Category: Daily Missives

Most alcoholics and addicts never recover from their addictions. For most who have tried, it is the hardest course in their lives.

But recovery is not an academic exercise. It demands spiritual and psychic change.

It requires honesty, humility, and daily practice.

It is a self-correcting and self-grading course unlike any other.

It requires the desperate desire to succeed like a drowning person.

Cheating isn’t tolerated because I only would be cheating myself.

The exam is pass-fail. Happiness or suffering. Life or death. But we get to retake the test every day.

I have never wanted to succeed at anything more in my life.

I pray for those who are failing and for those who have failed.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

There are always lessons to be learned, if I pay attention and keep an open mind.

Years ago, I used to meet weekly with a group that included a few old-timers. They never brought their troubles along but instead shared their insight and wisdom after listening to fools like me.

I wondered why they even bothered since it seemed like they had their lives all together.

Helping someone else helped themselves. They were divinely-guided.

Helping someone else helps me.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

When I get impatient, it exposes my self-centeredness.

If my self-centeredness causes me to be harsh with others, I am the problem.

Sometimes I don’t get what I want or when I want it.

Sometimes I expect too much.

Sometimes I just have to wait.

Everything happens on God’s Terms and in God’s Time, not mine.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

Some people refuse to ask for help until they absolutely need it.

Some people refuse to ask for help at all.

Some people refuse to use the help that is offered.

Some people expect others to not only help, but also to carry their burden for them.

Everyone finds their way. Some just take the more difficult path.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

My life is always changing. It has more to do with growth than it does with time.

Depending upon my circumstances, sometimes I want change to stop and sometimes I want change to stand still.

My perspective changes with my spiritual condition.

If I look at today with dread, I might see today through an ugly lens.

If I look at today with gratitude, I might see today as the greatest gift ever.

Today is the greatest gift ever.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

I am powerless over alcohol and drugs. I had to learn that the hard way, but I accept that fact.

I am powerless over other people. People will be the way they will be whether I like it or not. I accept that fact.

The rest of the world does not revolve around me, as much as I sometimes wish it would.

It’s a whole lot easier for me to get through each day by taking care of “my side of the street”, and let others take care of theirs.

Sometimes I need a little reminder about that.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

After being shown the better way to live, I can’t say “I didn’t know”.

Unless I have some kind of memory illness, I can’t say “I forgot”.

Once I have been given the opportunity to live clean and sober, I can’t say “I couldn’t help it”.

If I decide to pick up again, I am saying “Forget God – I choose to suffer”.

I can’t lie to myself and get away with it.

“To thine own self be true”.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

I used to live in fear. Of course I couldn’t let anyone know that, for fear of being judged or criticized.

So, I learned to behave in ways that hid my insecurities. That created an internal stress that only alcohol or drugs could relieve.

I have learned to identify my fears and put them in God’s Hands. I practice it daily.

I’m not afraid anymore.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

By the time I stopped drinking, the noise in my mind was unbearable. I did not want to drink but I needed alcohol to survive. I HAD TO drink.

Most “normal” people see it as a “bad habit”. They don’t understand it. I don’t expect them to get it.

Alcoholics understand it very well. We each have a spiritual malady that we cannot cure on our own.

One day at a time, connecting with another alcoholic helps us to get through the day without a drink.

One day at a time, God speaks to us through each other.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.

When I have lost someone dear to me, there is nothing that anyone can do or say to take the pain away. I have to go through feeling it.

People like me have a tendency to want to numb ourselves, especially when we are in emotional distress.

That’s not a good option.

Experience tells me that the pain will eventually subside, whether I pick up a substance to numb the pain or not.

If I do pick up, a new cycle of pain begins from which I may never recover.

Seeking God’s Comfort and believing that I’ll be ok gets me through it.

God, please help me to be ok today. Thank You. Amen.