Putting recovery first

As we quickly move to the end of the year, my thoughts are drawn to how quickly life seems to be moving by. It is December already! Where did the year go? No sooner does Monday arrive, when Friday dawns. Each day seems lost in a blur, as one follows the next in rapid succession. I worry that life is quickly coming to a close, and I wonder if I am accomplishing everything that the Lord has for me to do.In an attempt to slow things down, I have decided to see each day as a separate, discreet entity, with a beginning and an end. I start each day by consciously partnering with God to make this day to His Glory, and at the end of the day, I consciously put it to bed, with as much repentance as I can manage. Thus, each day has started to feel like a gift from God, with great spiritual possibilities in it. Like an individually knotted string of luminous pearls, each day has become precious.As we begin, and move into and through the recovery process, it is imperative that we begin and end each day with a conscious commitment to this process. I just met with a young man, 9 months clean and sober, who recently slipped by drinking 2 bottles of cough syrup to take away his anxiety and emotional pain. His story is typical. He was gung ho during treatment, took his supplements, ate protein every 4 hours, went to meetings and started working the steps. He felt wonderful! Then he got a job and felt so proud of himself. He was determined to pay his mother back for all the money she spent on his treatment, and threw himself into his job. It was very demanding, and little by little, he put his job ahead of his recovery. He didn’t have time to eat, he was too tired to go to meetings, he took all his supplements upon arising so he wouldn’t have to worry about them the rest of the day, and he had no social life. He stopped praying and meditating, and forgot about self-care. Before long, his anxiety and depression began mounting, until it became intolerable again, and he desperately needed relief.He has now recommitted to recovery, as opposed to just abstinence, and he is beginning each day with the goal of putting it first, and not letting anything else interfere with it.  As recovery for each of us morphs into a spiritually centered, balanced life, starting and ending each day with conscious intention, is crucial. The Twelve Steps of AA, in its wisdom, invites us all, in steps 10 and 11, to daily:Continue to take personal inventory and when we are wrong to promptly admit it.Seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

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