"My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad." ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76
The joy of life is in the giving. Being freed of my shortcomings, that I may more freely be of service, allows humility to grow in me. My shortcomings can be humbly placed in God's loving care and be removed. The essence of Step Seven is humility, and what better way to seek humility than by giving all of myself--good and bad--to God, so that He may remove the bad and return to me the good.
Today is July 22, 2006 A Great Day for Recovery!
LIVING
"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." --Marcus Aurelius
For years I did not live I simply existed. What many people take for granted I did not have: friends, vacations, job satisfaction, gratitude, family, communication and love of self. An aspect of my disease, my denial, was that I thought I was happy without having any evidence for such a feeling. Indeed, my lifestyle indicated progressive isolation. That's illusion. A recovering alcoholic priest shared that early in recovery he saw a sunset and remarked, "How long has that been happening?" Like him, I missed so much!
Life is to be lived or endured. My spiritual recovery means that every day I reach out to life and grasp it, hold it, smell it -- and smile.
God of life, let me live today. Let my "high" be the glory of the day.
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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain.
I just want to thank you for posting the Daily Reflections here. I love to read them and the days I don't go to my home group I don't get to hear them. The days I do I get to read them twice now! That's a good thing because it usually takes me a couple times for it to sink in....! Thank you for taking the time to do this.
Thank you for taking the time to do this.