Devil wears Prada

“Don’t you know there ain’t no devil
There’s just God when he’s drunk.” – Tom Waits

Now, the brilliant Tom Waits knows a thing or two about being drunk, and about the seedy side of life…and his music is beautiful. But this just smacked me upside my head! How do you even come up with a thought like that?! I’ve heard people share that they believe God has a sense of humor, but never that God gets drunk and acts badly. Could that be the answer to the age-old question of why God allows tragic events in our world? I don’t believe so, but it’s quite a thought!

We’ve all heard from AAs: “You wouldn’t have recognized me when I was drunk.” Some people I know today as gentle teddy bears got mean and violent. One guy, who is an upstanding leader in the community today, always blacked out and broke into someone’s home when he got drunk.

One rather dignified lady, who I initially couldn’t even believe was an alcoholic, once told us her story. She decked a cop! Was 86’d from every bar in her town. These normally wonderful people were a bit of the devil when they were drunk. I think just about all of us engaged in behavior that we’d be ashamed to do today.

It’s an interesting concept, that there’s no devil, just God when he’s drunk – I personally don’t believe that, but it’s great imagery. It’s food for thought about us as alcoholics. The person I was when I was in servitude to King Alcohol, was not my true self. That was before I found my Higher Power, and learned to work the Steps in my daily life.

I’m surely no angel, but I’m far from the devil I used to be – I keep working on my conscious contact with my Creator. So far, it’s made all the difference!