What Prompted That, I Wonder?

This week, someone I do not know at all well, have barely spoken to, in fact, but who belongs to a club of which I'm a member, sent me an email which contained a quotation so amazingly, blindingly, apt to what's going on in my life right now, that I sat re-reading it, at first startled, and then feeling as though my Higher Power had just leapt out at me from behind a tree, crying "Gotcha!" (I mean no offense to those of you whose Higher Power is a dignified presence, who would never hide, or leap - mine seems to have a rather pointed sense of humour.)

Experience has taught me, that when I receive these snippets of wisdom, I ignore them at my peril. They will burrow their way into my brain like a cockleburr into a wool sweater, sticking tenaciously, refusing to be removed until I take the time to stop, examine them closely to discover the hook - how it works, why it works. Only then can they be successfully worked back through the fabric of my day, set carefully down, and admired for the beauty of their form.

At one time in my recovery, I found these thoroughly annoying. I knew the road to my destination, what was with these new signs suddenly appearing, suggesting that I was heading in the wrong direction?

Nowadays, I'm grateful. I never have to drive as far, before reversing and retracing my route. If I pay heed to the first sign, (such as this email) I'll hardly have convered any distance misdirected.

I used to think that wisdom was going to arrive in beautifully bound tomes with gilt edges, smelling of old leather and time past. Seems like most of the wisdom I've received, has been more like a sharp poke in the back with a bony finger, or an affectionate whack upside the head - never hard enough to cause injury to anything more than my pride, but often with sufficient force to make me raise my voice in outrage, at having my self-possession and my hair, mussed up like that. 

So it goes. I don't get a choice in how it's delivered, only in whether I'll accept it.

From Hope for Today, page 16:

"The Al-Anon program works to the extent that I am open, honest, and willing, each of which is an important component to a humble state of learning. Being teachable means I admit that I don't know it all. Walking the path of self-improvement is a lifelong journey."