Meditations on "Recovery"

Many of us, prior to seeking help, lived in an unmanageable lifestyle and had never taken the time to familiarize ourselves with the 12-Step program.

Today in North America we honour and give thanks for the collective labour-force of our nation which includes people from our families and those in our communities.

When we have completed the twelve steps of our recovery program, we are just at the beginning of our new way of life.

Making amends requires a will to do so. Some of us struggle to be sorry for our actions towards others or are more offended by what another person did to cause our reaction.

“We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Often when we begin our new life with God in recovery, we get discouraged because we feel we are unable to control the urges of our old nature.

Those of us who are recovering from the mess of our lives know there is a hunger and thirst within us for something more than what life has offered us so far.

There are seasons in each of our lives which are fruitful and others which are not.

Sometimes we choose not to bless someone because we judge them as unworthy.

The contrast of destructive self-centeredness in active addiction with the healthy lifestyle of supporting one another in recovery is clearly expressed in Promise 7 of AA: We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.

When we first came to admit that our lives were unmanageable and made a decision to turn our will and life over to the care of God, how much did we know about God?

It is often difficult to admit to ourselves the exact nature of the wrongs we have committed.