Recovery: No Time Like the Present

I came out of a recent meeting about addiction and recovery among young Jewish men with one thought: call Jeffrey. He had become a close friend while I was working in a previous congregation. A nice Jewish boy with deep roots in the community, he was a crack addict in the years following his college graduation. Jeffrey took me to my first NA meeting and taught me much of what I know about helping addicts. Most importantly, he taught me to call for help when I needed it, to offer gratitude when I felt it, and to say "I love you" to people outside my family.

Jeffrey never wears a watch. He last wore one over a decade ago, but traded it for crack in a desperate area just beyond the runways of LAX airport. He barely remembers the day, the place, or the fix. He just remembers that he gave up his watch and almost died but somehow got home to the East Coast. He cleaned up shortly afterwards and never again put on a watch. It reminds him of what time really means. It reminds him to count each day as a blessing.

We are in the midst of counting the omer, the daily ritual of blessing and then counting the days and weeks between Passover and Shavuot. It's a count up from the liberation from Egypt to the commitment at Sinai. It's also a time to remember that each day matters; that our attention to the simple counting of a day is sacred. There are traditions that attach mystical meaning or layers of study to each day. I follow those traditions, but really I'm using this period to check in on the true measure of time, to ask for some help, say thanks, and tell a friend I love you.