May 24, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

The Serenity Prayer

Step by Step
Sunday, May 24, 2015

"Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his family back. This just isn't so. In some cases, the (spouse) will never come back ...(R)ecovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his relationship with God." - Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976, Ch 7, pp 99-100.

Today, grant me understanding why my alcoholism and recovery are dependent only on me and that I cannot make them a condition of what someone else does or how some situation plays out. Just as none of those can be "blamed" for my drinking, neither can they be the reason for my recovery. To place conditions of my sobriety on someone or something else does little more than reinforce my refusal to take responsibility and consequences, and exert emotional blackmail on an external source that I cannot or will not stop drinking if I don't get from them what I want. Today, my alcoholism and my character and spiritual defects are my responsibility and no one else's fault. Likewise, no one and nothing outside of me are responsible for my recovery. And if addiction is as selfish as the Program says, then so it is for my recovery. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2015