Peripheral

 I came across a reformed drunk.  He was in recovery, not drinking.  He said he could not find this “Higher Power” he was told he needed.  I asked him if he did the 11th step, the prayer and meditation step.  He said he did.  “When?” I asked.  He did it for twenty minutes in the evening.  “And the rest of the day?” I asked.  He said he got things done that he never got done when drinking.  He was more helpful to others.  He went to meetings, and even cleaned up sometimes.  So I said, “Seems you have a peripheral god, the one who gets twenty minutes in the evening.”  I suggested that maybe the God he could not find during all the sober moments of the day, was the one who kept him from drinking or even wanting a drink.  Lots of “thank you” throughout the day can keep God in the center and our ego right-sized.