Things That Nurture My Soul
March 22, 2008 by Mark
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Love is always Number 1… and the greatest challenge.
Bill Wilson was very fond of one particular passage that I’m going to repeat now. By its nature, I imagine most will perceive it “religious.” Please be forewarned.
I am an alcoholic and this is the area of my life that has suffered the most. I’m not alone and that is a fact.
1 Corinthians 13
Love
(1)If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (2)If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (3)If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(4)Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5)It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6)Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7)It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
(8)Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (9)For we know in part and we prophesy in part, (10)but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. (11)When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. (12)Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
(13)And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Love nurtures my soul which goes an extra long way towards helping me stay sober!
[Find more Bible Passages at BibleGateway.com]
My brain shuts down at Bible passages, especially the New Testament. For this alcoholic, I have not yet overcome that prejudice but accept that others have found a path with it. A power greater than myself keeps me with that power when I actively seek faith, hope and love in my thoughts and actions toward others.
I’m not sure I’d view it as a prejudice with a need to be overcome since we are of different faiths. I would want you to embrace your faith as passionately as I embrace mine, but that’s just me. There actually is an Old Testament verse I could quote but its meaning is so much more indistinguishable to most (I believe).
My intent was not to put either Testament “out there” for interpretation or understanding but rather to put out the concept of love being something that motivated Bill Wilson and how he practiced the principles which he passed on and which we now incorporate into our sober lives. You know - like “we’ll love you until you can love yourself” - “you don’t have to like everybody but you need to love everybody” - that kinda stuff
Exactly what you closed your comment with…
BTW friend - your comments are a breath of fresh air. Where did you get sober? lol…