Worrying About Food

²⁹ “And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. ³⁰ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs.³¹ Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need. ~ Luke 12:28-31 (NLT)

Overeaters Anonymous has similarities
with these words of Jesus.
Others may see the purpose precisely
as being concerned about what to consume.
We are not a diet club...calories and points
have no role. We would agree these things
"dominate the thoughts of unbelievers"
but we have decided to turn such concerns
over to God, however we understand God,
and to trust God to take care of our disease
of compulsive eating, the needs for nourishment
as well as for abstinence from harmful eating.
And we trust God to give us everything we need,
to allow our reliance on God to lead us,
to love us and to teach us how to love ourselves.

A Relationship with My Higher Power

How do you build a friendship?
By spending time together.
And if the friend is omniscient,
ubiquitous, supreme...
if you came to believe this companion
could restore you to sanity,
could bring you peace
and satisfaction beyond your dreams,
could we not linger,
hover, persist in  companionship,
knowing when we lapse in awareness
our confidante understands
and accepts our effort?

Murmuration

Overeaters Anonymous 

is a Fellowship of individuals
who, through shared experience,
strength, and hope, are recovering
from compulsive overeating.
We welcome everyone
who wants to stop eating compulsively.
There are no dues or fees for members;
we are self-supporting
through our own contributions,
neither soliciting nor accepting
outside donations.
OA is not affiliated
with any public or private organization,
political movement, ideology,
or religious doctrine;
we take no position
on outside issues.
Our primary purpose
is to abstain from
compulsive eating
and compulsive food behaviors
and to carry the message of recovery
through the Twelve Steps of OA
to those who still suffer.

Murmuration.
he act of murmuring
the utterance
of low continuous sounds
or complaining noises.
How did you feel when you came to OA?
Did the long readings seem strange?
Remember. Always.
Welcome the newcomer,
answer their questions,
be a friendly face,
a person to hug...or not...

as needed.

Keep Coming Back

It's great to have you,
I know you're pleased
with the changes
these last few months.
I notice though
you've missed some meetings
and came in late for others.
It's a simple program

and you've done well
but I've found like others
it's a commitment made
a day at a time, for life.
You sit in these rooms
long enough and you learn
a basic truth.
Those people who stop coming back
are the ones who fail to hear
tales told by those who stopped
then found the folk who stop coming back
don't hear what happens
to folk who don't come back.

Compulsive

From the diet pills prescribed for
a thirteen-year-old me
through plus sizes, high school and college
band uniforms requiring alteration,
the fabric between my legs
wearing out first, clothes bought
in special stores, dieting
for forty-eight years, gaining
more than I lost, trying everything
to end the compulsion to eat.
But stopping was beyond my grasp.
Doctors, counselors, pills,
hypnosis, metal pins in ears,
fasting...failing, hopeless,
desperate. A counselor understood
from her twenty years sober
in Alcoholics Anonymmous
that Overeaters Anonymous
could end the compulsion,
and finally, almost sixty,
I found the compulsion
could put a stop to hopeless
and begin to nurture hope.

Vacation Abstinence

What happens to a food plan
on a 20-hour flight,
when you visit destinations
are known for foods you shouldn't eat,
or you are a guest of cooks
who set their menu without consultation?
Can you visit a cacao farm
without trying the chocolate produced?
Can you travel without triggering
a relapse? The answer is, "Yes."
Two thousand miles from home
it's still true that nothing tastes as good
as abstinence feels. Enjoy the sights,
the sounds, the people...
Have a meaningful trip finding joy
in serenity. Take your Higher Power
on the trip and surrender as needed.

My Secret

Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window, in this place] means anything. ~ Dr. Helen Schucman. A Course in Miracles (Kindle Locations 14146-14147). Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition.

Nothing I see today means anything.
The chihuahua I hear snoring in my husband's lap
doesn't mean anything, nor does my husband.
I can't see the poodle at all, just the towel
for his use on the couch and the cushions
he pushed to the floor, but wherever Honeybear is,
probably at the breakfast nook window, but the poodle,
the towel, the cushions, the window don't mean anything.
The ancient wheaten terrier beside my chair,
close to me where he chooses to be,
and these days so a gentle hand on his head
with the aid of carpet, grass, or an old towel
tossed before him to aid his standing
is a welcome help...he, too, means nothing.

Maybe it's nothing, but do

I have this wrong? If nothing means anything,
is that the same as everything meaning nothing?

Make a Miracle!

What do we need to make a miracle? Willingness. A change of the mind will result in a miracle every time we are willing to give up the ego’s perspective of whatever situation is distressing us. ~ Daily Meditations for Practicing the Course by Karen Casey

What's a miracle?
An extraordinary event
manifesting divine intervention
in human affairs?
or merely
an extremely outstanding
or unusual event, thing,
or accomplishment?
Or perhaps
a divinely natural phenomenon
experienced humanly
as the fulfillment of spiritual law?
The divine part...isn't that inherent
among Recovery people?
Are we not a people of miracles?
Isn't it a miracle when we go through a day
without reverting to our crutches?
We can surrender our ego
to God as we understand him
and leave our crutches on the wayside.

Peace Be With You

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ~ Luke 24:36 NIV

Peace. The greatest gift.
The most generous blessing.
The fondest desire of our hearts.
The foundation of a good life.
The sign of a life worth living.
Peace. The promise of the risen Christ
to the apostles, to the women,
to Thomas in his doubting,
to us on this Easter Sunday.

Free Passes not Available for the Asking

Spirituality is not measured by who you are, but by how you live. Sinning, and then asking God to forgive your sins, conveys an attitude of self-importance—that because you have reached out to God, you earn a “free pass.” ~ Dean, Amy E. Morning Light: A Book of Meditations to Begin Your Day (Kindle Locations 1185-1198). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

The things that are done...piously!
I've held elective office, and I've been
church staff in three churches,
an active volunteer in others.
Political manipulation? The churches win...
hands down. John Wesley was a minister...
but changed when he felt his heart
strangely warmed. He told his brother,
“By a Christian I mean one who so believes in Christ
as that sin hath no more dominion over him;
and in this obvious sense of the word
I was not a Christian till May the 24th last past.”
It's strange how many reach Recovery
proficient in scripture, liturgical history,
and the language of the church
to find in these rooms
a way of life that feels good, that is good,
that is how we want...and need...to live!

Love Is...

Love is an expression and assertion of self-esteem, a response to one’s own values in the person of another. —Ayn Rand

For years I turned away from pride,
aware I had no room to occupy that peak.
I knew...or so I believed...I deserved nothing good,
for I felt good for nothing.
But then I found Recovery
and came to believe a Power
greater than me, greater than anyone I knew,
loved me, believed in me, made me
a person who could be loved,
and came to understand
those people I admired
were admirable for me
because we had in common
an understanding of good
and that sometimes
we were admirable just as those prople
we easily admired.
We learned that love is an expression
and an assertion of self-esteem,
a response to our own values
in the person of another.

True Generosity

True generosity is an offering; given freely and out of pure love. No strings attached. No expectations. Time and love are the most valuable possession you can share. ~ Suze Orman

You pull to a drive-through window,
prepared to pay for the salads, but told
the car ahead paid your tab. You'll look cheap
if you don't pay for the next, feel guilty
when theirs is less than yours. Kind of nice,
but even more silly, and not even generous,
just keeping up appearances except maybe
the first car to pay. Nice, though,
a random act of kindness, no real demand
you join in. But a little trite.
You can be more original. Pure love.
No strings. No expectations. A real gift,
your time, your love, nothing in it for you,
your intentional anonymity.

No One Can Make Me Change

No one can make me change. No one can stop me from changing. No one really knows how I must change, not even I. Not until I start. I will remember that it only takes a slight shift in direction to begin to change my life. ~ Courage to Change—One Day at a Time in Al‑Anon II (Kindle Locations 82-84).

God grant me the serenity
to change the things I can...
and the wisdom to understand
the only thing I can change is me,
though when I do change I know
others around me may change themselves,
the only thing that they can change.
If I have serenity to change who I can,
and wisdom to trust the One Who can,
I can begin to grow into who I need to be.

I Believe

Light is sweet,
and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
However many years a man may live,
let him enjoy them all.
But let him remember the days of darkness,
for they will be many.
Everything to come is meaningless. Be happy, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
God will bring you to judgment.
So then, banish anxiety from your heart
and cast off the troubles of your body,
for youth and vigor are meaningless. Ecclesiastes 11:7-10 (NIV)

Shadow makes the painting.
Sorrow colors life, gives it depth.
A child draws with bright colors,
side by side
and we see it with loving eyes
so it touches us.
Youth and vigor offer great joy and fun perhaps,
but who would go back
and live it again
without change?
Life is good.
Live it.
Rejoice in life,
no matter what.

God, we can’t see the full tapestry of our lives
but we trust you,
the master weaver.
I believe.
Heal my unbelief.

Rollins, Barbara B.. A Time for Verse - Poetic Ponderings on Ecclesiastes (Kindle Locations 852-866).

Eagle Wings Press imprint

of Silver Boomer Books.

Kindle Edition.

All Power Is the Lord's

Waver not in your faith or in your prayers. All power is the Lord’s. Say that to yourself often and steadily. Say it until your heart sings with joy for the safety and personal power that it means to you. Say it until the very force of the utterance drives back and puts to naught all the evils against you. Use it as a battle cry. All power is the Lord’s. ~ Anonymous. Twenty Four Hours A Day: Meditations (p. 46). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

All power is the Lord's.
I need not be concerned
with lives calling for my management.
I need not worry
about getting my chores done
once I ask for help to
do what lies before me.
I need not be concerned
about television news.
I need not panic, fret,
become angry,
seek to turn things around,
All power is the Lord's.
I will chant my battle cry.
All power is the Lord's.
Thank the Lord for victory!

Flack

We don’t have to let flack pull us back into old ways if we’ve decided we want and need to change. ~ Beattie, Melody. The Language of Letting Go: Hazelden Meditation Series (p. 80). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Real dictionaries define flack
as an agent, "one who provides publicity;
especially a press agent, a public relations flack.
The Urban dictionary better approaches
how we know the word, a synonym for
rubbish: crap, or abuse;
excess pressure on oneself;
burdens or weight
added by unnecessary trials
or psychological pressures.
Flack is not desirable,
none of us want it,
but it adheres to us,
defining us if we let it.
But we don’t have to let flack
pull us back into old ways
if we’ve decided we want
and need to change.
We alone define ourselves
and we are free to become
the person with whom we wish to live!

...instead of treasure?
Walk with me to recovery.

Instant Inventory

We can take an inventory for a moment. What are we presently doing that makes us ashamed or angry or fearful? ~ Karen Casey, Each Day a New Beginning

The last three Steps are maintenance tools,
continued for life...but then again
the first nine aren't do-once-and-ignore.
Step Ten is, "Continued to take
personal inventory
and when we were wrong
promptly admitted it."
What are we doing
that makes us ashamed,
angry, or fearful?
We patch the mess while it's fresh
and sleep comes easily, guilt laid aside.
We think of the 10th step as a bedtime act
but "continued" and "promptly"
indicate ant time works, sooner being better.

What We Need to Learn

We learn what we will teach; we teach what we need to learn. ~ Karen Casey, Daily Meditations for Practicing the Course

The way to learn material is not to listen
to an explanation. Nor is it to read a treatise
on the subject. Nor is it to learn by trial and error.
No, the way to master a subject is to learn
what you can then to explain to someone else
how to do it. We learn what we will teach.
Then we can teach what we need to learn.
How often have you suddenly listened
to words you are saying only to suddenly grasp
that what you say is precisely what you need
most to understand?

Feeling Worthy

It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him. ~ Abraham Lincoln

We can assume Lincoln spoke
in the linguistic patterns of the day
and that the "man" could as well,
WOULD as well have included women.
And the man/woman being considered
would certainly have also included
the one hearing he statement.
So, the sixteenth POTUS was talking to me!
And it's true. It's difficult to be miserable
when I feel worthy of myself,
and for me, that can only happen
when I recognize my kinship
with the God of my understanding,
the Creator of the universe...and of ME!

Beyond Shame to Celebration

But we are expected to take our experiences and grow with them, to move beyond the shame of them, to celebrate what they have taught us. ~ Karen Casey, Each Day a New Beginning

Moving beyond shame
in the midst of a lifetime
of nothing but shame?
An oxymoron for sure...
the REAL Mission Impossible!
And we are EXPECTED
to grow from the escapades...
the exploits? Can't we just bury them?
And how do you move beyond them?
By moving toward sanity.
By admitting we are powerless,
that our lives have become unmanageable.
By coming to believe a Power greater than us
might restore us to sanity.
Because of the shame, the humiliation
deciding to give that Power a try,
by turning our lives, our wills
over to the Power then hearing others
admitting their shame, showing us the lives
turned over to the Power,
and seeing they can, they DO,
celebrate the surrender and the changed lives.