The Long Journey Home - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

wpainterw · 08-08-2010, 05:19 PM

The Long Journey Home

We, the fellowship of recovering alcoholics, are the survivors. It is as if one had been sitting alone in a darkened house, thinking of former friends, relatives perhaps, but friends at least, gone for many years and now hardly expected to be seen again. And suddenly there comes a knock at the door and, opening it, there stands someone who has miraculously returned, seemingly come back from the dead. Are we not such? Have we not returned from something so dark, so fearful that it often seemed like death itself?
The poet, Samuel T. Coleridge, himself an opium addict, had his “Ancient Mariner” say that

** * * [his] soul hath been
** * * Alone on a wide, wide sea:
** * * So lonely ‘twas, that God himself
** * * Scarce seemed there to be.”

Yet somehow, perhaps due to the pity and love that, despite his own sufferings, he learned to show to all God’s creatures, he, through God’s grace, managed to survive and once more sailed into his home’s harbor, saying, at the end

* “He prayeth best, who loveth best
* All things both great and small;
* For the dear God who loveth us,*
* He made and loveth all.”

Persons may differ as to whether recovery from alcoholism is a spiritual path (although personally I believe that this is so). Recovering alcoholics may call themselves Christians, Buddhists, Jews, followers of Islam or other faiths, or even agnostics or atheists. But there is one thing which few can deny. We are all survivors. We have returned home from something so frightful, so terrifying and deadly, so dark and lonely that it seemed that we had lost our very selves.
We are the survivors, the fellowship. And, being so, we have a bond which can never be broken. Is it not then a privilege to extend a hand to others who may still be on that long journey home?

wpainterw

Rusty Zipper · 08-08-2010, 05:37 PM

wp,

for me,

i would say it's a duty!

LaFemme · 08-09-2010, 07:41 AM

Really well said...thank you!

wpainterw · 08-09-2010, 04:56 PM

Hi Rusty Zipper!
Yep, it sure is a duty! But, as for me, it makes me feel even better if it's not something I have to do but something I really want to do?

Wpainterw

Rusty Zipper · 08-09-2010, 05:57 PM

yep,

freely wp, freely!

wpainterw · 08-09-2010, 11:26 PM

Rusty Zipper: freely? How could it be otherwise?

08-08-2010, 05:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
wpainterw Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 1,127	The Long Journey Home The Long Journey Home We, the fellowship of recovering alcoholics, are the survivors. It is as if one had been sitting alone in a darkened house, thinking of former friends, relatives perhaps, but friends at least, gone for many years and now hardly expected to be seen again. And suddenly there comes a knock at the door and, opening it, there stands someone who has miraculously returned, seemingly come back from the dead. Are we not such? Have we not returned from something so dark, so fearful that it often seemed like death itself? The poet, Samuel T. Coleridge, himself an opium addict, had his “Ancient Mariner” say that ** * * [his] soul hath been ** * * Alone on a wide, wide sea: ** * * So lonely ‘twas, that God himself ** * * Scarce seemed there to be.” Yet somehow, perhaps due to the pity and love that, despite his own sufferings, he learned to show to all God’s creatures, he, through God’s grace, managed to survive and once more sailed into his home’s harbor, saying, at the end * “He prayeth best, who loveth best * All things both great and small; * For the dear God who loveth us,* * He made and loveth all.” Persons may differ as to whether recovery from alcoholism is a spiritual path (although personally I believe that this is so). Recovering alcoholics may call themselves Christians, Buddhists, Jews, followers of Islam or other faiths, or even agnostics or atheists. But there is one thing which few can deny. We are all survivors. We have returned home from something so frightful, so terrifying and deadly, so dark and lonely that it seemed that we had lost our very selves. We are the survivors, the fellowship. And, being so, we have a bond which can never be broken. Is it not then a privilege to extend a hand to others who may still be on that long journey home? wpainterw

08-08-2010, 05:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
Rusty Zipper Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: my room in ct. Posts: 41,187	wp, for me, i would say it's a duty! __________________ *Rule 62*

08-09-2010, 07:41 AM	#3 (permalink)
LaFemme Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: New England Posts: 5,285	Really well said...thank you! __________________ Happy, Happy! Joy, Joy! - Ren & Stimpy There is no room for fear in a grateful heart.

08-09-2010, 05:57 PM	#5 (permalink)
Rusty Zipper Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: my room in ct. Posts: 41,187	yep, freely wp, freely! __________________ *Rule 62*

08-09-2010, 04:56 PM	#4 (permalink)
wpainterw Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 1,127	Hi Rusty Zipper! Yep, it sure is a duty! But, as for me, it makes me feel even better if it's not something I have to do but something I really want to do? Wpainterw

08-09-2010, 11:26 PM	#6 (permalink)
wpainterw Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 1,127	Rusty Zipper: freely? How could it be otherwise?

Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)