Free to be Me…but still need the We!

Happy Memorial Day to everyone out there! I am reminded of all of the freedoms I have come to know (and hopefully don’t take for granted). First I am grateful to God for making me just the way I am and granting me free will. I don’t always exercise it in the best ways but hopefully I grow as I get older to have better discernment in trying to know and do His Will in my daily life. Second, I am grateful for the 12-Step Program and everyone in it who has helped me realize the promise of “a new freedom and a new happiness” and be free of the bondage of alcoholism. Last but certainly not least, I am thankful to all of the Americans who have sacrificed their lives so that I can live freely in a country which allows me to live my life in the way I choose.

Yesterday was Holy Trinity Sunday and I am reminded that my God is in three persons, a “We” God. “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” (Gen. 1:26) Sometimes I pray to God the Father, sometimes the Son and sometimes the Holy Spirit…and sometimes all Three, and while I can’t fully understand the mystery, I can appreciate the Trinity today. I know that I couldn’t get sober on my own, that I needed to rely on other people as well as God to maintain a spiritual condition upon which my sobriety is contingent. And I know that I cannot truly be free without the protection of our military, our government, our laws…and all which our American flag stands for. 

I am truly grateful that I am free to be me…but also grateful for everyone who makes that possible.