Post by lildee on Jan 28, 2005 8:41:21 GMT -5
Hope for Today
As stated in Tradition Five, Al-Anon has but one purpose- to help families and friends of alcoholics. We can't be all things to all people. At Al-Anon meetings we devote our time and energy to doing what we do best-helping others touched by alcoholism-rather than diverting our focus to other causes. As individuals we may have a variety of other interests, but as an Al-Anon group we voluntarily limit ourselves in order to maximize the successful outcome of our primary purpose.
I, too, need to know my focus. I cannot be all things to all people. Yet, I believe God put each of us here to love and serve one another. So how do I know what is mine to do out of all the possible things I can do? Tradition Five spells it out for me. My primary concern is, and must be, my personal recovery. I cannot give to anyone else something I don't have. I learn to love myself enough to seek my own healing. When I can love myself as I am, I'm better able to accept the human limitations of all God's other children. Finally, because God loves me, I express gratitude for this love through service, which keeps the program alive for me. I do what is in my power to do. I am given the opportunity, desire, ability, and time to do whatever God assigns me, one day at a time. If I lack any of these four things, then I need to humbly let go and accept my limitations.
Thought for the Day
Part of recovery is sorting our the primary focus from competing ones, whether I'm acting alone or as part of an Al-Anon group. "If Al-Anon's singleness of purpose were diluted, we would no longer be able to identify and our own recovery would suffer:" Al-Anon's Twelve Traditions
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As stated in Tradition Five, Al-Anon has but one purpose- to help families and friends of alcoholics. We can't be all things to all people. At Al-Anon meetings we devote our time and energy to doing what we do best-helping others touched by alcoholism-rather than diverting our focus to other causes. As individuals we may have a variety of other interests, but as an Al-Anon group we voluntarily limit ourselves in order to maximize the successful outcome of our primary purpose.
I, too, need to know my focus. I cannot be all things to all people. Yet, I believe God put each of us here to love and serve one another. So how do I know what is mine to do out of all the possible things I can do? Tradition Five spells it out for me. My primary concern is, and must be, my personal recovery. I cannot give to anyone else something I don't have. I learn to love myself enough to seek my own healing. When I can love myself as I am, I'm better able to accept the human limitations of all God's other children. Finally, because God loves me, I express gratitude for this love through service, which keeps the program alive for me. I do what is in my power to do. I am given the opportunity, desire, ability, and time to do whatever God assigns me, one day at a time. If I lack any of these four things, then I need to humbly let go and accept my limitations.
Thought for the Day
Part of recovery is sorting our the primary focus from competing ones, whether I'm acting alone or as part of an Al-Anon group. "If Al-Anon's singleness of purpose were diluted, we would no longer be able to identify and our own recovery would suffer:" Al-Anon's Twelve Traditions
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. I will be back looking for Lin and others.