I’m Just Asking…

Sometimes I wake up and think the world turned upside down while I slept. But, no, it’s just negative, fearful, religious zealot loudmouthed naysayers trying to out-crow the maddening crowd. When I started drinking at 20 and put the plug in the jug at 41, I thought those 21 years were glorious: spending money I didn’t have, going places I couldn’t afford, picking fights with anyone who would get in the ring with me and deciding not to pay my taxes. Guess what? I surrendered, hit bottom and went into the rooms of 12-steps and got sober. I stopped the bad boy behavior and paid a big price for heretofore litany of sins mentioned above. Getting sober was the toughest thing I ever did. My bible thumping days reminded me that “the wages of sin is death.”–Romans 6:23. Now that’s a thought I can endorse from personal experience.

But that’s when the amends for my outrageous fortunes and folderol started. God, ain’t that a shame! I thought I could dunk into the rooms, hunker down and all would be forgiven. Not. My Banker wanted to know, “Where’s my &^%^$$ money? How rude. Doesn’t he know redemption when he sees it written all over my face and the humility it took for me to dawn the doors of the Big Bank? His voice only stopped ringing ominously in my ears when I made the last payment on my long-over-overdue bad loan.

Being Sober Can Be Scary

Everything used to scare me when I got sober. The thought that I might drink again was incomprehensible, but a lot of men and women and young people go out with tons of time. The fear of how to make a living? Where can I afford to live? And what kind of work could I engage? My sponsor Fil insisted, “Put away those damn astrology books!” I did anything he said and today and every second of the last 35-plus years have increasingly allowed me to live with a dependent of God’s–my Higher Power–so that the likes of ISIS and bombings and fear and threats do not affect me.

The Terrorism of Alcoholic Behavior

And do you want to know why I am free of all forms of terror threats? I have lived through the terrorism of alcoholic behavior with the thousand forms of self-will that nearly killed me. If you choose to go into a 12-step meeting and listen to others share their experience and hope, you will begin to have outside issues like terrorism not affect you. Oh, and it might help to turn off all-day-long news feeds that overlay you with the fear of what might never happen.

Can You Imagine…

The newspaper blaring headline said today, “Global warming is going to displace 500 million people.” “Global warming will make it impossible for people to survive the heat.” “The Fed will raise interest in December.” (It’s about time). And don’t get me started on all the “red-blooded” politicos who refuse to allow Syrian displaced by a deadly regime and ISIS to come to the United States. Did they forget that we are all immigrants? Did they not read that the English thought of us pilgrims as undesirables? Can you imagine what the world would be like if Social Media disappeared and all newspapers went out of business and the televisions stations faded to black? Can you picture what a more wonderful world it would be?

May I leave you with three little things that can free you of goblins and eerie forbidden terror figments of too-much TV and not enough quiet time to turn fear to faith?

  1. Remember that childhood rhyme that started, “I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me…” Email me and I will send you a meditation that can introduce you to the greatest relationship you will ever meet.
  2. Get still every day and ask God to reveal himself so He/She/It can advise you rather than the screamers of television and print.
  3. Ask someone every day, “What can I do for you.” It is the best medicine you will every swallow. And in case you haven’t heard, “I love you” lately. Here is some of the love I’ve found along my journey that I am passing along to you.

Om. Tat. Sat. Om.

Albert Gaulden and I approve of this message.