Beside Restful Waters

by Greg Hermann

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Wow!

I have certainly been challenged by the current pandemic fears. I have had to look very closely at the 'source' of my sense of ease and stability.

Personal serenity is an ongoing effort in daily life endeavors. Acceptance has never come easy to me. The life of sobriety in recovery has been an “in my face” exercise of my willingness to be accepting – of past trauma, of my responsibility to allow trauma to direct my surrender to a Higher Power, of the humility needed to ask for help; and the reality that I can do nothing on my own. WHEW! Serenity is not an easy way of life, yet it is the reality that demands surrender and acceptance.

Surrender and acceptance are sources of ease and stability. These require courage.

Courage: Yikes! To act in the face of fear – I'm not good at this, yet I am strengthening my will and intent to be courageous. Personally, one of the most courageous acts I commit is to recognize that there is so little that I can change. Yet, the impact of my willingness to change is earth shattering. There is a powerful experience of awe and wonder when courage is expressed and peace is realized. An act of courage always comes back to bless me and those of my life circle.

An act of courage always comes back as a blessing.

How have we been blessed lately?

This health pandemic is certainly a challenge currently. Many of us battle daily with the desire to isolate. Our victories of courage are known first hand when we show up – to our groups, to our 1-1 connections – to our efforts to reach out. This pandemic has caused a great obstacle to us. What do we do?

STAY CONNECTED!

Please, we must stay connected. We can FaceTime, Duo, call...... Yes, we must stay connected with the blessing of our technology, and our courage. We consider our connections as acts of self-care. The great thing about reaching out as an act of self-care is that we offer our connected people the same opportunity for self-care. We need it; we give it; we receive it. CRAZY!! But such a blessing.

Let's rise in the face of the pandemic and strengthen our courage, will, and love for ourselves and each other. Reach out! We need to continue to touch each other from our hearts.

We will do this.

We will be courageous.

We will know serenity.

We will live in wisdom.

Namaste'