January 27, 2025

Good morning! Today’s keynote is: "Pray to seek to love, comfort, and understand."

This morning’s prayer and meditation remind me that when I free myself of fear, hate, and selfishness, the reward is God’s peace, love, and calm. In the beginning of my AA journey, you all shared with me a powerful truth: “Here was the terrible dilemma… and we sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men.” You told me that the solution could only come from a Higher Power.

Now, as I navigate life, I’ve realized that when I find myself in a storm or even just a passing squall? it’s often a result of something beyond my control. I can’t always see clearly because I’m in the thick of it. Waves crash around me, and hope feels like a distant flicker. In those moments, I get selfish, like a child shouting, “The sky is falling!” But the path forward is through right living. These storms are often born of my own brooding!!! My own actions! whether I’ve cheated myself or others, manipulated someone, or tried to control a person, place, or thing.

If I can just keep my side of the street clean, I can sweep away the wrongdoings of my past and live in peace. Right actions. Right here. Right now. No storm lasts forever, but when I’m stuck in my own head, it’s hard to remember that. Clearing away fears and resentments with the broom of peace and serenity is the only way forward.

As my sponsor always said: “This too shall pass.”

When the storms rage, I put on my foul-weather gear and focus on seeking TO love, TO comfort, and TO understand. Not the other way around! Thank you all for this beautiful life! I know that after every storm, there is the promise of rainbows and clearer skies ahead. That promise gives me hope, and HOPE is a helluva word. This life is truly beautiful, and I love you all.