The AA Big Book contains a number of gripping phrases or metaphors. In describing the panic felt by anyone who has hit rock bottom, Bill W. wrote: “We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God” (AA 28).

That phrase sounded like some sort of Biblical reference. If it is one, I’ve never located the passage. I’ve even googled the phrase and found no other obvious reference dating to Bill W.’s era.

In preparation for creating my drawing, I turned my thoughts to my own experience. When my wife discovered my addiction, she moved out and we were soon divorced. My kids were soon gone. My business was failing. My reputation was gone. Figuratively speaking, I was drowning.

Numbed, I made my way to an SA meeting. I wasn’t impressed at first. It was located in the cramped kitchen of a local church. At that time, the group consisted of mostly baffled people like me sitting in folding chairs reading from a dog-eared meeting folder. If I expected a large and robust meeting, this was not it. Instead, what I found was a very flimsy reed.

But that first meeting led to another. A week turned to a month, then a year. It took time and willingness to cling to that flimsy reed. Once I found some lasting sobriety, I came to see the truth. There, in that unadorned room filled with desperate, drowning people like me, I had been pulled to safety by the loving and powerful hand of God.

My drawing of the “flimsy reed” doesn’t add anything to Bill W.’s words. It is merely my sincere thank-you to a compassionate Higher Power who I believe will never let go of me as long as I continue to hold onto Him.