SACRIFICIAL LOVE
Tyler Staton
My friend Mike had had a particularly long week. He had to work late several nights, had a newborn at home, and had an endless barrage of demands on his time. So by Wednesday he was already booking a reservation and babysitter for a Friday evening out at his favorite spot to take a load off.
But it didn’ t work out that way. Mike’ s in recovery and working the steps. He and his sponsor are working through the Twelfth Step, which is all about the imperative of serving others. He’ d made a commitment, for a specified period of time, to say yes to every situation to serve that he was presented with. And that was particularly inconvenient whenin the middle of this long, hard week-he was invited to share his story at a local hospital for the severely mentally impaired that Friday night.
That’ s how Mike ended up not at a candlelit corner booth eating his favorite dish at his favorite restaurant, but at a linoleum table under fluorescent lighting across from a stranger so trapped in an illness that he couldn’ t even coherently speak, eating mashed up peas and an unidentifiable meat substance. Keeping this gentlemen company, mainly though eye contact, occasional physical touch, and a one way conversation. Relaying all this to me on the following
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