Summer is here

Welcome to the Summer edition of the Serenity Times! We were happy to see how well received our last edition’s launch of Sounds of Serenity was. The feature’s short audio clips of area members sharing their thoughts on recovery is now here to stay. Be sure to check out this month’s audio-share recordings!

This issue also includes our regular features: Summer’s upcoming clean time anniversaries, a link to area activities, poetry, and more. We’d love to see contributions from you. So long as it carries the message to the addict who still suffers, we welcome it. Our subcommittee also continues to welcome new members. If you’ve ever thought about getting involved, reach out and let us know! I can be reached at tinamserenitytimes@gmail.com.

Summer brings us longer days with extra hours of daylight, which can symbolize clarity and the willingness to face ourselves honestly. Like a growing seed breaking through the darkness of the earth to stretch toward the sun, when we break through the darkness of our addiction, our program and its steps guide use in reaching toward the light of our Higher Power and the truth of who we are.

In our literature (It Works: How and Why, Step Four), we read, "We begin to see ourselves as we really are. We are neither especially good nor especially bad. We’re simply human.") This can come as quite a revelation to many of us, who have viewed ourselves as truly unique, either much better or far sicker than others.

In fact, we’re not even so different from the trees that reach, twisting, turning toward the light. We come from dark places—buried in shame, tangled in fear, dormant with pain. But with willingness and a little light—found in truth, love, fellowship, and the steps—we begin to stretch. Sometimes awkward, clumsy, or with doubt. But still, we grow.

There’s something miraculous about the quiet courage of that kind of growth. Something sacred in the reaching.

Wishing you serenity in Summer’s long hours of light and the steady growth of recovery,

Tina M.