parables

Just another traveler on life’s highway hanging out in the slow lane. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. Beyond the horizon is rest calling my name. Green pastures, still waters, my cup is overflowing.

When was the last time you arose in the morning, went into the bathroom, stared at your reflection in the mirror, and looked into your eyes saying, “I love you; you are worthy of joy, peace, contentment, happiness, prosperity, and fulfillment?”

Whaaat? You have never said that? Aw, c’mon, surely you look at those big, beautiful eyes and say, “Hey there, good-looking, I love you.” Must I also assume that you don’t believe you are going to do great things and become the man/woman whom you have always wanted to be?

So, let me understand the start of your day. You just stumble out of bed, throw the spouse out the door, kiss the cat and pour a cup of go-go juice, sit down and read the newspaper, get pissed off and stagger into the bathroom hating the world. You do your morning nature call, slather on some smell-good stuff and turn on the TV. Your favorite morning hosts are interviewing the latest sex pervert, forecasting a 3 day torrential rain, and predicting the stock market is about to crash. Your sister calls and screams you are a nitwit because you forgot her dog’s birthday and little Johnny across the street has just pulled your prized begonia to take to school for show and tell. Wow, have a great day!

Now, back up. Climb into bed, pull the covers up over your shoulders, and set the snooze alarm for 8:30.

Ahhhh! What a wonderful night’s sleep I had. Thank you Lord for giving me another day in your perfect world. Streeeeetch those legs and arms. Ahhhh, deep breaths, fill those lungs with the glorious scent of the gardenia outside the bedroom window. Look around the room. The beautiful family photos on the dresser. The lovely quilt which Grandma crafted 80 years ago. The old wooden rocking chair in the corner. Now, off to the bathroom to splash some cold water in my sleepy eyes. Rinse my mouth with refreshing minty mouthwash. Look into the mirror at the Lord’s perfect example of me. Those beautiful eyes. Stare into them, they are amazing, are they not?

“I love you. You are worthy. You are wonderful. You are perfect.”

God says that to you every minute of every day. So, who are you to dispute and disagree? Oprah starts her day with that routine and we all know that Oprah has all her bases covered. So, pleeeease, you have lost the argument. God and Oprah cannot both be wrong. You are worthy of love, especially from yourself. And when you love yourself, others will find you interesting, attractive, and…..worthy.

There’s that word ‘worthy’ again. For the first 35 years of my life I was the lowest scum on earth, the dirtiest of the filthy, the most sinful of the sinners, the vilest of the vile, the most unworthy of the unworthy. And that was just my personal opinion of myself. I didn’t dare venture out into the brotherhood of decent folks living happy, fulfilled lives. Only the Lord knows what they thought of me.

Today, I am claiming the parables of the lost coin, the prodigal son, and the lost sheep. (LUKE 15:1-24) The Lord of my life never gave up on me. Patiently he swept the floors looking for his lost coin, he searched the fields for his errant sheep and when multiple addictions had beaten me to a pulp, God ran down the highway to meet me, threw his arms around my neck, kissed me and said, “Welcome home, son. I have always loved you and I have been looking for you.”

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to be merry.” LUKE 15: 22-24

Loved – just as I am. Worthy – just as I am. Perfect – just as I am. Today, the reflection in my mirror has kind, loving eyes looking back at me with optimism and hope.
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I’ve known the parables attributed to Jesus ever since my boyhood days in Sunday School class and vacation Bible School. To me they were nothing more than neat stories which had no application in contemporary society. Not until I was ready for God to illuminate my darkness, did I read these parables in a spiritual context. They then began to pop off the pages with amazing truth and wisdom. CANDLE

The story of the prodigal son is my favorite because I lived that story through alcoholism and recovery. The verses continue to humble me today even after many years of sober-living. I knew of a God as a child, I turned my back and traveled to the “far country” to find my fortune and pleasure, I suffered financially and morally, I finally came home to Father who was waiting excitedly for me with open arms. It was probably the most profound home-coming I shall ever experience.

One of today’s inspirational readings cites the parable of the talents. “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.” Matthew 25:14

In the times of Jesus a talent was worth more than $5000. To one servant he gave 5 talents, to anther he gave 2, and to another he gave 1 talent. The first two servants invested the money wisely and when the man returned from his travels his money had increased. The third servant had buried the talent in the ground for fear of losing it and thereby bearing his master’s wrath upon returning. The servant did indeed suffer his master’s anger because of his timidity in using the talent wisely.

Jesus is the travelling man who showered humanity with unfathomable wealth in wisdom and truth before he was crucified. He entrusted his disciples with the “talents” of eternity instructing them to invest that which he had taught them and to increase God’s wealth throughout the world. That’s his simple directive yesterday, today, and forever.

I am basically an easy-going man. Don’t get excited about too many things and don’t rely on worldly wealth for validation or fulfilment. There is a part of me that could be labeled “lazy”. Yep, guilty as charged. Sloth is one of my favorite character defects and it has been a reliable bed mate of depression for most of my life. Two more of sloth’s definitions in the Merriam Webster are “inertia” and “apathy”. If I am inert it is probably because I am also depressed. If I am depressed it is probably because I am inert. Both scenarios lead to apathy. Therefore, it is in my best interest and the health of my sobriety to stay active, stay involved with other recovering addicts, and stay protected by the wisdom of AA literature and scriptures. That is my best defense against sloth, apathy, depression, and inertia.

Not only during this special observance time of giving thanks, but always, my recovery from alcoholism needs a daily dose of gratitude, a fix of appreciation for the multitude of blessings received, unmerited and undeserved, from a power greater than myself, a Higher Power whom I call God. It is my fix for the brokenness which I call Larry.

“This little light of mine; I’m gonna let it shine”. Childhood Sunday School simplicity nails the heart of Matthew 25: 14-28, the parable of the talents. God did not save me from the pits of hell lived in alcoholic stupor to rise up into the salvation of sobriety without stipulations. Jesus has told me that merely being sober is not enough. The wealth, the talents, he has bestowed are not meant to be buried or hidden under a bushel basket. They are to be shared unselfishly with the broken masses. They are meant to be invested in the still suffering addict, the depressed man who has no source of consolation, and ultimately returned to Jesus himself as payment with interest for his grace shed upon me. It’s not complicated and with an attitude of gratitude, it is entirely possible for even a man like me, a wretched and lost soul, to return and bask in the light of God. namaste rainbow

Tag: parables

I love you !

Just another traveler on life’s highway hanging out in the slow lane. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. Beyond the horizon is rest calling my name. Green pastures, still waters, my cup is overflowing.

Just another traveler on life’s highway hanging out in the slow lane. It’s quiet. It’s peaceful. Beyond the horizon is rest calling my name. Green pastures, still waters, my cup is overflowing.

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