Talk about gratitude. I was listening to a man in the meeting today, talking about being grateful. He said that one of his children had sent him an email, asking him what he wanted for Christmas. His response was nothing. He said he had all he needed. He was sober and he was content with what he had already. He needed nothing more. He had no wants.
When I heard what he said, I realized the truth of that. I could, like the old song said, want my two front teeth and maybe a few more, but not really. I am content. I want for nothing, I am sober and that’s enough. It always has been. It’s really the best of all possible worlds.
I wish I could impart that message to the new man or woman. But I can’t do that. I was talking to a man, who has taken a trip back out and is coming back. I could see that he wants this, because he keeps coming back. He has a number of times. I hate to say this, but he probably will again. He’s been on the edge of a horrible crash, but he may have to just have that kind of bottom, before he can grasp what we all have. Some of us already know what that is. I know that I do. I needed something which convinced me that alcohol could no longer fulfill my needs. I had to reach despair before hope was possible.
I’m not talking about self satisfaction, but a genuine contentedness. A peace with oneself. An absence of desire, even for a drink. The awareness that God is doing for me what I can’t do for myself.
Anyway, that’s what I was thinking about, when I got home this afternoon.