Electricity

 Spiritual living people, such as believers in religion or recovery people, are pre-electricity people.  They are candles.  A candle is meant to be lit in the service of light.  And the candle will then burn down.  Prayer that leads to service, sacrifice for others, giving up of self, is like a way to keep the candle lit.  Without prayer, you burn out. Then you go from light to darkness for yourself and others.  So keep a balance. Time for self and time for others.  If you know your baptism date and your last drink date, then you know when your candle was lit.  

Tyranny

 Humility liberates us from tyranny of self.  People in recovery know this quite well.  Humility does not mind being ignored.  It does not crave attention, that is, the need to be the center of their universe.  Freed of this energy suck, we can spend ourself on being of service to others.  We are all miracles happening or waiting to happen, just not in the self-willed time line.  

Patience

Do you lack patience sometimes?  Or often?  Well then you very well may lack hope.  And you won’t wait until the end of the story as someone said.  Quick and negative judgments can get in the way of The Power’s ability to bring about “miracles.”  Miracles are not necessarily instant, but eventual, the slow kind that require patience.  Some people mature quickly and some take a lot of time with mistakes along the way.  And when someone or something seems like a “hopeless case,”. God may still be at work, but you don’t see it.  Maybe the story never seems to end even with death or extinction.  But then maybe there is more story, the beyond.  Recovery people never give up hope in one another.   

Expectation

There are some things you cannot change.  They are going to happen anyway, regardless of your preferences.  Yes, miracles in behavior change do happen, but they are miracles, that is, rare.  So I try to keep the daily expectation to accept the things I cannot change.  And maybe  God does not care to change either.  Why let annoyances be your primary emotion for the day?   

Do Not Disturb

Sometimes we think that God does not care because we get no response to our prayers, entreaties, spiritual wants.  Did you never get a “Do Not Disturb” sign or put one out on a door?  It means not now, but later.  God is at work but maybe not on your timeline.  We lack faith and hope.  People say they believe until they don’t get what they want.  God no longer exists once this Power no longer lives on our timeline.   The next time you put the “Do Not Disturb” tag on your hotel door or phone, say a thank you prayer to God for the hope and faith you might still have.  

The Patient

 I try to remember that in giving spiritual path advice, I am always the patient, never the doctor or healer.  It keeps me in touch with humility.  That I have any spiritual life is a gift more than something learned.  I can sometimes falsely think that if I do this I will get that, something gained on my own power.  So I simply tell people what I do, or what I did that did not work, rather than tell them what they “should” do to obtain some sense of healing.  And I tell them I have found a Power that is not me.  Connection rather than isolation is key.  

Fast Or Far

 As the saying goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go with others.  I have found this to be true in several areas of my life.  I can run all out by myself, but if I want to improve my stamina and distance running pace, I need to train with others.  I make a commitment to show up not only for me but for the “team.”  I always feel better when I go to church and there are others at mass, equally interested as I am.  Church is community.  It needs plural.  Recovery is the same way.  No one recovers their sanity from addiction alone.  You may stop the addition alone, for a time, but inevitably you don’t go far in recovery.  You need the group, the meetings, the contact on a regular basis.