Six Months Ago Today

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”  Gal. 5:25

This scripture is a part of The Daily Word’s Guidance piece today and this post is a sort-of rubber-meets-the-road response.

How many of us can say that we live the by Spirit?  A good majority, myself included.  Most people I know in recovery have, in our lingo, “turned our will and our lives over to the care of God.”

In my experience, living by the Spirit and living by the Spirit are vastly different.  The first simply requires speaking the words, going about your life and when something devastating occurs, assume that God is punishing you.  

The second is a whole lot tougher because it means taking responsibility for my choices and my actions.  While God is responsible for creating everything, I believe He abdicates responsibility of my choices. 

However, if I embrace the second half of the scripture, “let us also be guided by the Spirit,” and I place all my meditative focus on those words, then what I get increases exponentially.

I get the gifts of being sober, of being of service (my friend Angela reminded me that this blog is a kind of service), the gift of being present to the circumstances of my day, the gift of smiling and the gift of feeling peace in the midst of a personal crisis. 

Today is the six-month anniversary of Mom’s death.   While I still miss her intensely, as I told Dad earlier today, when I think of her, most times I smile in my heart instead of feeling overwhelming sad.  He agreed and said, “It’s better.  It will never be good, but it’s better.”

Well said, Dad.  It looks as if the rubber not only met the road, the tread gripped the pavement and we’re rolling along, with peace and even joy flashing by the open windows.

Join B Here Today

Each day offers 1,440 minutes of choices; every minute of this day requires a decision to choose peace over chaos, joy over despair and love over all other negative emotions. You don't have to decide alone! Join the B Here Today community--learn with us and share your experience, strength and hope about being present to ALL your moments. Enter your email address below to receive weekly articles, free resources and TONS of inspiration!

Email Address:

First Name:

Last Name: