"None of us like to think that we are bodily and mentally different from others. Our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove that we could drink like other people. This delusion that we are like other people has to be smashed. It has been definitely proved that no real alcoholic has ever recovered control. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better. There is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic." Am I convinced that I can never drink again normally?
Meditation For The Day
We should have life and have it more abundantly--spiritual, mental, physical, abundant life--joyous, powerful life. This we can have if we follow the right way. Not all people will accept from God the gift of an abundant life, a gift held out free to all. Not all people care to stretch out a hand and take it. God's gift, the richest He has to offer, is the precious gift of abundant life. People often turn away from it, reject it, and will have none of it. Do not let this be true of you.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may hasten to accept the gift of abundant spiritual life. I pray that I may live the good life to the best of my ability.
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Today, I acknowledge the difference between my life before and after Recovery, for myself I do not even recall a life that held a deep sense of quality to it, everything was an "outside job" how others preceived me, always seeking the approval of others. My own first experience at the feeling of genuine real love, was with the birth of my children. I loved them, but I continued to not understand that there was something missing from the picture, my own self worth and self respect, and my own self love.
Recovery changed EVERYTHING in my life, today I do get a sense of self worth and even at times, self love, the inside stuff, not what is on the outside, but what is in my own heart.
This takes place Only when I go to God, in each morning, and when I do remember first to LOVE GOD with all my heart, and Remember to humble myself to His Will for me, in this new day, everyday.
So my own conclusion is Recovery represents Life, REAL Life, on Lifes terms, and a very Loving God, showing me how to do this, one day at a time, and to CELEBRATE it all, good days, and the days of sadness too, for the difference between the Before and After Recovery, is I GET to feel ALL of it.
Your own thoughts at the end of your post are even more meaningful to me than the original meditation. Thank you for sharing your ES&H with us often.
I too am beginning to love myself, and I even 'like' my self quite often today.
This is truly about life within, and our new positive outlook on it. It really isn't about the outside anymore. For myself, any good thing on the outside sprouted forth from me and my Higher Power, connecting in that little spot inside me called my heart. In my 'old life', I grasped at outside things trying to get all I could to complete me. I didn't know I could be completed fully, FIRST, and then from this comlpeteness would spring forth gifts I can share with the rest of humanity.
