Did you ever get a punch card from a coffee shop? If you buy nine coffees, you get the tenth free. Even though you're not paying for it, you know this purchase isn't free. The price was factored into earlier purchases. But still, getting something free is sweet. We feel like we deserve what's handed to us.

Have you ever had the experience of moving into an apartment or house, and even though it looked okay, the decorating wasn't yours? I've got to do something to make this mine, you think, even if it's just painting a wall.

Many things in life are like that. They don't feel like ours and we don't feel like we deserve them until we put time and effort into them. Then we feel like they belong to us.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, there are no dues, or fees. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stay sober. But we do certain things. We work the Steps. We go to meetings. We work with other alcoholics. And although our sobriety is a gift from God, we begin to feel like we deserve sobriety by working to make it ours.

Most of us like the concept of getting something for free. But little in life can compare to feeling like we deserve what we've earned.