Tiny Devotional for Thursday, 07-22-2021

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, some mornings are just like that/this.

Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
One who guards himself will be far from them.
Proverbs 22:5, NASB


I learned an expression when I first got sober: “sleeping in the middle of the bed.” The person who sleeps on the edge of the bed is more likely to fall out, you see; in the same way, the alcoholic who tries to see how much they can get away with is more likely to relapse.

In those early days (and to this day), I was overwhelmed with gratitude, toward God and others in recovery. I had been rescued from the brink of destruction! I spoke of my appreciation at a meeting one day. 

Was I too extreme?  Perhaps; at least, Chuck thought so. He promptly shared his worst DUI experience, swerving from one side of the road to the other. Calmly, he stated that extremes were dangerous, and that the middle of the road was safest.  
I shut my mouth, and tried to learn from his words, because I was new, and he had some time in the program.
The next time I saw Chuck at a meeting, he was wearing different clothes, matching those of several other attendees: orange jumpsuits, with “INMATE” stenciled on the back. 
If he was in the middle of the road, he had picked a road I wasn’t interested in following.

How DO you guard yourself? Well, you could check for fresh thorn wounds. Don’t confuse them with blisters, which are inevitable with travel.

BTW: If your guide keeps getting attacked by bears?

Get a new guide.

Peace be on your household.

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