By Guess and By Gosh

It's how I cook, it's who I am. Too much like Grandmom to repeat the steps. Grandmom cookies, The prune cake every Christmas "The icing ran out the door," she'd say every Christmas. We sisters always looked but found no icing on the porch. She would eat the hottest peppers, didn't understand how Grandpop could drink that Coca Cola that burned all the way down! Doctor Brooks asked when she would reduce. She poked him in the stomach, told him, "When you do!" She stayed ready for a Depression, with sugar and flour for the duration stored in the hall closet. It's how I cook, it's who I am. Too much like Grandmom to repeat the steps. But I don't want to poke doctors in the ribs when they comment on my size. I've found other Steps I can follow to health and serenity!

Abstinence Is Supremely Important

The world is coming to an end. At least my world is. My town is destroyed, I cannot find my family. The dog is dead. My house is ashes. My insanity was coming back. I learned there was a meeting walking distance from the shelter I share with a thousand strangers. I went and they announced the topic: “Abstinence is the most important thing in my life no matter what.” Had I known any of these people I probably would have laughed out loud. Then the sharing started and another visitor displaced to the same shelter talked about this being her second time to start over. She had found it true, the importance of abstinence. She talked about getting back in the food, struggling to hold on to sanity, to recovery, talked about eating as close to plan as possible, how controlling that alone gave her strength to cling to Recovery. I heard. I listened. I learned Abstinence is the most important thing in my life no matter what!

Grant Them What I Want

Sponsors tell us to pray for those we resent, pray that they too will receive all the blessings we hope to receive in our lives. That seems impossible before we try it. But once we do, we feel miraculously uplifted. ~ Casey, Karen. A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

In large part the week has been miserable. I've earnestly resented people around me. I've been yelled at and have handed it back. I recognize this process set out in a story in the Bog Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. I've used it before, praying that they  receive all the blessings I hope to receive in my life. But once done, it's not finished. Resentments return, and the prayers must as well. God, I pray for those I resent, I pray that they receive blessings I hope to receive in my life. Give me the wisdom to  start with prayer and never reach the screeching! 

Never Normal Eaters Recovery in OA is based on the recognition that we are not—and never can be—normal eaters. ~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Locations 3101-3102). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition. All my life... at least the last sixty years... I've imagined living in a right-sized body. But having reached a BMI below obesity I understand I'm never more than a binge or two away from again facing the trauma of total relapse! Recovery in OA is based on the recognition that we are not— and never can be— normal eaters.

God's Here

Yes, I know, it's not just you and me, God's here, too. Somehow he doesn't bother me as much as you. That's weird. I understand. But still... I want you to like me. I guess I start at the beginning? I used to take Bubba's candy and toy cars. The kindergarten teacher caught me scratching tables. In second grade I hit a little girl. What? You want more? Oh. Just different. The exact nature of our wrongs? I'm scared all the time. I'm always into me, not you, not him, not God. I hide my head in mindless games, an ostrich in the sand, and hurry to anything that promises oblivion when, unprepared, I fall face-flat to floor. Simple things I didn't do haunt me so I wreck a friendship when she can't recall my wrong, just knows I avoid her. I lie and cheat to duck the blame, defame a saint to feel less odious, to blunt the pain. It's who I am, the best I've managed yet, abjectly miserable. So there, you see, I thank you for your time and kindness to me. I know you hate me now. You what? How could you love me at all, much less more? Yes, I feel your love. And God's.

Incredulous Love

I love you. You know I didn’t always — hated, loathed, despised — never ever expected love to enter in. I can’t dispute you deserve the wrath. I let you sabotage my life to shambles yet clung to you as my only hope — such a dope I was — and you. Your ugly face remains the same but changed expansively to something fair, near radiant at times. We’ve blossomed, you and I, my mirror image. I stand before you, humble, calm, amazed to love you.

Like a Mighty Wind

The wind adopts personas, props, attributes as roles require — A breeze docile, gentle, serene, soothing troubled water. A whirling dervish prodding, probing, disrobing treasures, divulging faults. A gale grabbing grit, hurling dirt, sandblasting paint chips, debris, trash, scouring to naked essence. Blustering gusts portend long-sought showers, the gift of life, breaking heat that bakes the soul. The Pentecostal wind adopts personas, grace disguised.

Affirmations

Affirmations aren’t a substitute for accepting reality. They aren’t a form of control. They need to be used with heavy doses of surrender, spirituality, and letting go. ~Beattie, Melody. Beyond Codependency: And Getting Better All the Time (p. 127). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

What do you need to affirm to make your life better? Do these work for you? I love myself. I am grateful for my body and all it has done for me. I am powerful beyond my wildest dreams. I accept myself unconditionally. I have permission from the universe to be myself. The ultimate sin is knowing who I am and not being true to that. Every day my self-worth is growing. I am worthy of all the joys and riches in the universe. I honor my own life path and appreciate the journey. My mind, body, and soul is a beautiful expression of y individuality. I give myself permission to heal. I am not my pain. I accept the lesson I am learning through my pain. My body has everything it needs to heal. I am better now than I was before this happened to me. I choose peace no matter what. I forgive myself for the part I played in my current situation. I forgive anyone I feel has hurt me. I am kind to myself and others. I will help others experiencing this so that they won’t make the same mistakes I did. I am creating a life that is beyond my imagination. I love what I do and I do what I love. What I do makes a positive impact on the world. I believe in myself. I am a born creator and I create the life that I want. Circumstances don’t define me and they won’t stop me from moving forward. I will never give up, give in, or quit. Abundance is all around me. Everything I touch prospers. The more I have. The more I have to give. Source: venturingvalue.com How will you affirm yourself today?

Yo My Sponsor's God

you didn’t do bad last night i told you thanks for a lousy day and you didn’t get mad i asked you to keep me clean just today and somehow i am i asked you to stop my dumb mouth at the boss he grinned when i left said i’d done good so thanks for a not bad day can you do it again i’d be much obliged

Hanging on the Hyphen

I came defeated, demoralized, victimized by my addiction. Powerless over my lover cum stalker, unmanageable an incongruous understatement, Step One stood a rock-solid given. Sure, I’d toss that to any power, higher, lower, alien, hostile. Take it, please! Take the addiction; my life will bloom again. So why the other eleven? Why the talk of life and will, of resentment, fear, of amends? The addiction’s gone, thank you very much. I’m through. A hyphen? Yes, I see that. Truth be told, it’s a dash. So what? “Denotes a sudden change in construction or sentiment” or “indicates what’s not expected, not a natural outcome of what’s gone before.” OUR LIVES have become unmanageable? This POWER wants my LIFE?

Willing Wrongs Away

Where there’s a will there’s a way — no way! Just say no — I say, “NO!!!” Willpower works when it works yet out there lurk gargoyles that jerk earnest efforts leaving us hurt in the dirt. You’re where we were. Willpower won’t work. Learn where to turn — I’ll show you the way.

Not God

That you’re not God means quite simply that you don’t dictate the laws of reality. ~ AA Agnostica

If God can be defined by any person in recovery and outside, how can you know that you’re doing what they say, that you’re not being God? Or behaving as if. The opportunities, actions, attitudes to act as God could look like anything, could differ from person to person. But there is a definition, a way to figure out. If you act as if, if you believe that – whether openly or not… that you’re in charge of running the world, then you’ve got no god. Instead, for you, you fulfill that role.

Quintet for One

Loneliness echoes through crowded rooms, seeking out me, the insecure. Moving to a town of closed cliques is an empty chasm of edges. Who am I? I lack definition, mirroring back what I think you want. Lonely is married year after year to one who knows nothing of me. I don’t know your name. Can it be you hurt me less being so formless?

Powerless

Powerless I’ve tried, really tried, yet to sooth the savage beast eludes me. Why? Tell me why! Others can! So why should this craving mock me, shame me, crush my soul? Others stroll from the beast, a whimpering kitten in their lives though they’ve indulged with the rest of us, partied just as hard. Am I so weak, so deficient?

Losing a Best Friend

Giving up alcohol was like giving up a best friend. ~ E.H.’s father-in-law

Alcohol has never tugged at me… but food does, like alcohol does to the potential members of Alcoholics Anonymous! In fact I’ve been known to say I didn’t have real friends. In the place of friends I substituted my addiction to sugar and flour in almost any combination, the higher the percentage of sugar with the addition of oil as enhancement the more satisfied, the more mollified, the more comforted I became. I know now I have real friends, people who share my history with food or whose struggles with other addictions ring true! I’m through with my affinity for food to fill the interstices of my soul! I choose people, true friends, soulmates as my true friends for life!

Icy Fre

Fear consumes with icy fire, tendril vapors clutching souls with absolute zero. Glacial fear creeps, a smoldering floe encasing mummified embers glowing dimmer by half-lives.

Worthy of Belonging and Joy

Those who feel lovable, who love, and who experience belonging simply believe they are worthy of love and belonging. They don’t have better or easier lives, they don’t have fewer struggles with addiction or depression, and they haven’t survived fewer traumas or bankruptcies or divorces, but in the midst of all of these struggles, they have developed practices that enable them to hold on to the belief that they are worthy of love, belonging, and even joy. ~ Brown, Brené. Daring Greatly (p. 11). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Do you honestly believe you’re worthy of love, of belonging? Have you developed practices that enable you to hold on to the belief that you are worthy of love, of belonging and even joy? Are you worthy of love? You truly are worthy of love and you are loved and of respect and joy!!

God, Acrostically

Choose a word you might use to meditate on God’s character. Use that word to build an acrostic poem of your own. Reflect first on where you are spiritually, and then move toward naming God’s character and how you could live your life differently. ~ Room, The Upper. The Upper Room Disciplines 2022: A Book of Daily Devotions (p. 91). Upper Room Books. Kindle Edition.

God is good, great, gracious, generous. Only God is God, no-one else is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. God is divine, never daunted or discouraged.

Actively Passive...

I offer myself to Thee…. Interesting verb, offer, not passive, for action affects the object, myself — not the subject, I. For me, what’s the difference? Me, myself, and I maintain the ultimate symbiosis. Yet here the verb looms large for the indirect object rather than a tail wagging below the diagram stands unequaled, omnipotent, omniscient. The subject and object stand equally passive, but out of respect actively passive.

Grow the Promises...

and promises spring in fertile ground. New freedom pops purple panicles, happiness covers the ground as hummingbirds find the past flowing with nectar. Serenity grabs our attention, familiar but overlooked. Peace flavors the breeze as we find long-lost usefulness. Without second thoughts we weed out self-pity, self-seeking and selfish interests to clear fertile ground for interest in others. We looked for the mainstays of the garden but fear of people and financial insecurity cannot be found. Intuition arches the garden with certainty. Our useless weedpile is gone as God’s garden prospers with promises springing from principles.

The People in this Room

They’re an odd lot, the bunch of folk who’ll meet here tonight. We’d let them have the room free but they insist on paying rent. It’s my job to set up for events, but they persist in doing it, say moving chairs, cleaning up, means service, keeps them on track. And I meant that “odd” part in the odd lot. Who’d ever pick these folk as friends? The cars outside – from rattletraps to posh, and you wouldn’t believe the fellow who rides with the one who drives a Porsche, I swear he’s some bum off the street! You can’t help but like them all, even the obnoxious ones. They’re so open, honest, full of hope. They’ll sit and say the same things they said last week and those before, and get so jazzed up over it. They’re an odd lot. Their coming here, though, somehow makes my week complete.

Spare Me Perfection

Spare me perfection. Give me instead the wholeness that comes from embracing the full reality of who I am, just as I am. ~ David Benner

I’ll never be perfect. I can’t read my own handwriting, and usually words are mispelled in anything I composed. I don’t have an accent… I talk with a drawl! Despite Mother’s telling me for years to sit like a lady, I don’t! I’m neither polished not graceful and I’ve quit trying to be. That’s okay, though! Spare me perfection. Give me instead the wholeness that comes from embracing the full reality of who I am, just as I am.

Measuring Up

You must not envy the worthiness of the person next to you, as if he or she is more accepted by God because he or she is more spiritually mature than you. ~ Tripp, Paul David. New Morning Mercies (p. 639). Crossway. Kindle Edition. I am good enough! I have a purpose and I am trying to understand what it is. I am good enough and have something no one else has to offer. I am good enough because people love me. I am worth more than the way I’ve been treated. I’m good enough to have learned to move on. And I’m good enough to know you’re good enough, too!

My Grandmom

Sorted by recipe name rather than food type the plethora beginning of Grandmom’s cards catch every eye. Followed by “homemade light bread,” “brown sugar cookies,” “prune cake,” “boiled custard,”  then “pickles” stand, flavoring the pages of the family cookbook I compiled. I am the image of Grandmom, and adopted her name for my grandsons to use. After turning eighty, Grandmom responded to Dr. Brook’s suggestion she lose weight by poking his stomach, to “I will when you do!” My grandsons will know Grandmom cookies, but to stop doctors’ observation of the feasting’s results I’ll affirm I am a compulsive eater and enjoy the cookies through my grandsons.

An Exercise in Additions

…make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ 2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)

What do we need to be? Faith plus goodness plus knowledge, plus self-control, plus perseverance, plus godliness, plus mutual affection, pluslove. I we possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we will be the people of God!

Back to Honesty

Life gets in the way and we forget to do the things we committed to do when Recovery Daily Dose was new! We promised a poem a day about 12-Step Recovery from the perspective of OAStepper (as in Overeaters Anonymous) and Barbara B. Rollins. But it gets old to write new work daily to be published early the next day. You may not recognize recycled poems… we don’t even remember doing them. And we have been since Wednesday, May 4, 2011, nearly ten years but this is new and we’ll recommit to a new poem a day which is best for us and probably for you as well!

Our Egocentricity

Many of us have lived too much for ourselves and by ourselves. It is our egocentricity which has been our undoing. We have accepted no authority higher than our own whim and impulse, and we have been angry and depressed when people and events did not follow our preferences. Eating was an area in which we exerted our omnipotence, and appetite was our god. ~ L., Elisabeth. Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition. Step Two says we “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” and Step Three that we “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” But she’s right that we tend toward starting out as the center of our universe accepting “no authority higher than our own whim and impulse.” I hear daily multiple phone calls on one side while my calls equal less than a minute for each hour for the other person. My egocentricity contrasts strikingly to the other’s gregariousness. Eating could still be an area in which I exert my omnipotence, with appetite was my god. Where do you stand on the spectrum?

What Is Your Name?

Today, claim the name of God’s child and allow it to enrich your life. ~ Brooks, Gennifer Benjamin. Bible Sisters (p. 3). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition. We have no problem praying t0 “Our Father” as Jesus suggested… but do we believe it, internalize it? We sing, “With God as our Father, brothers all are we…” Who is a child of God? I am! You are! We all are Know your are, identify as one. Listen as you pause to hear yourself called! Claim the name of God’s child and allow it to enrich your life.

Feelings Follow Action

Thelma had taught me to “act as if.” She told me that I didn’t have to want it, like it, or believe it. “Just take the action,” she had urged, “and the feelings will follow.” ~ Overeaters Anonymous. Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition (p. 33). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition. The speaker was Rozanne, the founder of Overeaters Anonymous about her first sponsor, Thelma. Have you tried the advice to “act as if” even when you don’t want to? I can certainly identify with not wanting something nor liking it, or even believing it! When I decide on a course of action wisdom says will help me, though, may God make me willing to set aside my presumed wisdom and just do it! I can stand looking foolish and accept superior insight if I find it!

Unbeing Dead

Unbeing dead isn’t being alive. ~ e. e. cummings Just because you’re breathing doesn’t mean that you are living the life you were intended to live. Everyone has a story to tell. Maybe it’s time to create yours… # What life were you intended to live? Are you living the life you choose to live? Why not? …or why? How do you come closer to the life you intended to live? The rest of the quote: Just because you inhale and exhale, consume nutrients and vitamins, does not mean you are alive. Taking every second life gives you into your own hands and working towards being happy for as many of those minutes as possible… that’s being alive. Walking off the paved path to discover your own in the jungle… that’s being alive. Having your heart beat at a dangerously fast pace because you are about to do something you never thought you could do… that’s being alive. Experiencing good nature, good people, good food, and good conversations… that’s being alive. # skinnyartist.

No Longer Alone

The amazing secret to the success of this program is just that: weakness. It is weakness, not strength, that binds us to each other and to a higher power and somehow gives us an ability to do what we cannot do alone. ~ Overeaters Anonymous

Have you felt most of your life you were all alone, understood by nobody, unable to rely on help from any source? Do you feel responsible for all around you? Do you find your comfort in a habit you hate…like eating junk food when nobody you know is likely to know? That was me. And if the clerk at the fast food drive-through reached the point she knew my order, I went there no more but found my treat at another location…for a while. Then I read a book of personal stories where they sounded eerily like me, found an online group of kindred souls then a meeting near me where I was home. I’ve been coming back for fifteen years and I’ll continue to come. Why would I? I’ve found my people. I’m no longer alone! The amazing secret to the success of this program is just that: weakness. It is weakness, not strength, that binds us to each other and to a higher power and somehow gives us an ability to do what we cannot do alone. If you’re our people, come find us. You’ll no longer go through life alone!

A Letter to my Child

My dear daughter, I know what I did to you and I know now that you know the how and why. I passed on to you my hair color, my eyes, even my moles, but those are fine... the problem was I passed on as well my insecurities, my fears, my habits and the ways I used to deal... the hidden eating, the snacks in the car then hiding the evidence... but I guess a parent seldom knows how much the child sees,  admiring and learning just because it seems like honoring your parent, doing what I did...not knowing how I despised it. Dear, I've watched you as an adult, how you made yourself miserable, copying me in the choice of men, in how you dealt with them, in trying to earn their love... I know it didn't work for you any more than it did for me. But I've seen you, too, work out your life with those meetings and I love what it does for you and I love that you're passing on  to my grandchildren better than what I passed to you.

Changing Who?

When we do for other people what they should do for themselves, we both stay stuck…. Most of us came into the program because we wanted someone else to change! Now we’re learning that the only change we can be certain of is one we make in ourselves. ~ Casey, Karen. A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

What did you expect to change when you came into the Rooms of Recovery? Was there someone else you wanted to be different? Your mate? Your child? Your parents…at least one? Your boss, your sister, your chum? Or “merely” your bad habits, your addiction? Are you now learning the only change you can be certain of is one you make in yourself? God, I once would have said you needed to be different, but I was wrong about you… and everyone else. Here I am, God, ready to become who I need to be, ready to “allow” you to lead the way. Make it the truth, God, let it be that I allow you to mold me into who I need to be! Take me, mold me Use me, fill me, I give my life into Your hands Hold me, guide me Walk beside me I give my life to to Your control.

Graduation

Puppies suck love-nuzzling warmth. Mouth to mouth worms give chicks verve. Cats taxi kits by the scruff. Mommies hold bikes and spur nerve. Six week old pups will be weaned, feathered youth pushed from the nest. Frolicking  kittens implore mother to stir from her rest. Animal babies move on, human ones stay on for years. Sometimes I long to clear nests; Other days college means tears.

Remember...

Practice the principles, partake of the promises Providence provides. Twelve Steps, two hundred words a lifetime’s lessons

Two Kinds of Birthdays

People in the Rooms of Recovery often need to differentiate between the "birth" of their Recovery and the original birthday, the Belly Button one. Both are important, but after a while in Recovery the beginning of Recovery often outshines the natal day since the repetition of BB days might not have continued without the intervention of the one celebrated in the Rooms. Let us hold on to the strings of both for we have contributions to make because of each kind!

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We're Home!

We’re not in Oz anymore, Toto! I can’t believe it was that simple, getting home, so easy, so uncomplicated, just trust with action. I wouldn’t take anything for the journey, for it’s shown me so much about myself, given me everything I need to know for other people struggling to get out of Oz. How marvelous! How wonderful. It was here all along, as familiar as my own hand, but I couldn’t see it. The fourth dimension of existence, just a step of faith away, and we’re HOME!

This Chip of a Book

This Chip of a Book Our hope is that when this chip of a book is launched on the world tide of alcoholism, defeated drinkers will seize upon it, to follow its suggestions. Many, we are sure, will rise to their feet and march on. They will approach still other sick ones and fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous may spring up in each city and hamlet, havens for those who must find a way out. (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 153)

Humility and intelligence coexist just fine if humility stands first. So Bill W said ten years after he wrote the chip of a book that named Alcoholics Anonymous and launched recovery not just for drunks but for us all. Intelligence Bill had in spades, too smart for his own good for years, yet a scant four years before the launch he sat, drunk, before the dawn, about to be launched himself to existence’s fourth dimension.

The Effect of Righteousness

“And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.” ~ Isaiah 32:17 NIV

How badly do you long for quietness and trust forever? Do you have righteousness? What is righteousness? It's the quality of being morally right or justifiable. Could you say, "We had little doubt about the righteousness of our cause."? Let us choose righteousness!

Respecting Our True Selves

...holding on to ourselves involves maintaining a relationship with ourselves. It is not surprising that self-esteem also requires maintaining this relationship. To esteem something is to respect it. Self-esteem is another way of saying that we respect our true-selves. ~ Berger, Allen. 12 Smart Things to Do When the Booze and Drugs Are Gone: Choosing Emotional Sobriety through Self-Awareness and Right Action (Berger 12) (p. 167). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

What is your relationship with yourself? And what is my relationship with myself? I look at this seventeen-day old year, aware I've got reasons for failure to  resume long-standing routines... good, solid reasons, to be sure but as I reuse past posts, I find myself relieved to be creating new material today based on readings encountered today. I do esteem (respect) myself, and I respect you, my readers. I commit to respect you and me and to grow in understanding as we move forward into this Anno Domini, the Year of Our Lord, two thousand twenty-two.

God As We Understand God

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin….” Exodus 34:6-7a NIV

The Big Book tells of Ebby’s suggestion to Bill W, “Why don’t you chose your own conception of God?” Many of us find this wise advice! God Himself told Moses to consider, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Could we not adopt this as God as we understand God? I’ve chosen to edit out the rest of the verse describing God’s not leaving the guilty unpunished; and that he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. I’m free to set aside as part of my own understanding material probably not quickly transcribed and checked for accuracy. How do you choose to understand God?

CURSED NO LONGER

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. ~ Galatians 3:13-14 “I had been preached to, analyzed, cursed, and counseled, but no one had ever said, ‘I identify with what’s going on with you. It happened to me and this is what I did about it.’” ~ Story “He Only Lived to Drink” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition . A.A. World Services, Inc.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. ~ Galatians 3:13-14 “I had been preached to, analyzed, cursed, and counseled, but no one had ever said, ‘I identify with what’s going on with you. It happened to me and this is what I did about it.’” ~ Story “He Only Lived to Drink” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition . A.A. World Services, Inc.

Do the ends always justify the means? Does a blessing ever come from being cursed? Is the world cursed through the law? Or was it before Christ? Paul thought so, believed the curse was lifted through Jesus and fulfilled promises. Are we cursed by addiction until Recovery comes from the despair of ruined lives? God, thank you for taking away the pain, for replacing it with the knowledge and comfort of your love, for teaching us to love ourselves and those around us!

I Am Nothing

Now if, as we seek the real truth about justification, we find we are as much sinners as the Gentiles, does that mean that Christ makes us sinners? Of course not! But if I attempt to build again the whole structure of justification by the Law then I do, in earnest, make myself a sinner. ~ Galatians 2:17-18 (Phillips) It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. ~ (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 85)

Now if, as we seek the real truth about justification, we find we are as much sinners as the Gentiles, does that mean that Christ makes us sinners? Of course not! But if I attempt to build again the whole structure of justification by the Law then I do, in earnest, make myself a sinner. ~ Galatians 2:17-18 (Phillips) It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. ~ (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 85) Out of alignment I reclaim my course, tried, proven untrue, but so logical, so cogent, so clear. And so wrong. Of myself I am nothing. I become something only when abandoning myself I yield to God, to a higher will a greater good to the real truth. The gifts received, recovery gained, persist conditionally dependent on my choice of acceptance or rejection each this day.

Now if, as we seek the real truth about justification, we find we are as much sinners as the Gentiles, does that mean that Christ makes us sinners? Of course not! But if I attempt to build again the whole structure of justification by the Law then I do, in earnest, make myself a sinner. ~ Galatians 2:17-18 (Phillips) It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. ~ (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 85) Out of alignment I reclaim my course, tried, proven untrue, but so logical, so cogent, so clear. And so wrong. Of myself I am nothing. I become something only when abandoning myself I yield to God, to a higher will a greater good to the real truth. The gifts received, recovery gained, persist conditionally dependent on my choice of acceptance or rejection each this day.
I give up, God. I still can’t run my life. It’s in your hands.

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A Decision to Hope

Having hope, we come to understand, is a decision. Other men and women have made this decision. We can too. ~ Casey, Karen.  (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Would you consider having hope to be a decision? It never occurred to me! I read of North Korean prisoners of war stripped of hope by having bad news  from home passed on to them while good news or fond letters were deliberately withheld. I choose to emphasize the positive, to remember kindness and love, to decide to have hope.Join me, will you?

My Footing Is In the Present

There may be life in the future, and there was certainly life in the past, but my footing is in the present. Today is where the past has its meaning, and where the future is shaped. ~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Locations 60-61). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. Kindle Edition. Do you stay in the present or find yourself residing in the past or dreaming of the future? We really have a single option, that being the here and now! The past is history, not subject to change, though certainly coming to an understanding helps the present! But we must beware of a tendency to judge when we see one set of footprints rather than two, for those are the times our God stops walking with us and carries us over the rough places!

The Blessings of Peace

We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will the world know the blessings of peace. ~ William Gladstone

…Today’s world seethes with hypocrisy. Though we say we prefer love over power, the way we behave in the political corner of our lives testifies all too often to the contrary. Let us look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will the world know the blessings of peace. Amen. So be it!

God Is Here

I was one of those people who prayed regularly for God to remove the fat and allow me to continue overeating. I prayed for the day to be different, not understanding the concept that taking the first bite triggered the disease. I also ate secretly, making sure everyone was out of the house so that I could eat. ~ Overeaters Anonymous, Voices of Recovery, page 25. (with thanks to my Monday OA Clutch for inspiration) God hadn’t gone to bed when others had, nor could I avoid His presence eating “alone” in the car. It’s like He was standing around, arms crossed, waiting for my admission that I needed help. And the help He gave me was a book, Overeaters Anonymous, 2nd Edition. I read it, cover to cover, and knew I belonged. I committed to go…once Christmas was past! (You don’t start a diet in December!!) But Sunday morning, December 17th, I walked from a convenience store, cappuccino and sweet-roll in hand, got into the car and said aloud to God, “This is stupid!” I suddenly knew you did start a diet in December. I researched online, found a friend listed as a contact for OA and consider that Sunday my first day in OA. Sure enough, God didn’t go to bed, nor could I avoid His presence “alone.” Before I got to a meeting, I had fallen on Christmas Eve, flown to London on the 27th, and contacted worldwide friends from internet cafes every chance I got, and been the only one at a meeting one snowy morning! God’s been with me, guiding me, ever since…more than thirteen years!

A Case of Opposites

No man safely goeth abroad who loveth not to rest at home. No man safely talketh but he who loveth to hold his peace. No man safely ruleth but he who loveth to be subject. No man safely commandeth but he who loveth to obey. ~ Kempis, Thomas à. The Imitation of Christ (Illustrated) (p. 41). LiberWriter.com. Kindle Edition.

Fifteenth century analysis makes more sense than such archaic words. The wisdom works, though. Love staying home and travel appeals. Talk well and forbearing talking freely is facilitated. Ability to lead a government leads to better being led. A commander needs ability to accept and follow commands. Practice peaceful living, wisdom in following, exercise good judgment away from leading, and become a whole, healthy, and effective in all you undertake.

Help Me to Help Them

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23 All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. ~ Ecclesiastes 2.17-23 (NIV)

Giving away things seems easier for the old. What I treasured at twenty — would fight to keep — sixty years later can easily go to a youngster who will treasure it. What if I’d passed it by for fear of having to give it up? Both would be robbed – I of the joy of holding and passing the joy, the youth of treasuring it for it was mine. Meaningless? Worry is meaningless. God, help me see those people miserable as The Teacher. Help me to help them love.

What Is Faith?

What is faith? The dictionary says “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” The Bible says “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The Second Step says, “came to believe a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity,” enhanced by the Third, “Made a decision  to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.” I would define faith as trusting, believing there is a Power able to do what I can’t do and if you can do more than I can it doesn’t matter to me because what you do…or can do… is none of my business. So when I find a relationship comfortable t0 me, and if it is comfortable to me it’s going to be comfortable for God because if I have it wrong he’s not going to allow my comfort there. So my faith…and yours… are our own business and nobody can say we’re wrong. Having faith is good, it's right.

Silence Beyond Words, Emotions, Thoughts

…a call to contemplation—to quiet the mind and enter the silence beyond words, emotions, and thoughts. ~ Room, The Upper. The Upper Room Disciplines 2022: A Book of Daily Devotions (p. 591). Upper Room Books. Kindle Edition. Silence may become an effective rhetorical practice when people choose to be silent for a specific purpose. It has not merely been recognized as a theory but also as a phenomenon with practical advantages. Rhetorical silence cannot be explained since it happens when lack of communication is not expected. When silence becomes rhetorical, it is intentional since it reflects a meaning. Rhetorical silence targets audience rather than the rhetorician. One of those advantages of silence is to achieve various types of rhetorical and literacy practices. ~ Macintosh Dictionary /System/Applications Silence beyond words, emotions, thoughts… Have you experienced this extreme of silence? How can you recognize it without words, emotions or thoughts? Can it be the state of people so close, so connected, so in synch, so in agreement words, emotions, and thoughts are superfluous? Have you experienced that with another person? What about with your higher Power? And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence.1 Image Copyright: kirkikis 1Simon & Garfunkel

Irresolute

It’s the day of New Years Resolutions but I decline. No, I refuse! I choose to be irresolute than to go through the motions of changing for a day, a few days, even a couple of weeks! I’d prefer to be irresolute: showing or feeling hesitancy; uncertain: she stood irresolute outside his door. Why? Because I have seen the difference between failed resolutions, a firm decision to do or not to do something, and a Third Step: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. Unlike virtually all Resolutions a Fourth Step has Power and a real hope for lifelong change! Will you join me today to be irresolute and consider accepting a partnership with God to really change at the essence?