PSALMS 118:24 “THIS IS THE DAY WHICH THE LORD HATH MADE; WE WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT.”Rejoice, rejoice, and rejoice! The preacher wrote back in the day of the Old Testament. “The Lord has chastened me sore yet I will live!”
“But for the grace of God” is what we say in AA, we prefer to think that it was our own consequences that chastened us sore or rather; stung us so much rather than our Higher Powers punishment.Due to our ingrained thought process of good verses bad we may all too often when met with two circumstantial possibilities feel we must label one of them “bad and “wrong”. Perhaps we seek out “bad” due to our need for deflection from our own self-image. Is the cup half empty or half full? Well, in recovery we have learned that many times when we pit one option against the other in all truth and actuality both are correct. The illusive third option. Much to our surprise the cup is both half-full and half-empty is it not? This kind of consideration is called open-mindedness. This is a challenge for us in recovery because it requires us to forge out new neuron-pathways in our brain by repeating open-mended thinking over and over until we have built sound and strong bridges over those pathways carved out by a life-time of closed-mined and accusing thoughts. Is it not the Great Creator that put Karmic law into play? Maybe. Or perhaps Karma comes from the Universe itself by which all living/moving things must abide. Cause and affect. Excluding of course Grace itself. When Grace comes into play our consequences are quelled and we are saved from punishment. Grace continues for us as long as we live and thereafter. In the Big Book it is written that alcoholism is but a symptom of a deeper spiritual and emotional malady for which the only solution that works is of a spiritual nature (paraphrased). The steps are our spiritual remedy and God is the arbitrator of our saving Grace we believe. For that Grace and our Higher Power we give thanks and rejoice! |