March 18

March 18 – AM          Page 128, The Family Afterward, Chapter 9

Assume on the other hand that father has, at the outset, a stirring spiritual experience.  Overnight, as it were, he is a different man.  He becomes a religious enthusiast.  He is unable to focus on anything else.  As soon as his sobriety begins to be taken as a matter of course, the family may look at their strange new dad with apprehension, then with irritation.  There is talk about spiritual matters morning, noon and night.  He may demand that the family find God in a hurry, or exhibit amazing indifference to them and say he is above worldly considerations.  He may tell mother, who has been religious all her life, that she doesn’t know what it’s all about, and that she had better get his brand of spirituality while there is yet time.

March 18 – PM          Page 109-110, To Wives, Chapter 8

Three:  This husband has gone much further than husband number two.  Though once like number two he became worse.  His friends have slipped away, his home is a near-wreck and he cannot hold a position.  Maybe the doctor has been called in, and the weary round of sanitariums and hospitals has begun.  He admits he cannot drink like other people, but does not see why.  He clings to the notion that he will yet find a way to do so.  He may have come to the point where he desperately wants to stop but cannot.  His case presents additional questions which we shall try to answer for you.  You can be quite hopeful of a situation like this.