Come Walk With Me

Dear Reader,

This morning, I was reflecting on several quotations about acceptance, love, faith, and living one day at a time. Although each approached life from a different perspective, I began to recognize a common message.

We cannot change yesterday, nor can we control tomorrow. But we can choose how we live today.

As I considered these thoughts, I found myself returning to a simple understanding:

I find peace within myself as I stretch out a hand to others and allow them to rise and walk with me.

There is an important distinction between helping someone rise and attempting to make them rise.

I can extend my hand, but the other person must choose to take it. I can offer encouragement, friendship, and support, but I cannot live another person's life or make their decisions.

Sometimes, in our desire to help, we forget this distinction. We begin to believe that loving someone means solving their problems, correcting their mistakes, or directing their journey.

But is that really love?

The Apostle Paul taught in Galatians 6:2:

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."

And in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 18:8 speaks of being:

"...willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light."

Neither scripture tells us to take ownership of another person's life. Rather, both invite us to share life's burdens with compassion and understanding.

Over my years in Alcoholics Anonymous, I have learned that recovery is more than attending meetings or maintaining sobriety. It is learning a different way of living.

The Twelfth Step reminds us of the importance of carrying the message to others and practicing spiritual principles in all our affairs.

In helping another person, we often discover that we ourselves are being helped.

Yet there is another lesson I continue to learn.

I can extend my hand without carrying the entire weight of the person who takes it.

This is not indifference. It is an acknowledgment that each of us has our own journey, our own lessons to learn, and our own relationship with God.

I have come to understand that peace is not something I find by looking only within myself. It grows when I reach out to another person, help them find their footing, and allow them to rise and walk beside me.

I cannot walk their journey for them, but neither must they walk alone.

And I must remember that I, too, need rest, encouragement, friendship, and the occasional hand extended in my direction.

Perhaps this is one of the great lessons of faith and recovery: We are not called to control one another. We are called to love one another.

We need not have all the answers. We need not repair every broken circumstance. Sometimes, simply being present is enough.

I believe that when we reach out in love, something happens within us as well.

The hand we extend to lift another may also be the hand through which God lifts us.

So, my invitation today is a simple one.

Come walk with me.

Not because I know the way better than you.

Not because I have all the answers.

But because the journey may become a little lighter when we walk together.

With love and gratitude,

🙏🧘‍♂️💕🤗☮️