I am not alone

I recently had a conversation with an old friend who called me after the sudden and unexpected passing of his father. I of course expressed my condolences and, having known his father personally, we exchanged stories about our past together with his dad. (Picture: "I miss my Friends" by Ittiqa Abbas on Flickr")

However, in a conversation I noted the enthusiasm that my friend expressed about how good he felt after a weekend of re-connecting with friends and family. In his exuberance he mentioned how his day-to-day life lacked in terms of socialization and fellowship. He expressed that he had forgotten how good it is to be involved in "living and breathing" relationships.

In our conversation we talked about how at one point in our lives we were both very involved in doing 12 step work as part of our involvement in 12 step self-help programs. My friend for reasons of employment etc., needed to commit more time to earn a living for his family and unintentionally allowed his social network to diminish. For me, I have been blessed that my employment to large degree keeps me front and center with other people and abundant opportunity for me to share my "experience, strength, and hope" - which is an expression found in the 12 step self-help programs. However, even having an opportunity - day in and day out - to share with others about the journey of life, there is still the potential and tendency to become complacent and stale in those relationships. One day at a time need to put effort into keeping the focus on the importance of fellowship. I encouraged my friends to bump up the priority level of getting out and about with others. My hope for him and really for myself is that we take each day and enjoy the fullness of life both in our internal life and in the external community of people with us along the road.