my value I had for money. The only reason I valued money was because I needed it to continue to feed my need for alcohol. Now that I no longer need the alcohol I’ve lost even that value.
Anyway, I thought about that young woman and hoped that she would lose the value she holds for alcohol and come to value a sober life that we all have. I can see that $55 million is chump change when it comes to this way of life.
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