An AA message from a New England Minister
WHAT I wish to say this Easter can best be told in a story about a man who was building a stone wall. A neighbor came by and asked the old farmer why he was building an odd-shaped wall, wider than it was high. Without looking up from his work, the farmer said, “So if it blows over, it will be higher than it was before.”
This is Easter. It is the story of a small team of persons who were blown over by a tremendous tragedy. When they emerged from the soul-searing experience, each one of them towered higher than before. Out of the broken and shattered pieces of their lives they built a Way of Life that still shapes human destiny.
No one can escape tragedy. We cannot control its coming. What we can determine is whether we succumb to its impact or we emerge with nobler stature. Easter affirms that persons are not the mere creatures of circumstance, sure to be foiled in the end. On the contrary, they can face their powers in all their magnificence and admit that if they fail to fulfill them, they do not have to acquiesce in their defeat, but they can turn it into victory. When we blow over, we can emerge greater than before.
We do not know what the future has in store for us individually or collectively. There are prophets of doom as well as prophets of hope. There is no telling which is right. Fundamentally it matters little. Because each of us is greater than anything that can happen to us. We are the host of the Indwelling Spirit whose mighty doings can be uttered today by our actions and our lives.
Nicely said Bruce. And I might add, no matter what befalls us, we continue to practice these principles in all
our affairs. That’s the only path to follow, even though we are all destined to ‘practice’ the principles imperfectly. As it is said, and as is likely to be our common experience, ‘fall down seven times…get up eight’.