Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Repairers of the Breach

"Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You shall be called Repairer of the Breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in."  ~ Book of Isaiah 
We have experienced a breach in our families. There has been an attack on our lives, our souls, our futures. Even the whole of society seems to have been overtaken by the onslaught.

Is addiction such a powerful, unstoppable force?

As parents of addicts, we think not.

A friend recently asked as we were discussing this and other issues, "Is this the end of days?"

Again, we must think not.

There are too many of us traveling, progressing, striving, seeking and seeing, to be throwing our hands up in deep despair, too many of us carrying banners of hope, life and living.

We are repairers of the breach brought about by addiction. We are a most powerful force.

When our children first succumbed to the allure of addiction plunging headlong into its vortex we did everything to fix, control, battle and redirect. We found this was a battle we could never win. Strategically, we began to think differently. We changed tactics. We began to breathe, sometimes reluctantly, to trust in a Great Creator. We laughed, occasionally. We sought the good in ourselves and began to see hopeful signs for our futures and the futures of our children as they traversed their recovery roads.

We let love enter our lives and began to see our lives could be fulfilled, happy and even joyous. We became militant about our happiness.

There may be thousands of us on this journey, perhaps millions if we include those who have yet to warily advance along their uncertain recovery pathways. There are certainly millions if we count those who are just now extricating themselves from the addict's mire like the original gasp of life sprung from the muck of primordial soup billions of years ago.

No matter the headcount we are truly a force to be reckoned with.

As we progress on our journeys of recovery we are showing our children the way. Each day, together, yet on distinctly separate roads we reveal to our children points of self discovery they can enter only through their own devices and initiative.

They'll figure it out, not us.

Repairers of the breach are often misunderstood as we take on our quixotic quests for our own possible dreams. We become SeaBees constructing our recovery roadways and repairing defenses as our children and the rest of the world observe from afar our courage and fortitude. Our hope is that our very personal journeys will somehow inspire our children. We hope also that this army of contrarians will change the way society views the blight of addiction.

This is, however, not our primary journey. Our breach is intimate and firsthand, our recovery focused and necessary for our survival. With each step along our roads the fractures of our lives are soothed, the pain tempered and hope restored. Future generations will benefit from our journey - TRUST this.

Breach repairers say "Enough!" to decades of spirals and vortex diving. We end generational duplication of damaging behaviors. Living our lives to the fullest extent possible we say "No" to another cycle of acceptance of addiction as a way of life. In this way repairers of the breach are also breakers of chains.

We become zealots in the defense of our battlements, of the small tracts of progress won through perseverance and TRUST in a Universal Power greater than ourselves. We repel the negative and embrace the positive. When we least expect, laughter, joy, life and friendship will join us as allies. We will become strong again and send a message to The Addiction that through defeat we have become stronger.

One day we may see a figure in the distance approaching, having left his addiction behind. We can lower the drawbridge and accept her back with open arms as equals, as allies in living life to its fullest. This is the Hope that spurs us on, we band of brothers and sisters, we repairers of the breach!

… keep coming back

"Somewhere in the world there is a defeat for everyone. Some are destroyed by defeat, and some made small and mean in victory. Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory." ~ John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

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