Posts Tagged: 12-step check-ins
“Nightmares & Morning Chickens”
I have fat, clumsy fingers. So, it was with great joy that I discovered that I can dictate texts on my smart phone. Maybe that’s why they call them “smart phones.”
However, I’m discovering that my pronunciation is not always up to snuff. For example . . .
Yesterday morning, a 12-step friend and I were exchanging morning check-in texts. I replied to his text that “I cherish these morning check-ins.” At least, that is what I intended to dictate. However, my smart-but-not-quite-smart-enough phone heard it as “I cherish these morning chickens.”
I’ve learned to read my texts before I send them. Sometimes, I even remember to do that. This time I remembered, but decided to send it the way it was, with a follow-up sentence that said what I really meant to say. Humor is scarcer than toilet paper these days, and just as important.
The expression “morning chickens” took me back to my childhood growing up on the farm. When I was little, we still kept chickens. My job was to gather the eggs morning and evening. I loved doing this, especially in the morning. Mom went with me, until I was ready to fly solo. The chickens were allowed freedom of movement, so it was great fun to hunt for the eggs. Some of the hens lay their eggs in predictable places, and some hens were full of surprises—as well as eggs.
Morning check-ins are important for addicts. Perhaps they are important for everyone, whether or not they are addicts. But morning chickens matter too. And memories of little childhood delights matter even more. Even at a time when we realize how fragile life is, how fragile it always was. Even when we aren’t sleeping well, and wake up to find ourselves in the middle of a nightmare. Especially then. I speak from experience. I tossed and turned all night, and was plagued by nightmares. I love early mornings, but I don’t love them this much. In other words, it’s early, even for me.
But even in the midst of nightmares and restlessness, there are things for which to be profoundly grateful.
- Friends who hold themselves accountable to me.
- Friends who hold me accountable.
- Funny stuff you didn’t intend.
- Good memories of morning chickens.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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