|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Thankful for a new season
Celebrating my first dry Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving.
Today, the fourth Thursday in November, is the day that President Abraham Lincoln set aside as a national holiday to remember the blessings that have showered us and our country. Our republic will turn 250 next year with a huge year for sports here in the Bay Area as well as nationally with the World Cup.
That alone can spark a thankful attitude. Today, I think back to what my friend Mark Roberts, former executive director of the De Pree Center at Fuller University, wrote in his devotional “Life for Leaders.” He related how, several Thanksgivings ago, he woke up early, grabbed his journal and started writing down people, things and circumstances he was grateful for. It evolved into a two-hour peaceful and joyful time that he’s since expanded into making the Thanksgiving season extend into Advent and Christmas with consistently remembering and counting his blessings.
I will readily admit that I find journaling a major challenge—I do set aside time for reading and devotions daily—but coupling that with writing things down either morning or evening has taken more discipline that I can routinely apply. It has worked for planned, finite seasons.
I write this Thanksgiving Eve preparing for a celebration tomorrow that will be traditional, yet brand new for me. It was November last year that I hit the wall with my alcohol use and resolved something had to change. I was hospitalized for two days after my blood pressure plunged, but the docs were able to stabilize me and I returned home before Thanksgiving. I enjoyed a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir with dinner last year, but no whiskey that would accompany the holiday party.
My Kaiser counselor had been advising me for more than a year to give it up—a step that I was unwilling to take until last year. For background, other than three eight-day healing mission trips to Brazil that were dry, I could not tell you any sustained time I did not have a drink since my early 20s. Having reached the 75-year milestone last year, that’s a 50-year habit.
Last December, we celebrated my wife’s birthday at a fine local restaurant and I savored a 16-year-old Scottish single malt (we had visited the distillery on Islay in 2019). With God’s grace, an abundance of support from family, friends and the Kaiser program and fellow people journeying along the same path (I’m in phase 4), Thanksgiving will be dry as will my bride’s birthday meal out next week. Fortunately, God has answered one of my prayers that my situation will not affect others so wine will be served tomorrow—at home, my family has slowly been working through my large stash of fine wine. That’s been one challenge—we had more than a 40-year relationship with Hafner Vineyard in the Alexander Valley and also enjoyed a wine club membership locally with Dante Robere—those ended early last year.
I’ve also been helped by digital AA meetings. It’s notable that within the first week of the group treatment, I participated in AA meetings and engaged with two people I have known literally for decades in other contexts. To me, that was a God signal that this was the right path.
My bride and I attended a ministry conference in San Diego two weeks ago that originally was scheduled for 2020 and postponed by the lockdown. We dined out using a gift card to Black Angus that a friend had given us and opted for the huge amount of food with the fixed price steak dinner with appetizer, steaks, sides and dessert. I remarked it was the first time we’d been out for a steak and not had wine that I could remember.
It’s one small note in a notable year of change that will have me counting blessings this evening, tomorrow and throughout the season.
This old dog can learn new tricks.
Congratulations Tim!