I am running into a lot of newcomers lately. People who are showing up without a clue how to do life without alcohol or drugs. These are the people that I keep coming back to meetings to serve. To help show The Way Forward. I had no clue either. And, others showed me the way. The past was a mess and I was certain I didn’t want to go back. The future was unclear. Foggy and I could not see a way out—
Yet.
But others knew the way. I was scattered, divided and a broken version of myself. I had no integrity. The word integrity comes from the word integer— which means a whole number. Integrity is the state of being whole and undivided or wholeness.
How would I get there?
They told me one baby step at a time.
We have the past and the future. Memory and expectation. Remembering and Hope — The Way Forward. In our program we have a reading called The Promises. Within the text it says, “We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.”
Our past has brought us to this point of decision. We need to be reminded of how we got here and and to not forget, so we don’t return to that behavior. We are walking a new path that will be foggy at first. We only get to see one-day-at-a-time in front of us and hang around with people like ourselves who know what to do. Each day the view forward becomes clearer. We have no idea what the future holds.
Now, I look for the evidence of God in front of me like the constant breaking waves—something I can count on each day. Then I begin partnering with God and trusting His plan forward for me, and letting go of future outcomes. That is my hope for the future. Each day I get stronger, knowing I stayed sober today and then again the next day.
Today I can say this:
• I have integrity
• I have God to guide me
• I have others like myself to—
Show me The Way Forward.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.”
Proverbs 4:23-26
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