Sunday, October 24, 2021

Oct. 24, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundaiton

 

Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

I could accept everybody else’s vulnerability — but not my own. — Mae L

We’ve all heard it’s more blessed to give than to receive. Fewer of us have heard that receiving is equally blessed and also a lot more difficult. Does someone need our compassion, our time, our money? Just ask us, and we’ll give it. Gift giving is just our cup of tea. Oh, but to be on the receiving end -- that is another matter. To wholly accept a love-gift is beyond many of us. Receiving is painful. It makes us nervous and suspicious. It makes us feel vulnerable. We are strangers to the wisdom that receiving is the deepest form of giving.

Authentic love not only forgives the vulnerability and mistakes of others, but receives that forgiveness. To wholly accept forgiveness means we can’t go around flogging ourselves for our mistakes and failures. We have to let it go and receive the truth that we are pardoned.

To receive the love of others is to remove the mask of perfection, and forgive ourselves for being human.

Today, I will examine my behavior as a receiver as well as a giver of love.

Hazelden Foundation

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