Shedding Skin

Today’s Reflection

There’s a lightness to life when we stop questioning the solution.

Leave it to an alcoholic to doubt the validity of the very thing that has begun to provide relief, hope and a future.

But this is exactly what can happen if we aren’t careful. Soon after sobering up, before we’ve earned back the trust of others, we get our opinions back. And with them, our ability to look down on anyone within sight.

Sometimes we do this purposefully, with spite. But more often, it sort of slips into our patterns of thinking like a subtle itch we begin scratching without even realizing it.

Having left our vices, our confusion at how to approach our days and our lives can come out sideways.

I had to hold on to basic principles as though my life depended on it. I had to adopt routines and new habits into my daily life.

I began to realize that sobriety was only the starting line from which I would have to continue to change and transform into whatever new creation God had in store for me.

Slowly, the cadence of living one day at a time and incorporating sober, healthy habits became normal.

As time went on, prayer became something that was a natural part of every day and a welcome component to any moment.

As days turned into weeks, filling my mind with recovery literature began to saturate my thinking with new perspectives on age-old spiritual practices.

As months turned into years, these habits have persisted and morphed and grown. The stability of the source material has only grown more firm in my mind. The more often I revisit the word of God and apply it to my recovery, the more regularly I can see my faith and my hope settling into actual, practical directions for living contentedly.

God, thank you for new eyes; keep me attentive to your will.