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Made a Decision

(86) 

   It's Christmas Day. Thank God I haven't missed it.

In homes across the world today people are gathered around brightly lit bejeweled trees to give and receive gifts and to feast on holiday delights, all to celebrate the birth of the God of Love into the world. 

In other homes the Menorah candles are lit (also in surrounding days) for the Festival of Lights -  Hanukkah - offering celebrants many traditional games, gifts and wonderful foods.

Pagans light bonfires this week to celebrate the turn of the year back toward longer sunlit days, a return to the light.

December is a month of numerous religious and cultural ceremonies for many faiths and people. Christians celebrate several other days this month honoring various saints; Buddhists meditate for enlightenment on Rohatsu (Bodhi Day); Zoroastrians honor the death of the Prophet Zarathustra; people of African ancestry celebrate their heritage and identity during Kwanzaa - and these are only a few.

The theme of the majority of these winter celebrations is birth, rebirth, light in the darkness, cultural and religious identity, enlightenment and love.

                                 Always love.

It's good to remember today that all over the world people are celebrating the return of light to the world. 

AA's theme today - and every day - is also one of  love, and in the new birth found in our rediscovered compassion and service to others. 

There are meetings around the world today, in person and on zoom, and in them there will be joy, celebration, laughter - and love. There will also be enlightenment, words of wisdom, and hope shared to keep the darkness at bay.

We remember our darkest days, too. Our December celebrations that were once filled with drunken behavior, guilt, anger, frustration, cynicism, self-loathing and regret. AA set us free by giving us a blueprint for sober living that allows us to feel and share the actual joys of this season.

AA gave us fellow travelers on our spiritual journey to encourage us, laugh with us, cry with us, and share their strength with us when we most need it.

How blessed are we???

I know of people in recovery on this holiday enjoying the company of once bitterly-estranged family members. And I know of one young man sitting right now at the side of his mother's Hospice bed, able to be there and be present for her today. 

Gifts come in many different kinds of packages.

Look around? Are we sober today? Blessed with a roof over our head? Food on the table? Family and friends nearby? If so, we are blessed indeed. So many in our world have none of these things. 

Are we able to reach out today to share our story of recovery? Will we help another suffering alcoholic find the life we have found in AA? If so, our blessings are without number.

 Love is a power, a gift from our Higher Power. But there are many in the world not feeling much love today. We who do are called to share that love with our troubled world. We in AA are blessed to be able to witness the power of Love at work in saving the lives - and more importantly, the souls - of others. We get to see dull eyes brighten, sad faces smile again, hope lift and straighten shoulders as people are restored to lives of fulfillment and true purpose.

We welcome our newcomers with that kind of power and then get to watch one more miracle unfold - moment by moment, day by day, year by year - right before our very eyes.

Some of us may be struggling today under the stress that also accompanies society this month. If so, please scroll down to Blog Number 83 for some tips on getting through the holidays sober. Most of us will. All of us can. The prayer is that all of us do.

I wish you every possible joy of this season of joy.

And I encourage you to dig even deeper in 2023 to find much more of what the program of Alcoholics Anonymous has to offer. And also to feel the love surrounding all of us today.

Pass it on.