We are on our way to Dallas! The event starts right around 7:00pm, so if you think of it, pray for us tonight and tomorrow morning.
Another reason the walk has become such an important thing to me is because it serves as milestone in my fight for my life.
In AA we are presented with a medallion/chip/pin each year. A key person or two that have been instrumental in your sobriety share a couple words about your progress. You then have a chance to share a few words about how you have gotten to where you are and any advice you might have. Many of us carry that medallion with us everywhere we go, reminding us of God's grace, the work we have to diligently do every day, and the community we are a part of.
This annual recognition offers a chance to celebrate milestones in our recovery. I have found the walk to be something similar in my recovery from mental illness. Like I have said many times before, each year that I'm able to do the walk is another year that I have continued to live. That's an obvious statement, but is also profound to me.
Similar to addiction recovery, the intensity of mental illness ebbs and flows. There are seasons where the darkness is more pervasive. There are victories and there are setbacks. Sometimes hope dominates our thinking, at times we are lured into despair. But for the purposes of the annual recognition, only one thing counts.
In AA, it is another year of sobriety. With this walk, it is another year of living. This is about celebrating a victorious year. It is about focusing on achievement (through God's grace) rather than focusing on all the ways I could have fought better over the past year. It is about recognizing progress and embracing hope. It is about being proud of the hard work I have put in. It is about letting others affirm the strength and growth they see in me. It is about acknowledging the gift of friends and companions in the journey of recovery and healing. It is about pausing to sit in gratitude for God's abundant faithfulness. And it is about committing to another year of recovery, healing, growth. Another year of hope. Another year of life.
Tonight I pause... I give thanks. I remember. I celebrate. I commit. Tonight I walk.
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