Yesterday at the noon meeting I sat where I could read the framed
slogans on the wall. “But for the grace of God (go I)” caught my eye. I
used to repeat this slogan whenever I’d see a drunk staggering down the
street or the homeless person in filthy clothes passed out in La Jolla
park in San Diego where I got sober. I said it as a reminder to be
grateful for my recovery and to give all credit to my HP. If I didn’t
always say it out loud, I whispered it to myself. I don’t use this
slogan anymore and yesterday I realized why.
The slogan implies I received a blessing -- God’s grace -- that the
drunk or the homeless person has not received. God’s favor, God’s light
has shined on me, but not on them. But what about all those times I
staggered and passed out myself? Weren’t these experiences God’s grace?
It is by God’s grace I am sober, but it is also God’s grace that I spent
thirty years living in alcoholic delusion. I am grateful for my
sobriety and my recovery, but I’m also grateful for every drink I drank
and every lie I told. Somehow they were all necessary. Every one.
I’m coming to believe it is all Grace. The good things that happen
and the icky things that happen. Every bit of life is Grace. In every
moment we are all exactly where we are supposed to be, doing exactly
what we are supposed to be doing. If any of us were supposed to be
somewhere else doing something else, we would be. I’m right where I
belong. So are you. Like another slogan says, “Nothing happens in God’s
world by accident.” Nothing.