COTTON CANDY SOBRIETY

Who doesn’t like cotton candy? It is one of those foods(?) typically eaten at fairs, amusement parks, ball games etc. so it’s a treat, part of the fun. It starts out as a weightless ball bigger than your head and unlike some candies there is no attempt to dress it up as anything other than what it is, pure spun sugar. It looks substantial on the stick but as soon as we rip off a piece and pop it in our mouth it melts to almost nothing, just air flavored with sugar and food coloring with no illusions to being anything other than fun food. Soon the reasons why we vowed never to buy it again come flooding back, especially if you are responsible for the clean up of the 8 and under crowd. We will be lured by it again in the future, blotting out the previous experiences until too late. Such is cotton candy. No one in their right mind would consider making a meal of cotton candy. The cotton candy we eat makes no illusions to or represents itself as anything other than what it is, spiritual cotton candy however is often presented as something substantive and can be deadly. You have heard the vacuous platitudes, the nonsensical clichés often spouted with an air of knowing. In recovery meetings they cover the gambit from: let us love you until you can love yourself, the newcomer is the most important person in the room, this is a we program, there is no wrong way to work the steps, God can be anything you want it to be: a doorknob, a tree, a chair, the group-anything at all. Spiritual cotton candy comes in a variety of colors, but it’s all still just sugar air. No harm is meant by those vending this candy, in fact if you ask them (and I have) they believe they are being helpful, of service. Probably the most misunderstood sign on the wall next to Easy Does It or One Day At A Time is Think, Think, Think. Think it through. A we program? No one can decide for you if you are willing to turn your will and life over to the care of God. We don’t write your 4TH step. We don’t pay your bills, raise your kids. We are directed to meditate every morning, how many of the “we” people show up for coffee? Think it through. Newcomer most important person in the room? To who? God? One day you are important and then cross an invisible line and aren’t? Nonsense. All are equal in His eyes. Think it through. The comment on love belongs on a Hallmark card, Living on the Spiritual Basis we know that the only love that will set us free is the love of and by God. Think it through. No wrong way to do the work? Then why do folks “resign and resume”? Think it through. God can be “anything”? As a wise man said “when God can be anything; then God is nothing. Not convinced? Repeat after me out loud: I,(your name here) turn my will and my life over to the care and direction of: (pick your favorite: chair, doorknob, tree, ocean, whatever). Think it through. Spiritual cotton candy. Looks good, sounds good, feels good but in the end is just sugar air.