Friday, November 20, 2020

Nov. 20, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, Nov. 20, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Compassion is daring to acknowledge our mutual destiny so that we might move forward…together. — Henri Nouwen

Thank God for our friends in the program! Especially those who started out before we did, who were waiting for us when we came in. How else could we know that fear was the problem? Who else could have shown us that fear could be faced? Because they had faced their own fear, they could see beyond our mask of loud talk, constant boasting, and flippant put-downs. They could see through all that because they’d already seen the lost child in their own eyes.

Because they admit and accept their own failures, they are neither too permissive nor too hard on the failures of others. They know the truth—that failure is a part of life. Because they themselves have tasted tragedy, they are blessedly free of the judgments, the all-knowing verdicts, passed down by so many others. May we always be grateful for these people who knew us and loved us before they even met us!

Today, I pray that every good thing will come to the generous people who invited me to come along.

Hazelden Foundation

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