Understanding Acceptance

At the Sunday morning spiritual breakfast, a woman who has been sober about ten months was talking about trying to cope with her sixteen-year-old son. Those of us who have been sober longer and whose children are now older offered experience, strength, and hope. But looking back on the meeting, it seemed that there was a certain shallowness in what we said to her. Our experience consisted of telling her we'd been there, too. Strength was in letting her know we'd made it through, and hope was in the suggestion that she would as well--and that her son would grow out of it eventually.