"It is much later than you think"

[vahn]

Ah those words , how I cringed at them whenever I heard them , "It's much later than you think son" , I heard those words for a good part of twenty , continuous years , until of course my sponsor brought up the point that the reason I kept hearing them was because I kept saying "I'll get to that later" , so , now I had two things to cringe about , the other being my sponsor .

In the book Alcoholics Anonymous , in the chapter How it Works (Chpt 5) , it states "We beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start" , an ominous warning that I failed to heed for many a year . The word BEG and the reason of , eluded me , and here I am , a little over 11 years of continuous sobriety later , I am typing something about it ... Why .

Well , lately I had just come to realize that my tolerance level with certain issues and personalities had been reduced to almost zero , and in turn being followed by periods of uneasy feelings wich yet led to downright aggravation and edginess , to the point of simultaneous "explosions" .
Deciding to do an inventory on the issue (suggested 10th step for recovery) I came across a very ... interesting (to say the least) "discovery" of a sort , which by the way is what prompted to share this with my fellows who might need to hear .

It has to do with helping others , "Now wait a minute " you might say . How can helping others lead to any such things you mentioned above ?

See , in order for me to gain confidence of the prospect (newbie) I have to first , of course give him something of my own experience to help him/her see the commonality of the grounds we are standing on , and , after that being established , we move on to the nitty gritty stuff (inventory-4th step) , now this is where the rubber hits the tar . Again , I only have my experience to go by (you can't transmit what you ain't got ... and , what you do got is the ONLY thing that you CAN and WILL transmit whether you like it , or not !!) -- well , lately , it seems , "anger" is what being transmitted -- But , what is it that I am "angry" about ? Hence the inventory .

What I "found out" was this . There were a lot of ... well , stuff .. that initially , I either set aside , brush off as "unnecessary" , or just simply said "I'll get to that later" . That "later" part had been knocking at my doorstep a lot lately , stemming from having to help a certain individual preventing later disaster in their life later on , and the only thing I got to go by is my own experience , and that experience is bringing me back to a good 35 years , and that my dear brothers and sisters is when I ENTERED HELL , and didn't get out until it was way too late !! That , is a place I did not , do not want to revisit , but will I ? Have no choice do I ?
Boomerang time , big time !!

"FEARLESS AND THOROUGH FROM THE VERY START --- WE BEG OF YOU"

It is MUCH later than we THINK .




In Christ , our Lord

[deetu]

Pretty interesting point... kinda snowballs down a hill if you don't smash it when it is still small.

[xxJILLxx]

Hello dear,

We do what we can in our best ability, after we done that... its up them. We cant prevent anyone from doing anything. If we try to do so we step in God's way of keeping the situation under His care. We do our part, and we let them do theirs (mistakes and all) but most of all we let God do His.

Who are we to say what we think is a disaster at this moment, could be a Godsend down the road? To that person, to others. We dont know.. we just trust God with the situation and make sure we covered our bases and our responsibilities in the situation.

I know in many of my mistakes, if i hadnt of made them.. i wouldnt be who i am today. Like the daddy who lets the girl climb and make mistakes, we guide them.... but we have to let go of them so they can climb higher and gain their confidence. But ultimately when they do fall we make sure we are right there to catch them. Personalities set aside, mistakes put aside and with a fathers heart we nurture them and say... "its ok kid u tried, maybe now u will see the way u are climbing is not all that thorough. Lets try placing your foot on a m ore sturdy piece of the equipment." But until they find out on their own that their way isnt going to work, we pray and do our part in love and guidance to the best of our ability.

I know u are doing that dear, and i love your father's heart.

God bless u
♥Jill

[vahn]

Nothing ... Absolutely nothing , happens in God's world by mistake .

It is not as much whether we are "dealing" with others properly or not at issue here , but rather , the inability to do so because of not having dealt with past issues that were neglected to be rid of , and later (or in my case , present time) put us in the position of being "ineffective" , so to speak , hence tossing your hands in the air and give up on the matter completely -- Because , when we do so , will shut down all other avenues of being of help later when other issues pop up -- Like Deetu mentioned , we need to stop the snow-balling while the "ball" is still managable in size , otherwise we might end up smashing the ball , only to start another one , and another and another .

But , once again , it was our All-Loving Father's way of putting this "situation" in my path to remind me of an unfinished business .
a Couple of verses pop up , One : "When we go to offer a sacrifice and remember a brother has offended you , put your offering down and go and make good with him first , then come back and finish up "
Two : "How can you say to your brother you got a splinter in your eye , when you cant see the tree from the forest in yours" .
Makes one very uneasy , doesn't it ? That is why My thanx go to our Lord for the individual he put in my path to make me realize this unforseen "issue" .


In Christ , our Lord

[sbennett]

Praying for you vahn as you deal not only with the people you want so badly to help....but also for you as you deal with yourself. God is doing a great work in you.

[realtmg]

AMEN!

Luv ya

Real

[xxJILLxx]

So is best to deal with situations as they come up... Living in the here and now... not the later. Because guess what? Later the situation is still there, but now staring right back at ya and real close and personal.

Many years i have stuffed everything away and assumed it would "go away" Until very recently, i have woke up to that fact as u have stated, "much later than we think" .

There is a cut off time isnt there? I mean when is it too late? Is it ever too late?

This reminds me of the ten virgins and the oil and the 5 that may have said the same thing... "much later than we think"

Gut wrenching isnt it? A little more time to play, a little folding of the hands, a little slumber... well u know the rest.

Thank God He is gracious enough to give us a wake up call. He does call us, but sometimes we are in such a deep slumber that we dont awake. I pray i never get to that point.

Which reminds me of the verse of being vigilent, because the adversary goes to and fro to seek whom he may devour....

well i am rambling... but those are my thoughts.

Stay strong , stay vigilent and stay His! Amen!

love ya
♥Jill