Daily readings from Al-Anon's Magazine The Forum • Recovery Reflections • Quote/Sayings

Thursday 11/26/20

Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution. If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds.   - Norman Vincent Peale

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The winds of grace are blowing all the time.
You have only to raise your sail.
--Sri Ramakrishna

If God seems far away, who moved?

At the center of our being a fullness of life exists that wants to flow through us as vitality, love, harmony, happiness, and success. Why, then, are we not more in touch with it?

Consider the following image: You are standing outside on a bright, cloudless day complaining that you cannot see the sun, when you notice that you have been standing under an umbrella. If as little a thing as an umbrella can block out the magnificence of the sun, how easy it is for our fears, doubts, and feelings of unworthiness to block the connection to our source. But just as the sun continues to shine even behind the appearance of clouds, our inner-knowing is ready to communicate with us in the midst of our despair.

How do we reopen the channels and allow the flow to reenter our lives? First, we must truly desire to communicate with our center and set aside a time each day to do so. Then, get quiet and begin to listen. Soon you will hear that still small voice within.

Your divine self is patiently waiting for you to acknowledge it. It quietly, but persistently, knocks on the door of your consciousness. Open that door and a presence of love and joy will fill your being.

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Leaving The Past Behind

I sat at my computer playing solitaire, waiting for the public library to open. I had volunteered to chair next week’s meeting and needed to borrow a copy of Paths to Recovery (B-24). As I played the game, I noticed that sometimes when I missed a card that I needed, I was still able to click back and retrieve it. But it did not work with every card.
 
Working the Steps, especially Steps Four through Nine, helped me retrieve many of the things I had lost living with the family disease of alcoholism. Some relationships were renewed. Principles that were so important to my self-worth and had fallen by the wayside were recovered. I was able to make amends to myself, and to others I had hurt, creating happy, healthy moments and memories.
 
It was a long journey. Some things could not be retrieved. Al‑Anon helped me accept what I could not change. I learned to develop healthy responses to problems that I carried along since childhood. I continue to go to meetings, talk to members, and read my Al‑Anon literature. These simple things provide me with everything I need.
 
After many years, when I look back at my very first meeting, I sometimes think, “I was very upset, of course, but it wasn’t really that bad.” When a newcomer walks into her first meeting at my home group, one look at her face and I remember it really was that bad. I thank my Higher Power for the gift of Al‑Anon. Today, I know I never need to go back there unless I choose to go.

By Marlene N., Nova Scotia April, 2013

Reprinted with permission of The Forum
Al-Anon Family Groups Incorporated, Virginia Beach, VA

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