November 22 – Seek to Comfort
“Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted. (Today)” — Prayer of Saint Francis
When I was a kid, I’d get so caught up playing on the playground that I wouldn’t hear the recess bell. Before I knew it, I was the only one still going down the slide, and the teacher was yelling at me for not paying attention. It sucked — I’m not even going to pretend otherwise. It felt like I’d missed the memo on life. I took it hard, like something was wrong with me.
Fast forward to adulthood, and when I came into AA, I felt the same way — like I hadn’t heard the recess bell of life. I just wanted to keep playing while everyone else moved on. The loss of jobs, relationships, and good things in life left me feeling completely alone and uncomfortable in my own skin.
Then one day, I heard another guy in a meeting share something that sounded just like my story. Something deep inside me said, “Hey, another guy did that too. Maybe there are more.” I decided to stick around to see how they got it back together again.
Some days, recovery can still be hard — living without the one thing that used to give me temporary connection to everyone else, even though it was fake. But in AA, I’ve found a real connection, and that brings real comfort. These days, when I reach out my hand to someone new, it’s not out of pity — it’s out of responsibility. And in that connection, something shifts. I get to give and receive at the same time.
When was the last time you reached out to help someone and ended up feeling helped yourself?
