10.07.09

The first and greatest commandment is 'Don't let them scare you.' ~Elmer Davis

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Today I am grateful...

• that although I developed a fever last night it didn't continue and I woke feeling a little better
• that I need to remember most people are too self-centered to be concerned with what I am doing (or whatever anyone thinks of me is not my business)
• that I have done the work suggested and will strive today to continue. No resting on laurels.
• that I got to celebrate my ex-partner's birthday last night with close friends, at a really nice place. We have a great relationship today and he continues to be one of the most important people in my life, and has been for 26 years
• that one of the forms my Higher Power took was the sweetness that is Bunny, the Boston Bulldog. He snuggles next to me and in that I find great comfort, he makes me laugh and I see directly God's grace. I love a happy dog.

Though alcoholics can appear to have serious shortcomings, these problems are really only misguided attempts to satisfy needs that must be met. In the 12 Step program, we do not deny our human needs. We realize, however, that these needs must be met in moral, constructive ways. False methods of meeting needs will bring false, harmful results. We can meet our needs in an orderly manner by turning to our Higher Power and following the slow and impractical, but over the longer term we will come to see that it is the right way to live. Our instinctive needs are proper and God-given, but they must not run wild in our lives. Living sober also means taming our instincts. I'll not be surprised by the various needs I may feel today. I am committed, however, to a moral and principled response to these needs. ~Walk in Dry Places