Month: October 2019

Daily Reflection

“We asked God to help us show the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, ‘This is a sick man/woman. How can I help him/her? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.’” (p. 67 Alcoholics Anonymous book)

Just about a week ago now I finished out a five-day trip to see my sister and her family. While there was much to be grateful for during that trip, which I’ll be writing about in my upcoming Grateful Heart Monday, there was also some great sadness, sadness I’ve come to realize I can’t change, because the majority of it isn’t my work.

What I continue to realize though is that my work is to let go of trying to control their situation and praying. Because of their ongoing family dynamics with a brother-in-law who for whatever his reasons truly struggles to embrace me and them with unconditional love and acceptance, I had to pray quite a bit during this visit so that I didn’t turn to anger. Anger that really wanted to surface when he returned into town and immediately ordered his family to change their plans they had with me so that he could be accommodated. Anger that really wanted to surface as I watched my sister cry over and over because of how he treated her as soon as he returned. Anger that really wanted to surface when he attempted to keep his twin sons at home to watch a football game with him while I waited at my hotel room for them. Anger that really wanted to surface with each of his repeated attempts to limit my family’s time with me. And anger that really wanted to surface in knowing he didn’t keep his promise about allowing this trip to be totally about my sister and his kids and me. But thankfully, other than a short outburst with my sister on the Saturday I was there that I did make amends for, my prayers helped to keep all that anger at bay.

Unfortunately, the sad reality I live in now though is that so long as my sister remains married to her husband in his current state of mind and body, I may never get to experience the true closeness and unconditional love I believe my family and I could share together. In the meantime, as Bill Wilson once said, I must look at my brother-in-law as a spiritually sick man, no different than how I have gotten whenever I’ve stopped doing my own recovery work on myself.

Nonetheless, how can I best help him on my recovering path? Sometimes the only solution is to stay away until God clears a healthier path, which I most certainly pray comes sooner than later, not necessarily for my sake, but more so for my sister and my nephews, who I know deserve to receive far more unconditional love and light than they are currently getting.

Dear God, I pray that you continue to help me release any anger I may hold towards those who keep on hurting the ones I love by their selfish actions. Help me to remember I have been spiritually sick as well at times in life and that it took me reaching out to you when I was ready, to become far more healthy. Amen.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Silly Joke Friday

Silly Joke #1

“Class, there are two words I don’t allow in here. One is ‘gross’ and the other is ‘cool'” said the 1st grade teacher to her new class for the school year. There was then a very noticeable silence with all the kids looking at each other when suddenly little Johnny raised his hand and said “Well, are you at least going to tell us what the gross word is and what the cool word is so we don’t ever say them?!”

Silly Joke #2

An elderly couple was driving across the country. The woman was driving when she got pulled over by the highway patrol. The officer said, “Ma’am did you know you were speeding?” The woman, hard of hearing, turns to her husband and asks, “What did he say?” The old man yells, “He says you were speeding!” The patrolman says, “May I see your license?” The woman turns to her husband and asks again, “What did he say?” The old man yells again, “He wants to see your license!” The woman gave the officer her license. The patrolman says, “I see you are from Arkansas. I spent some time there once and went on this blind date with the most annoying woman ever. Man, I don’t think I’ll ever forget her!” The woman turned to her husband again and asks, “What did he say?” And the old man yells once more, “He said he knows you!!!”

Silly Joke #3

A woman walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer. She says she’s going to Europe on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000. The bank officer tells her that the bank will need some kind of security for such a loan, so the woman hands over the keys to a new Rolls Royce that’s parked on the street in front of the bank. Everything checks out, and the bank agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan. An employee drives the Rolls Royce into the bank’s underground garage and parks it there. Two weeks later, the woman returns, repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41. The loan officer approaches her and says, “We are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction seems to have worked out very nicely for you, but we’re a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked out your accounts and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is why would you bother to borrow $5,000?” The woman responded, “Well, where else in Manhattan can I park my car safely for two weeks and for only fifteen bucks?!”

Bonus Silly Joke

A store manager overheard a clerk saying to a customer, “No, ma’am, we haven’t had any for some weeks now, and it doesn’t look as if we’ll be getting any soon.”  Alarmed, the manager rushed over to the customer who was walking out the door and said, “That isn’t true, ma’am. Of course, we’ll have some soon. In fact, we placed an order for it a couple of weeks ago.” The customer gave him a really puzzled look and then walked away. The manager then drew the clerk aside and growled, “Never, never, never, never say we don’t have something! If we don’t have it, say we ordered it and it’s on its way! Now, what was it she wanted?” The clerk answered, “Snow.”

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Thought For The Day

Quote #1

“To offer a person unsolicited advice is to presume that they don’t know what to do or that they can’t do it on their own.” (John Gray)

Quote #2

“Unsolicited advice is usually more about the needs of the giver than the receiver and is always self-serving in some way.” (Unknown)

Quote #3

“People who are know-it-all’s, and dish out unsolicited advice and opinions, are the same ones who follow none of their own advice and practice nothing of what they preach.” (Unknown)

Bonus Quote

“Don’t listen to people who tell you what to do. Listen to people who encourage you to do what you know in your heart is right.” (Unknown)

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson