Manifesting Friendship

It was almost exactly one year ago today that I wrote about our trip to Madison to visit Emily and Tiffany. I wrote about it in a post called Master Beginners. We just returned today from another weekend visit with them, our first since last year.

Being inspired to travel to visit friends is a great joy. It's wonderful to have a few friendships that are active and last year after year. I've known Emily for about 17 years. I am boisterous around her. I laugh a lot. There is also plenty of time to talk about matters of the spirit and healing which we did together with Tiffany and "my" Emily.

Sometimes I wonder if I really know what it means to love another well. I know love is an action and not a feeling. When the action and feeling happen simultaneously as they did through this latest manifestation, I am especially grateful.

On the way home, we added a stop-over to visit my brother, Matt, my sister-in-law, Jamie, and my two nieces, Gracie (almost 3 years old) and Rylie (just turned one).

I write because both visits were rewarding and affirming.

Tomorrow I meet with my 12-Step sponsor. We will go over Tradition Four. Last week, when we met to review Tradition Three, she gave me a piece of writing called, "Al-Anon's Promises."

The words are relevant to the subject of manifesting love and friendship and so I copy them here:

Al-Anon's Promises

If we willingly surrender ourselves to the spiritual discipline of the Twelve Steps,
our lives will be transformed.

We will become mature, responsible individuals with a great capacity for joy, fulfillment and wonder. Though we may never be perfect, continued spiritual progress will reveal to us our enormous potential.

We will discover that we are both worthy of love and loving. We will love others
without losing ourselves, and will learn to accept love in return.

Our sight, once clouded and confused, will clear and we will be able to perceive reality and recognize the truth. Courage and fellowship will replace fear. We will be able to risk failure to develop new, hidden talents.

Our lives, no matter how battered and degraded, will yield hope to share with
others. We will begin to feel and will come to know the vastness of our emotions, but we will not be slaves to them. Our secrets will no longer bind us in shame.

As we gain the ability to forgive ourselves, our families and the world, our choices will expand. With dignity we will stand for ourselves, but not against our fellows. Serenity and peace will have meaning for us, as we allow our lives and the lives of those we love to flow day by day with God's ease, balance and grace.

No longer terrified, we will discover we are free to delight in life's paradox, mystery and awe.

We will laugh more.

Fear will be replaced by faith, and gratitude will come naturally as we realize that our Higher Power is doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.