“How could anyone be grateful to be an alcoholic?”

Three readings. A song that says the rest. And inspiration for whatever this day is here to teach.

A lone surfer riding inside a great curling wave

Read — the readings that opened the day

A Deep Breath of Life

Alan Cohen

When we hold on to anger, hurt, or resentment, we only hurt ourselves. By withholding love from another, we deny it to ourselves. If we keep someone in prison with our thoughts, we have to sit at their jail door to keep them from escaping, thus becoming prisoners ourselves. To free another is to free yourself. When we ask God for the gift of release, our spirit begins to heal. Today I ask You, God, to lift all negativity, resentment, and sense of victimhood from my heart. I seek to recreate my relationships to reflect only love, honor, and healing. As I give freedom and Love, I am free.

Adapted from A Deep Breath of Life

Stepping Stones: More Daily Meditations

Fear plays a role in our lives in different ways. Many of us have been so conditioned to deny fear that we don't even know we are afraid. We may look back on a major life choice and realize we chose one relationship or one job over another because of fear. Some of us can see in the rearview mirror that our controlling ways rise out of fear, not faith in a Higher Power. Today, I will open my eyes to see my fears and then choose wiser, braver responses to them based on faith and trust in my Higher Power.

Meister Eckhart: A Mystic Preacher

Meister Eckhart

The inner person is the soil in which God has sown the divine likeness and image and in which God sows the good seed. Thus lies the roots of all wisdom, all skills, all virtues, all goodness—the seed of the divine nature. It is our task to cultivate this seed and give it nourishment so that the divine image in us can grow and thrive and prosper. This is what the spiritual journey is all about. Our spiritual journey consists in nourishing and watering and caring for this God-seed that is in all of us.

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Meditation for the Day The spiritual and moral will eventually overcome the material and immoral. That is the purpose and destiny of the human race. Gradually the spiritual is overcoming the material in our minds. Gradually the moral is overcoming the unmoral. Faith, fellowship, and service are cures for most of the ills of the world. There is nothing in the field of personal relationships that they cannot do. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may do my share in making a better world. I pray that I may be part of the cure for the ills of the world.

Reflect — Steve L.'s own words

When I first heard the expression ‘grateful alcoholic’, I was confused. How could anyone be grateful to be an alcoholic? I called my sponsor. Once again, he laughed! He asked me, “Steve, why did you come into the rooms of recovery?” I replied, “That’s a stupid question; to help me stop drinking and using.” Then he said something most profound. “Well, you got what you came here for!”

Angrily, I asked, “so why am I so miserable?” He went on to explain, “alcohol was only a symptom; it was our solution, not our real problem. Recovery is about getting rid of hurts, wounds, fears, grudges, and replacing them with new beliefs. Without the steps and the fellowship, we would not have the guidelines and examples to change. The steps provide the spiritual awakening that gives us a new way of living.”

Deep inside, I knew he was right. I wanted to be released. It was my resentments & fears that were in the way. I grabbed onto the steps and the program to get resolution; to open to new possibilities of living.

Today, I am a grateful alcoholic; without the gift of desperation & God’s grace leading me to you, I’d be lost at best.

Thank you for showing me a new way to ride the waves and a way to live life happy, joyous & free!