Meditation of the Day
“When we want to talk to Him we burn tobacco, and it takes our prayers all the way up to the Sky World.”
Our herbs and our medicines are all here to serve us. Offering tobacco as a gift to the Creator is a proper use of our medicine. In this way, we can communicate from the physical world to the spiritual world. Sometimes we struggle to find the right words when we pray, especially when we are confused. The tobacco and sage will take our intentions to the spirit world. The meaning behind the words is more important than the words themselves. The Creator always knows our intent. The tobacco helps us reach the Sky World.
Just for Today: Expectations
“As we realize our need to be forgiven, we tend to be more forgiving.”
Our behavior toward others is a reflection of our behavior toward ourselves. When we demand perfection from ourselves, we tend to demand it from others as well. As we work to repair and heal our lives in recovery, we may expect others to recover at the same pace. And just as we are often unforgiving of our own mistakes, we may shut out friends and family members when they don’t meet our expectations. Working the steps helps us understand our limitations and humanity. We come to see our failures as human mistakes. We realize we will never be perfect and will sometimes disappoint ourselves and others. We hope for forgiveness. As we learn to accept ourselves gently, we can start to view others with the same accepting and tolerant heart. These people, too, are only human, trying to do their best yet sometimes falling short.
Just for Today: I will treat others with the tolerance and forgiveness I seek for myself.
Spiritual Principle: Being Prudent with Our Obligations
”. . . we learn to take on obligations thoughtfully to ensure that we can follow through on what we’ve promised.”
Looking back at our active addiction, we see a clear theme: Moderation was not our strength. If something was enjoyable, worthwhile, or valuable, why not get as much as possible? The fact that we never seemed to be satisfied was a crippling weakness. We drew lines in the sand repeatedly and then crossed them by doing things we said we would never do. In recovery, our lack of satisfaction can almost be a hidden superpower: We raise the bar higher and higher for ourselves, achieving things we thought we never could.
However, we are still addicts and run the risk of spreading ourselves too thin. We often think of prudence as being careful with our money, which is a lesson most of us learn at some point. However, prudence also applies to any resource we have, including our time and attention. One member struggled to fulfill his commitments because he was told he could never say ‘no’ to Fellowship requests. His sponsor advised him, “If you’re feeling overcommitted, practice prudence by learning to say ‘no’ to Fellowship requests that hinder you from fulfilling other commitments you’ve already made.”
Our disease tells us if one is good, more is better. Prudence helps us say ‘no’ or ‘not yet’ when that positive, fulfilling thing we want to do doesn’t fit on our full plate. If we finish what we have, we can go back for seconds.
I cannot be everywhere or do everything. I will practice prudence in my commitments by acknowledging my limitations.