Pennies From Heaven

“Although financial recovery is on the way for many of us, we found we could not place money first. For us, material well-being always followed spiritual progress; it never preceded.”  -Alcoholics Anonymous

I’m still doing my usual routine, staying close to sober friends, attending meetings, writing inventory when it is indicated, seeing my sponsor regularly; the same stuff I’ve done for the last 38 months or so, yet I find myself in an odd situation.  As I have taken on a larger role and accepted more responsibility in the company I work for I have discovered that the reasons I have had my paychecks bounce in the past is only that my company is astonishingly mismanaged.  And that is unacceptable to me.  So I’ve written inventory about my boss and about my job.  I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed.  I’ve talked to my sponsor and with a small handful of close friends and family.

And I’ve put together an offer to purchase the company.   I hate to say that “I need control” of anything, but to have access to the kind of information that I have and to know that the only reason that my fellow workers and I are suffering is greed is just not acceptable to me.  If I’m going to “change the things I can” I either have to change jobs, and we all know that in this market that would be a very difficult thing to do, accept the way things are, or exercise some courage and use the talent God gave me to chart a path for myself.

Remember three years ago?  When I had no idea how I was going to make a living?  When I couldn’t hang on to a job at McDonald’s?  I “couldn’t make a living.”  I was “prey to misery and depression.”  I “couldn’t seem to be of real use to other people.”  Sure, since I got sober I’ve done what I can to be self-supporting through my own work and I have stopped placing my dependence on other people but above everything I focused on my recovery.  Now, through a series of events that I could not possibly foreseen or planned,I own a growing, viable company that is providing a living for 4 employees, a partial income for 3 more people and a handsome return for a small number of limited partners.  Three years ago I dreamed of getting a job in a call center making $9 an hour.  How did I think I was going to live on $9 an hour?  Now hard work and time will take care of me. My Higher Power will take care of me.  And now, as much as ever, faith without works is dead, but it looks like financial recovery is on the way.  Especially if I keep placing spiritual growth first.