Well, this pandemic changed everything.
Not just my physical perspective, as my husband and I are in the at-risk age group and are confined to our home, but my mental perspective, spiritual perspective—life as we knew it—is totally changed. We are affected from every angle.
For those of us in sobriety, we have to adjust our thinking about how we take care of ourselves. We can’t physically go to meetings right now as we shelter-in-place. But we can go to online Zoom meetings. We can reach out to our sponsors and others as we always have, by phone, FaceTime, text and email.
It is still scary to be isolated. Community has been such a huge part of my sobriety. Sharing thoughts, hugs, time with others like myself who need to be heard, understood and encouraged to maintain their sobriety.
Service has always been my go-to for getting out of my own head and out of God’s way. I get to be creative in ways to help others. Go to an online Zoom meeting and speak up there to help another. My husband, a retired dentist, found 500 boxed surgical masks in our attic and dropped them off to the local hospital without getting out of his car. Our perspective has changed, but we can still serve.
Our church changed their perspective and conducted our worship services for the last two weekends via livestream. Such a great comfort to my husband and me. During the service, our pastor played a video clip from the movie, Elizabeth the Golden Age: The New World . I have transcribed the clip below. It gave me the hope I was needing to hear about.
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Sir Walter Raleigh describes the New World to Elizabeth and her court: “Can you imagine what it is to cross and ocean? For weeks you see nothing but the horizon, perfect and empty. You live in the grip of fear. Fear of sickness, storms, fear of the immensity. So, you must drive that fear down deep into your belly, study your charts, watch your compass, pray for a fair wind and hope—pure, naked, fragile—hope.
But at first, it’s no more than a haze on the horizon. So you watch, and as the smudge grows, a shadow on the far water, for a day, for another day. The stain slowly spreads along the horizon taking form, until on the third day, you let yourself believe—you dare to whisper the word—land—Land. Life. Resurrection. The true adventure, coming out of the vast unknown. Out of the immensity into new life—That, is the new world.”
The Queen says back to Sir Walter Raleigh: “I like your immensities. Your ocean is an image of eternity, I think. Such great spaces make us small. Do we discover the New World, Mr. Raleigh? Or, does the New World discover us?”
Sir Walter Raleigh: “You speak like a true explorer.”
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Wow.
This is a reminder of how I felt in early sobriety and how HOPE was the only thing I could hang onto at first. One day at a time until I could see that there was a new way of living. A new me, a new life, resurrection from the dead me. Getting sober was the vast unknown, the immensity, a whole new world.
And, as the Queen says back to him—This New World discovers us.
Change your perspective—be an explorer.
You can do this life sober too.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13
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