Blundering

TRUTH

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬-‭27‬

REFLECTION

There’s a great quote in the movie Batman Begins: “It’s not who you are underneath but what you do that defines you.”

We can feel all the feelings of life and live with a vicarious assurance of our own goodness and intention and even salvation.

But if this isn’t backed up by good, old-fashioned action, what good does it do?

Addiction will cost our subconscious with lies of omission, of minimization, of intention. It will do anything to twist our minds around so that we stay caught in the cycle.

And this is what makes it take so long to arrest our drinking and come up for air. We are sustained by the made-up morals that renew us with a bunch of hot air every time we take a drink or drug.

Stopping feels like suicide even though continuing is slowly killing us.

When we arrive in recovery, all those good intentions don’t stand up to the light of day.

If we are honest with ourselves and others, we begin to make headway toward recovery when we own up to the facade we had created.

No longer can we say we’ll get to things tomorrow. We must throw ourselves into the middle of recovery to have a chance.

We see now that we can be compelled by what’s underneath so long as we are propelled into action.

Living is the point. And to live we must be out in the world getting our hands dirty. We must clean up our side of the street in order to reach our hand out to help the next suffering person.

God, I don’t want to be full of it anymore.

SPONSOR

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NEXT

When you’re ready, here are some tools for you:

1. Book List (amazon link)
   Some of my favorite reads related to recovery and/or wrestling with faith.

2. 4th Step Guide (free download)
   A PDF with instructions and worksheets for a thorough 4th step. Straight from the Big Book. Fearlessness not included.

3. 12-Step Christianity (YouTube)
   My thoughts on the parallels between discipleship and sponsorship.

KEEP LEANING FORWARD

Cheers, Eamonn
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