A LIFE EXPERIENCE

I had the chance to meet seven pretty incredible women at the new Women's Extension Center tonight. I am truly still reeling from this life experience. This center opened in our community on May 1, 2009 to house women who desire a change in their life. Women who are addicts of some sort. I realized tonight that the drug or drink of choice is not what matters. Instead, what matters is that an addiction of some sort has taken over a life. And these women have decided to face their fears and deal with an addiction that has literally taken over their life. This center will house up to twenty women at any given time and this home already has 10 women.
The eyes of each lady were glued to me as I shared from my heart, reminding them that courage is simply fear that has said its prayers. I praised them for the courage they were showing by facing the truth of their addiction.
The difficulty, the hardships that were shared with me took my breath away..."I've been raped six times..." "I was smokin'crack cocaine up until I came here on
May 5th." ...and more.
As I embraced these women, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the life that I have been given. Yes, I have had some rocks in my path...but no boulders or potholes, like these women.
After our meeting, the ladies invited us to join them for a spaghetti dinner. The cool thing was that the dinner was provided by a local AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) group. A man who was part of their group shared with me that this is one of the ways that they stay sober is by helping others who want to recover from addiction...

This reminded me of something my Mama used to always say...ËACH ONE REACH ONE."

And this prompted me to reconsider the story about the young boy that was on a beach one day.
The beach was covered with live star fish that had been washed up onto the sand. One by one, the boy threw the starfish back into the ocean to save them from sure death on the hot beach. A man came by, and observing the young boy, said "Young man, what do you think you are doing? You can't make a difference here. There are just too many starfish on this beach."
The young boy picked up another starfish and hurled it out into the sea, saying, " I made a difference for that one!"
And so it is with each life experience that we find ourselves in. We share, we encourage, we laugh, we cry, we love and we live each day and when we choose to make a difference in another's life, then our life experiences are all the richer for it.