Twelve Step Reflections

Coming Down The Mountain – Part 2

August 27, 2008 by Nannette Wiggins Leave a Comment

At first the trail was pleasant enough, but the air continued to be quite chilly, even after the dawn began. We had every hope of the sun coming up and warming us. The view became more and more breathtaking, but I had to balance looking at it with looking at where I was placing my feet on the narrow trail. I came to rely on Melanie–a much more experienced hiker–to tell me when to look up and see the beauty.

“You know you have to do that in life, too, Nan”, came another whispered insight. “Your tendency in all areas of your life is to keep your eyes glued to the path. It would be good if you would allow yourself to travel through life with the Holy Spirit guiding you–just like Melanie is today. If you’ll trust Him , He will also say, “Hey, Nan, look at the view from here! It is so beautiful!”

To Be Continued.

By Nannette W.
Posted Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Copyright 2008 by Nannette W. All right reserved.
Making or sending copies is permitted if the page is not changed in any way and the material is not used for profit.
This notice must be included on each copy made or sent.

Coming Down The Mountain – Part 1

August 26, 2008 by Nannette Wiggins Leave a Comment

I always thought going up a mountain was the hard part–the part that required lots of effort and lots of help. Then, two years ago, on an unforgettable October day, I learned what it means to humble myself and accept the grace of God to help me come down a mountain.

It was early in the summer when my friend, Melanie, and I first started talking of hiking to the 14,000 foot summit of Mount Timpanogos. We weren’t sure when we could do it, but we decided it would get done before the summer was over. We both agreed to start preparing for the climb. As the summer passed, Melanie would report how she was training for the Chicago Marathon, and then ask if I still wanted to keep our date with the mountain. My answer was always, “Yes,” qualified with the admission that I needed to kick my 20-30 minute walks into a “higher gear.” Well, the truth is . . . I never “kicked in.”

Before we knew it, the summer had flown and fall was upon us. It was the first week in October before we could coordinate a time for the climb. Secretly, I was hoping that the weather would sabotage our plans, and it would be too cold, too rainy, too something–anything! When I called Melanie, the night before our big day, she was still all for it. She thought it would be a great day and “See ya at 6:00 am.”

I got up the next morning and prepared to go–ready or not. I dressed, packed my fanny pack with a few supplies, pulled on my oldest, most comfortable walking shoes and was waiting for her when she pulled up. With high spirits we drove the half-hour to the trail head where we would leave the car. It was still dark when we got there. No problem, right? Thousands of people climb this trail every year. Right? What we didn’t take into account is that the spot from which we started our hike was the trail head for several other trails, besides the one to the top of the mountain. It was about 45 minutes after we started hiking that we realized that we were on the wrong trail. Mel informed me that the one we were on, not only didn’t go to the top of the mountain, it went off to the south, through the mountains and all the way into New Mexico!! I laughed and said, “Well, it’s good we turned around before we walked all the way to New Mexico, isn’t it?” As we chuckled over that thought, I felt the Spirit whisper into my mind what was to be the first of a multitude of spiritual lessons reserved for that day–lessons I pray I will never forget. I perceived His words, “Nannette, sometimes in life when you get on the wrong trail, you behave like there is no turning back, but there is. It costs you time and requires you to be humble but not nearly as much time and humbling as it calls for to return from New Mexico or wherever the wrong trail has taken you. Don’t ever delay reversing your course!”

To Be Continued.

By Nannette W.
Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008

“Oh, Besides Him”

August 24, 2008 by Nannette Wiggins Leave a Comment

One day I had the occasion to sit in on a Young Women lesson being taught by one of the Young Women. She was teaching a lesson on what the girls could do to avoid immorality. “So, what are some of the things we can do to keep ourselves morally clean?” she asked the class.

There was a long silence. Then one hand went up. “We can go the Lord and pray for strength.”

The youthful teachers response was, “Oh, besides Him!”

The children in my life must see that for me the Lord is the first resort, not the last and that I try to never take His power to direct and protect and enable me to do His will for granted. “Oh, Besides Him!”

Deuteronomy 4:35 “Unto thee is was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.”

When it comes to getting through today’s struggles, big and small, I want to show that this is what I believe. I cannot share a message I don’t live.

By Nannette W.
Posted Sunday, August 24, 2008

“Surfer Girl”

August 22, 2008 by Nannette Wiggins 1 Comment

I know that thismorning is two words, not one, but I don’t ever seem to know it in the middle of writing it. Lots of things are like that for me. I can teach it, sing about it, pray about it, write about it, see it in the lives of others ancient and modern, but when it comes right down to life, my life, my thoughts, my deepest feelings, sometimes I forget. The it that I forget is my knowledge of the love of the Lord for me, my love of Him, and the massive evidence compiled in all the moments prior to this one, that He has the love and direction and power necessary to care for me and enable me to do His will in the present moment.

I can always tell when my rememberer is on low power. There are signs. It shows in the scrambled way I feel: anxious, frightened, angry, overwhelmed and under qualified, confused…the list is probably endless. My inability to recall the divine also shows in what I do: I panic, I start collecting opinions from anyone and everyone on the best course to take, and I do anything but the task that seems absolutely daunting, last years mending, cleaning the drawer under the oven etc. Finally, when my memory of the divine starts shutting down I crave my drug of choice, excess food, something, anything for comfort.

Thismorning (there I go again) as I began to make an account of my day on paper and feeling some of the above signs, the melody to an old 50s song came into my mind. Would the Lord really speak to me through an old 50s song? I guess so! As I began to put words to the tune that was playing in my mind suddenly and to my surprise I had tears in my eyes. “Do you love me? Do you surfer girl?”

“What? Is that what I am Lord, a surfer girl? How so?”

I immediately thought of the modern activity of “surfing the net,” where one browses the Internet endlessly for needed information or help with a problem. We browse broadly through a dumping ground of information contributed by experts and con artists, searching for any answer to meet our particular need.

“Dearest Lord, though I have very little experience with the Internet and none with a surfboard, I have been a surfer girl haven’t I. I have years of experience “surfing” or searching for the perfect answer, the perfect activity, the perfect plan, the perfect day. And just like an Internet search, there is no end to it, always searching and never satisfied.” One of the great blessings of living the principles of recovery is that I am coming to know that the answer doesn’t lie in a day where everything on my list is finally checked off.

In closing this little thought I have to do a 5th Step right here and admit to all of you that my curiosity got the best of me. After all, I was a little girl when this song was popular and I wanted to see if any of the words to the song went along with the message in the title, so…I went to the Internet and had a look!

There were three lines that continued to speak to me. First, “Little surfer, little one, make my heart come all undone.” Peace and real joy are arrived at when I remember to remember every new day that my wandering about, my incessant search outside of Him does “make His heart come all undone.” Second, “I have seen you on the shore, standing by the ocean’s roar.” He is aware of me and my every situation. He sees me on the shore of any daunting task and is aware like no other of the “oceans roar.” And third, “So I say from me to you, I can make your dreams come true.” That is His promise to me. My real dreams, the ones I’ve dreamed for an eternity, only He can make “come true.”

I want to show Him by the direction I turn for the answers to life’s daily quandaries and the place I run when the |oceans roar becomes frightening, that my answer to the question, “Do you love Me, do you surfer Girl?” is a resounding yes!

By Nannette W.
Posted Thursday, August 21, 2008

“Honesty is the Best Policy” What an Understatement! – Step 1

August 20, 2008 by Nannette Wiggins Leave a Comment

Honesty Because It’s No Secret, Not Really

Our Bishop is a law enforcement officer, a sheriff. On Sunday he talked to the youth about the preliminary testing he does to see if someone is under the influence of a drug. Sometimes people lie about their sobriety, but he can tell if someone is sober and being truthful by some pretty simple observations. He says he can’t always tell exactly what they are taking but he can always tell the category of the drug. Sometimes I think that I can fool the world, but I’m sure the signs are readily observable to the trained eye. I need to remember that if sobriety or lack of it in others is no secret then mine surely isn’t either.

Absolute Honesty About the Sacrifice the Lord Asks of Me

There is a story in the New Testament of a man and women who sold some land and then brought the supposed tithing on their increase to the Prophet of the church, who at that time was Peter. When asked if they were paying a full tithe they both lied and then they both keeled over dead. Rather severe, don’t you think. I wonder if these two souls lost their physical lives to teach me this spiritual lesson. When my sacrifice (my abstinence) is less than what is being asked of me by the Lord, it is deadly (spiritually, physically, emotionally) for me to pretend. Though my desire is to live according to His will, when I fall short I need to be honest with myself, honest with another human being, and honest with Him.

By Nannette W.
Written 11-18-01
Posted Tuesday, August 20, 2008