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| Assortment of Light 1, Maison Bergogne, Narrowsburg, New York. Photo credit: Mzuri |
I'm saying "she" kept the light on, but it could be a "he" just as well. I'm saying "for me," but it was "for all."
I'm a member of a 12-step fellowship. In pre-COVID times, in my annual migrations, one of my first settling-in actions at a new tourist-in-residency was to find my fellowship's local meetings.
During my tenure in Alamogordo, there was only one meeting. When I attended it the first time, I found one person there, waiting.
She came every week. Brought meeting materials. Brought program literature. Unlocked the small conference room. Turned on the light. Straightened the chairs around the table, if needed.
She turned on that light every week, knowing that she might be the only person there, as this was the reality more often than not.
In the 12-step fellowships, healing balances on a three-legged stool: the physical, the mental/emotional, and the spiritual.
I had the physical abstinence, and it turned out that she had not yet been able to sustain that.
But she was light years ahead of me in the other two legs: emotional and spiritual maturity.
Turning the light on for anyone who might stumble in from the dark, week after week - that is a woman whose inner light shines.
