The Twelfth Step

Lately I feel like I’ve really been drawn into the whole political craziness going on within our country. Normally I don’t like talking about politics at all, but I’m growing more and more concerned about all those who are saying they aren’t going to vote in the upcoming presidential election because they don’t like either candidate.

What’s sad about this is that many of those who don’t end up voting for our next president will be the same ones down the road who will be complaining constantly about the state of our country when things aren’t going the way they want.

I have to be honest though and say I’m guilty of this very thing in my past as there were times I didn’t vote either and then later grumbled quite a bit about various problems with our government. But this year I actually plan on voting for the next president because I’m overly nervous about letting someone get in office who has been doing things that I’m doing my best to not do anymore in life such as making fun of those who are disabled, saying racist comments, and promoting their own self-agenda.

While I do agree that neither candidate really hold a strong position in my spiritual reflection, I do wish to do my part in electing someone who will most likely still protect my rights and work towards unity rather than potentially take them away and create dissension. And as so many usually say, choosing to not vote at all is simply just another way of placing a vote for the person I don’t want to see get elected.

So that’s why I plan on voting this year because I want to see our country moving forward with things that I feel we represent together as a nation instead of going in the reverse direction when life was far more polarized between all of us.

And even if our country ends up having issues down the way due to whomever becomes president, I also don’t plan on criticizing them or the government around them because I know the real work is truly done in each of us by doing our best to love each other…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Sometimes I really think that God is speaking to us all the time, except we’re usually either too distracted or looking too much for it to come in a certain way. I’ve been trying to change much of that lately and be open to God communicating to me in all possible ways and I truly feel I had one of those moments the other day with this little red moth.

Over the course of a week or so, I had this tiny dark red moth visit me every single time I sat outside and read from this book titled Joshua, which is a fictional take of what it would be like if Jesus returned in the present day. At first I was oblivious to this skittish moth that constantly flew around me a number of times during each of those reading sessions. But when it kept coming back day after day, my friend who was visiting me at the time and also reading the same book with me said, I think God might be paying you a visit with that moth.

So I started paying more attention from that point forward and sure enough, like clockwork, this moth appeared every single day I was out there going over a chapter from that book. When my friend left, I wondered if it too would leave, questioning if maybe it was there because of him and not me. But yet on the very next evening I found myself reading outside from the second book in this spiritual series when I saw the moth reappear, this time proceeding to flutter in and around my sandals over and over again.

At this point I decided to just sit back and observe it, occasionally saying hello and telling it not to be afraid of me. It appeared to be very happy and I found it rather interesting to see this moth literally flutter under my sandals and lay there, completely unafraid of possibly being crushed. The best part of this story though was what happened next. I placed my hand down near it after seeing it enjoy my sandals for a short while and watched as it fluttered into my hand. And while it only remained there for a few moments, I felt something I haven’t felt in a very long time and that was a complete sense of peace that all was going to be ok.

Later that night when I was doing my evening gratitude and prayers, I thanked God for this experience and for showing up in my life in a way I never expected. Since then I haven’t seen this little red moth return, but I’m quite positive that God will appear again in some other way, so long as I continue to remain open to however God may show up. Because I really do feel that God is communicating to us all the time, we just need to pay more attention and keep our minds open…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson