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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Today's Monumental Events

Waiting for something to happen
 I am restless, uncertain, uncomfortable in my skin. What is wrong, I wonder.

I could sit and stew all day in this miasma. Or I could answer that question: If I'm honest, what troubles me are three unmade phone calls about unpleasant possibilities, and I don't want to tackle them. That's all. So I go outside with the camera to visit the praying mantis in the dahlias. I eat a little because I ought to, not because I'm hungry. Then I make one of the calls.

Hello, little fly!
No one's there, and I leave a message. This is called "baby steps" in my 12-step program, and it counts on the plus side of my personal little inventory. How I feel is my responsibility, so what action can I take to be more comfortable? Take care of business, sweet pea! That would be a start.

Then I make the second call. Check! That one's satisfied. I feel better already. I ponder the third and final call, the ickiest one of all. I'm in a position of strength now, and I can see that I should get answers to "x" and "y" before I place the call. Now I get to make more choices, with a level head and honesty. This problem has no urgency, and it could spend a while in the hands of someone wiser than I am. I have a place for things like that, called a "God box" ~ a gimmick I've been using lately, a little red box and shreds of paper scribbled on and dated. So I put that last call in the box.

I love my lunch.

"Look away from unpleasant surroundings, from lack of beauty, from the imperfections in yourself and in those around you. In your unrest, behold God's calmness; in your impatience, God's patience; in your limitations, God's perfection. Looking upward toward God, your spirit will begin to grow."
Twenty-Four Hours a Day, Oct. 17



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been presented several times in the last few weeks with the idea of a gOd box. I think I am being told something. I need one.

Karen said...

May it grow and grow.

I've never heard of the God box, but I'm sorely in need.

Enchanted Oak said...

Took me 20 years to start one, and I did it because I heard a speaker say she had dated her entries, and she found, over time and periodic review, that they were cared for in amazing ways. I wanted what she had. Faith.

Unknown said...

Yes, He works wonders often solving problems before they exist. If I didn't realize it before, I am certainly beginning to see it even more clearer since I started my new blog The Chapter Challenge. He is amazing!

Lou said...

I looove the idea of going back and seeing how events unfolded by the papers in the box!

You're explanation of using the tools of the 12 steps are just lyrical. Other explanations are so clinical and dry!

Brian Miller said...

smiles. these are not comfortable at all...i am glad you made a few steps and were wise enough to know when to stop walking...

Peter Goulding said...

I always work on the assumption that worry always accentuates a problem and its best to face unpleasant tasks quickly. Normally I ask myself - what's the worse can happen? Am I or a loved one going to die? Or be seriously injured?
I think your God box shows that the passage of time makes seemingly large problems solvable. Keep at it missus...

CiCi said...

So that is like checking off one and a half of the three unpleasant calls. That is half. Pretty good. Whew.

Laurie Kolp said...

I love the comparison of your struggles to the grasshoppers. These things always seem to pass when we wait for God's answers. You took the right steps.

Argent said...

I like your approach to those calls as I'm a serial procrastinator when it comes to anything like that. 'Baby steps' will be my thought for the day. The God Box is an interesting idea too. Even if you do not believe, it would certainly be an interesting exercise - a lesson probably in just how small the passage of time makes our problems one way or another.