Skip to main content

One Day At A Time

Early in sobriety everybody said "take it a day at a time" or "one day at a time."  Sometimes, it was 5 minutes at a time.  I sure thought I had a grasp on that concept back then!  Of course, being new, the focus was strictly on going another day without a drink or chemical substitute.  Today the focus tends to be more on confronting those many "faces of fear" I learned of.  I thought those faces existed only to haunt me; through my tenure in this fellowship, I have discovered they actually motivate me to move into a closer relationship with my Higher Power. I relish the spiritual enlightenment that comes with that.

As the years advance, I have come to terms with another meaning of living a day at a time, one not so easily defined by words as it is through experience.  During my journey through sobriety, I have experienced many wonderful things, brought about by continually staying sober and gaining years on the planet.  Sometimes those wonderful things don't seem that way at first glance -- they can actually be rather frightening (change often is).

When my head hits the pillow and the wheels of my mind start turning, those things (that aren't so big in the light of day) tend to grow into huge monsters that overwhelm me.  As a result, they often keep me conscious half the night in a state of worry.  In my next post, I'll take some of them apart and illustrate how the relationships I have with both my Higher Power and the people in the fellowship have helped me with my struggles in enormous ways I could have never anticipated.  Moreover, I'll explain how the 12 steps have been the key to my finding those relationships I just mentioned that make such wonderful tools.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More Meetings!

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. -Galatians 6:1 (NLT) What Paul writes about has been done for me more than once. I am under obligation to do the same for others. More than an obligation, it should be viewed as a privilege and a pleasure to do so. If I don't, I am doomed to fall back into the same life I lived before. Remember, you can be saved but still be miserable. Also, as James so clearly said, "faith without works is dead." If you want to keep it, give it away. Last week I made a decision to attend more meetings. Over the past few years, I have slowly migrated away from them and taken on more church-related activities. In fact, I had actually got down to pretty much one meeting a week. While that may be OK for some people, I know I need more. I love my Church and it is an importan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Celebrate Recovery

Last night I went to a "Celebrate Recovery' meeting in Groton,CT at the Lifehouse Foursquare Church. This coming Monday I shall attend another meeting of Celebrate Recovery, this one at the Groton Bible Chapel [I can't seem to get out of Groton most weeknights]. Having spent many years in a mainstream 12 step fellowship, I want to make it plain that I love it and recognize wholeheartedly that I am there as a result of prayer. Moreover, I could never imagine the number of people helped by it who would have otherwise not found any recovery from alcohol or other substances. However, I have been sensing the need for something more Christ-centered and this seems to fit the bill. [I don't want to give the reader the impression that I am replacing my involvement with regular twelve step fellowship meetings with something else; this is meant to augment my recovery--not fundamentally change it]. I will not attempt to explain Celebrate Recovery or offer any in-depth ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spirituality in the Modern World [Revisited]

[Republished from an original post in March 2009 to an old blog of mine] Typically, it’s far easier to teach a scared person [or one suffering from their own mistakes] spiritual practices that help ease the pain or fears associated with their condition.   It’s like taking up the practice of “foxhole praying” when times are bad… “Get me out of this and I’ll…” I found an extensive [although undocumented] article on Wikipedia that does a fairly good job at defining spirituality, in terms of what it is and is not.   It’s one of those words that is best defined by what it can do for you rather than what it actually is, much as love is a difficult word to define because of its scope and depth.   Rather than regurgitate what is written there, it might be a good idea to go to Wikipedia.org and read it. Having been a member of a twelve step fellowship for many years, I have often heard the term bandied about and presented as an absolutely essential part of the rec...
Post a Comment
Read more