Today's Thought - December
 

December 1

Take the matter of being born. What does being born mean to most people?

~e. e. cummings

Somewhere in this meditation book each of us will find our birthday. It may cause us panic and trauma. It may be a day that reminds us we are getting older. For many adult children, it causes sadness because it reminds them of their childhood birthdays.

Whatever that special day has meant to us in the past, we are in control of what it can mean now and in the future.

A birthday, like any yearly holiday, is a symbol, a time to reflect and remember a special meaning. The special meaning of birthdays can become a reminder that we are called on to be reborn regularly. Seeing new beauty is a kind of rebirth. Making a decision, no matter how small, that enhances our life is a form of rebirth. Moving on to a new place, a new state of freedom, is being born again. Every day can be a birthday.

Today, I am celebrating the birth of a wholly worthy human being. Any day I choose can be another birthday.

Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy: Daily Meditations for Adult Children*

December 2

Reflection for the Day

If we felt guilty, degraded, or ashamed of either our addiction itself or the things we did while "under the influence," that served to magnify our feelings of being outcasts. On occasion, we secretly feared or actually believed that we deserved every painful feeling; we thought, at times, that we truly were outsiders. The dark tunnel of our lives seemed formidable and unending. We couldn't even voice our feelings and could hardly bear to think about them. So we soon drank or used again. Do I remember well what it used to be like?
Today I Pray

May I remember how often, during my days of active addiction, I felt alone with my shame and guilt. The phony jollity of a drinking party or the shallow relationships struck up at a bar could not keep me from feeling like an outsider. May I appreciate the chance to make new friends through the fellowship of the group. May I know that my relationships now will be saner, less dependent, more mature.
Today I Will Remember

Higher Power, thank you for new friends.

Today's reading is from the book A Day at a Time: Daily Reflections for Recovering People*

December 3

Believing in the possibility of change gives us hope.

For a long time, with little or no success, we have struggled to make others do as we wish. We can't control people, no matter how sophisticated our manipulations are. If they want to drink, they do. If they want to lie, they do. We just can't stop them!

With the help of our friends in this program, we are learning a better way to live. We hear laughter in their voices. We see serenity in their faces. We know from their stories how similar our struggles have been. But they are free from despair. And we can be too.

We can change. We are changing. Believing in change makes it possible.

My affirmation today is "I can be as hopeful and happy as I decide to be."

Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance*

December 4

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Many of us voluntarily assume extra responsibilities in our workplaces, homes, communities, or families of choice. Perhaps, though we may not be able to acknowledge it, we hope to be repaid in some way. It's useful to take a look at the motives underlying our giving. When we offer service to an organization, a recovery program, or a friend or family member, we may secretly expect that our good deeds will be rewarded by acclaim, popularity, or love.

When we can let go of any hidden agendas for our giving, we're blessed. The more freely and generously we give of ourselves, the freer we are of stress, resentment, and burnout. If we've taken on more than we can handle, if we've lost the appetite for giving, if we're always counting the cost, it's time to look searchingly at our expectations. When we are able to give from our love for others, our hearts expand with joy.

Today, generosity flows from me.

Today's reading is from the book Glad Day

December 5

Letting Go of Worry

What if we knew for certain that everything we're worried about today will work out fine?

What if…we had a guarantee that the problem bothering us would be worked out in the most perfect way, and at the best possible time? Furthermore, what if we knew that three years from now we'd be grateful for that problem, and its solution?

What if…we knew that even our worst fear would work out for the best?

What if…we had a guarantee that everything that's happening, and has happened, in our life was meant to be, planned just for us, and in our best interest?

What if...we had a guarantee that the people we love are experiencing exactly what they need in order to become who they're intended to become? Further, what if we had a guarantee that others can be responsible for themselves, and we don't have to control or take responsibility for them?

What if...we knew the future was going to be good, and we would have an abundance of resources and guidance to handle whatever comes our way?

What if...we knew everything was okay, and we didn't have to worry about a thing? What would we do then?

We'd be free to let go and enjoy life.

Today, I will know that I don't have to worry about anything. If I do worry, I will do it with the understanding that I am choosing to worry, and it is not necessary.

Today's reading is from the book The Language of Letting Go: Daily Meditations on Codependency*

December 6

Twelfth-Stepping

Our addictive personalities can produce unexpected twists in character: many of us can't stand practicing addicts of any kind. It feels old to Twelfth-Step someone who reminds us so sharply of where we came from. Who wants to get up at three o'clock in the morning to Twelfth-Step someone who's high and probably won't remember what you said anyway?

What's the use? we may ask. We're the use! Twelfth-Stepping is something we need to do to stay clean and sober. We may not like it all the time, but it keeps us growing.

Do I always carry the message to those who still suffer?

Higher Power, give me the strength, patience, and love it requires to Twelfth-Step those who still suffer.

Today I will work on tolerance by…

Today's reading is from the book Day by Day: Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts*

December 7

Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.

~Mark Twain

When we take Step Eight, we think about people we have harmed and make a list of them. We may have cheated, lied to, beaten up, or stolen money from these people. Some are people we asked to love us.

When we love someone, it changes us forever. It changes how we think about our lives. Loving someone makes us open and raw and tender and real. It makes us loyal and attached to one person.

If we asked someone to love us, we must pay attention to how our disease has affected him or her. Perhaps we couldn't help it, but this person was probably hurt very badly. How can we help him or her heal? How can we help this special individual trust again and love again?

This is one of the hardest problems we face in recovery. We can get help from professional counselors as well as our recovery friends when dealing with tough relationship issues.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me face the pain my disease has caused those who love me. Help me carefully decide how to make amends.
Today's Action

Who are the people in my life that I am attached to? Is it a good attachment? What can I do about the attachments that are hurtful?

Today's reading is from the book God Grant Me: More Daily Meditations from the Authors of Keep It Simple*

December 8

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

~One Day at a Time in Al-Anon

Nothing freezes us in our tracks like fear. How many times have we let fear stop us from doing what we really wanted to do? Maybe we wanted to change jobs, be honest with a friend, ask someone for a date, buy a home. But we couldn't because we were afraid. The truth is, the moment our fear takes control, our self-will also takes control.

The first thing to do is to admit to ourselves that we're afraid. The second is to find out why. Discovering why may mean calling a friend to talk, praying, taking an inventory of ourselves, going to a meeting. To feel the fear lift is to have ourselves back again. Then, when we know how we feel, we'll know what to do.

Can I accept my Higher Power's help and the help of others when I'm afraid? Emotional balance and serenity unclouded by fear are the gifts of recovery.

Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart

December 9

Praying

Trying to pray is praying.

~Anonymous

"Oh, God, help me! If you get me out of this mess, I'll never screw up again." This was our favorite prayer before we entered the program. We were always bargaining with God.

We have learned new prayers and a new way to talk and listen to our Higher Power. We are seeking God's will for us. Many of us had to learn how to pray. We began with very simple prayers: "God, help me know Your will for me." "Thank you, God, for helping me today."

We learn that prayer helps us with our faulty dependence on people, places, and things by giving us the insight and strength to rearrange our priorities. Prayer doesn't change God, but it changes those who pray.

Today in my prayers, I will seek my Higher Power's will for me. I no longer bargain with God.

Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It: A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations*

December 10

Love the moment and the energy of the moment will spread beyond all boundaries.

~Corita Kent

When we quiet our mind, bypassing our thoughts about the hour or day before, or our fear over what may come tomorrow, we can more easily relish each moment - this moment. We too often succumb to the seduction of worrying about the past and future, which are beyond our control.

Our unwillingness to give up this obsessive thinking keeps the joy and serenity we long for out of reach. We forget that the power lies within us to clear our mind and to fully experience the peace of the moment. Quieting our mind requires commitment and practice. We can circumvent any thought and experience moments of peace - a peace that will become as seductive as our old obsession to worry.

I will choose to give up worry today and enjoy many peace-filled moments instead.

Today's reading is from the book In God's Care: Daily Meditations on Spirituality in Recovery*

Decembers 11

Just by speaking I can break out of my self?made prison.

~June Singer

For many of us guys, words don't come easily. Maybe we have strong feelings, strong thoughts, and important things on our mind, but they may not translate easily into spoken words. Even as toddlers, little boys don't generally start to speak as early as little girls do. But that is no excuse for not working at it. Some of the most difficult challenges produce the most creative responses.

Something magical happens when the unspoken is finally spoken. A little of our private world is finally known by another human being. Even more than that, we finally know more clearly what is on our minds when we put words to it and hear ourselves say it. We may not even know that we are in a self-made prison of silence until we start to break out of it. Talking - finding words to say what is on our mind - is a big part of our healing process.

Today, I will talk to someone about a feeling, a memory, or an unanswered question.

Today's reading is from the book Stepping Stones: More Daily Meditations for Men*

December 12

We do not have to get caught in the middle of other people's issues.

~Melody Beattie

Learning to respect boundaries, our own and other people's, eliminates much of the stress that hinders relationships. Accepting the behaviors and the opinions of our friends as legitimate for them allows our relationships to teach us tolerance and patience and love. Our journey on this planet is not about "fixing" or controlling others, but about loving them wholly, just as we want to be loved.

We need other people. Our humanity is enhanced by our mutual experiences. But we also need to let others learn from their mistakes and their own experiences, rather than to help them avoid what they need for their growth. We hate to see our friends in pain. Our compassion is triggered when trouble trips them. But their journey must be inviolate. We'll only prolong their struggle by intervening where we aren't needed.

It's hard to back away when a friend is in trouble. But telling her I love and support her may give her the strength she needs.

Today's reading is from the book A Woman's Spirit: More meditations for Women*

December 13

AA Thought for the Day

Second, alcoholics recover their faith in a Power greater than themselves. They admit that they're helpless by themselves and they call on their Higher Power for help. They surrender their lives to God, as they understand Him. They put their drinking problem in God's hands and leave it there. They recover their faith in a Higher Power that can help them. Have I recovered my faith?
Meditation for the Day

You must make a stand for God. Believers in God are considered by some as peculiar people. You must even be willing to be deemed a fool for the sake of your faith. You must be ready to stand aside and let the fashions and customs of the world go by if it means that God's plans are thereby forwarded. Be known by the marks that distinguish a believer in God. These are honesty, purity, unselfishness, love, gratitude, and humility.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be ready to profess my belief in God before others. I pray that I may not be turned aside by the skepticism and cynicism of unbelievers.

Today's reading is from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day: A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life*

December 14

To affect the quality of the day - that is the highest of the arts.

~Henry David Thoreau

We are the sculptors of our day. We can mold it creatively into a wonderful masterpiece. We control the amount of moisture we mix into our clay. We pound it, shape it, stroke it, love it.

Others can offer suggestions, and we gain new perspectives from their advice, but it is finally our own creation. Our knife may occasionally slip, or our mixture of earth may be too dry. Any great artist suffers temporary setbacks. Besides, imperfections in art often make it all the more interesting.

How creative can I be in my life today?

Today's reading is from the book Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families*

December 15

One forgives to the degree that one loves.

~La Rochefoucauld

We all get hurt by other people sometimes. When this happens, we have choices. We can get angry and stay that way. We can act like it didn't hurt and try to forget it. We can act like a sad sack and hold a grudge. Or we can forgive.

We first have to think about how someone hurt us. It often helps to talk to the person, to tell the person that he or she hurt us. We then tell the person what we'd like from him or her to help set our relationship straight. Then we let go.

This is what forgiveness is: first, loving ourselves enough to stand up for ourselves; second, loving others enough to point out their behavior; and third, letting go.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me lovingly forgive those who have hurt me.
Action for the Day

I will list five persons who have hurt me. Have I forgiven them? I will talk to my sponsor about it today.

Today's reading is from the book Keep it Simple: Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal*

December 16

Some of us, observing that ideals are rarely achieved, proceed to the error of considering them worthless. Such an error is greatly harmful. True North cannot be reached either, since it is an abstraction, but it is of enormous importance, as all the world's travelers can attest.

~Steve Allen

How many of us, seeing others who failed to live fully by their ideals, cried, "Hypocrite!" Perhaps we even pointed to others' shortcomings to excuse our own. Now, in this program, we may be tempted to swing like a pendulum to the other extreme. We may hold to our values and principles so tightly that we are perfectionistic.

The idea that True North cannot ever be reached is very useful. If we don't achieve True North, even though we establish it as our standard, we will generally be heading in the right direction. Although we never perfectly achieve our ideals, they remain our standards today for orienting our lives.

I do accept standards for my life. I will not beat myself up for my imperfections.

Today's reading is from the book Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men*

December 17

Simple Self-Care

What do you think of when you think about self-care? Does it conjure up ideas of a weekend or week away? An expensive day at the spa? Buying yourself flowers? Chocolates? There's nothing wrong with any of those things, but I'm here to remind you that self-care doesn't have to cost you a cent, and you don't have to develop any sort of formal plan to do it.

Sitting in silence is self-care. Bonus points if you do it outside in the sun. (Please don't take your phone with you.) If sitting in silence (inside or outside) is hard for you, that's okay. Try it another time.

Stretching is also self-care, and I don't mean the kind where you get out your yoga mat. I mean literally stand up and stretch your arms above your head and then bend your neck forward, backward, and then in a circle. Can you try that now? Or modify it to fit your needs if you are not able to stand - you can stretch as you sit in a chair or in bed.

Self-care is breathing deeply. Can you take five deep breaths? Count to three on the inhale and five on the exhale. How does that feel? Look at you. You have just rocked simple self-care.

Practice simple self-care throughout the day. The benefits will astound you.

Today's reading is from the book She Recovers Every Day: Meditations for Women*

December 18

Being open

Sometimes we think we're supposed to have more recovery under our belts. Perhaps we feel the need to impress our peers with our success in staying off mind-altering chemicals. But perhaps we are really just trying to convince ourselves. We know how difficult recovery is, and surely our Higher Power is not fooled by our pretense of well-being.

If we try to hide our problems, we cannot get help for them. To get help we must tell people where we're really at. No one can read a closed book.

Am I open with others?

Higher Power, help me believe in the saying "Ask and you shall receive."

Today I will be more open and honest about…

Today's reading is from the book Day by Day: Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts*

December 19

Reflection for the Day

"Perfect courage," wrote La Rochefoucauld, "means doing unwitnessed what we would be capable of with the world looking on." As we grow in the program, we recognize persistent fear for what it is, and we become able to handle it. We begin to see each adversity as a Higher Power-given opportunity to develop the kind of courage that is born of humility rather than of bravado. Do I realize that whistling to keep up my courage is merely good practice for whistling?
Today I Pray

May I find courage in my Higher Power, which gives me the strength to overcome the insidious fears that haunt me. Fears of losing someone or something have, at times, become too much of a focus in my life. I pray for my own willingness to let go of those fears.
Today I Will Remember

Praying is more than whistling in the dark.

Today's reading is from the book A Day at a Time: Daily Reflections for Recovering People*

December 20

We can stop making mountains out of molehills.

Learning to let go of the choices other people make takes away much of the angst we have grown accustomed to. Letting go of the outcome of all experiences, even those that involve us, frees our minds from the needless worry that keeps us stuck. The more we focus on a problem, our own or someone else's, the bigger it gets.

Why do we worry so much? For some of us it has become a habit. Lucky for us, by sharing the Twelve Step journey we can learn how not to worry. The solution is to have faith that our Higher Power will take care of us. And the others in our lives have their Higher Power to care for them. Learning to give up our old way of "doing" life unburdens us profoundly. The time we'll gain will allow us to do what we really need to do.

My perspective today will be healthy. I'll "let go and let God."

Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance*

December 21

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.

~Sir Rabindranath Tagore

In the darkness of early morning, the bird outside the window begins to sing. Soon the eastern sky turns pink. The bird continues singing until the first yellow rays warm its soft wings. Then it flies away, not returning to the window until the next morning.

We can learn from the small bird how to have faith. We don't need to wait for something we want before having faith we'll get it. We can begin to show our faith by celebrating the things we usually take for granted. After all, when we take something for granted, isn't that a selfish form of faith?

We can start by singing a song to celebrate the new day, a day that will warm our hearts and shed light on our actions. Like the bird's faith in the sunrise, we need only have faith that God meant each day to enrich our lives.

What faith can I celebrate right now?

Today's reading is from the book Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families*

December 22

Experiment

Experiment. Try something new. Try stepping out. We have been held back too long. We have held ourselves back too long.

As children, many of us were deprived of the right to experiment. Many of us are depriving ourselves of the right to experiment and learn as adults.

Now is the time to experiment. It is an important part of recovery. Let yourself try things. Let yourself try something new. Yes, you will make mistakes. But from those mistakes, you can learn what your values are.

Recovery does not equal abstention from life. Recovery means learning to live and learning to live fully. Recovery means exploration, investigation, experimentation.

Recovery means being done with the rigid, shame-based rules from the past, and formulating healthy values based on self-love, love for others, and living in harmony with this world.

Experiment. Try something new. Maybe you won't like it. Maybe you'll make a mistake. But maybe you will like it, and maybe you'll discover something you love.

Today, I will give myself permission to experiment in life. I will stop rigidly holding myself back, and I will jump in when jumping in feels right. God, help me let go of my need to deprive myself of being alive.

Today's reading is from the book The Language of Letting Go: Daily Meditations on Codependency*

December 23

Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do which must be done, whether you like it or not.

~Charles Kingsley

Marshall McLuhan warned that this age of electronic marvels could turn out to be less than marvelous for human development. He predicted that one effect would be the spawning of vast numbers of voyeurs - people who would rather watch than participate, seek vicarious rather than real experiences, and seemingly not know the difference.

We all know (or may be) people who would rather watch television than participate in the living drama of today's world. Being a spectator is safe. The defeats and triumphs and the loves and losses that flicker across the screen don't require that we take a stand or make an effort. As long as we don't participate, we don't have to make decisions or take risks.

But real life is lived in the trenches, and real action is never secondhand. As the years go by and we look back on our lives, will we want to remember that we played the game, or that we played it safe?

Today, I pray for the courage to get involved in my own drama.

Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy: Daily Meditations for Adult Children*

December 24

To understand all this a little better, it might help to look at someone who is quite the opposite.

~Benjamin Hoff

We addicts are a rigid, stubborn bunch. We often get something in our heads, and it seems to push all the questions out. Recovery suggests that we work to develop an open mind that wonders, questions, and is willing to cast doubts, even on our own motives.

One of the gifts of going to meetings is hearing the opinions of people whose thinking is directly opposite of ours. How often it happens that the person we see as having nothing to offer us ends up teaching us the most. This is the way of openness. Openness asks that we welcome the truth no matter who the messenger is. Openness is also an admission that we are incomplete and we need the new ideas, opinions, and suggestions of others.
Prayer for the Day

Openness allows me to hear the truth. Higher Power, you are the truth. Help me keep listening for your messages and guidance as they come to me through others.
Today's Action

Today I will write down three times that my closed mind has gotten me struck or in trouble.

Today's reading is from the book God Grant Me: More Daily Meditations from the Authors of Keep It Simple*

December 25

When a person is concerned only with giving, there is no anxiety.

~Gerald Jampolsky

Whatever we give away returns to us, many-fold. When we show love or understanding, when we are gentle or express genuine concern, usually the same will come right back to us. Perhaps not in kind, maybe not in ways we expected, nevertheless our gifts bear fruit.

Many of us have longed for love and security to come from others with a promise of forever; inevitably, we became anxious that, in time, that love or security would disappear. When we view life from such a narrow perspective, no amount of love can bolster our sense of worth.

How different the world looks when we unselfishly give out love rather than longingly await the love, attention, or understanding of others. We guarantee receiving the good feelings we crave every time we share those feelings with a fellow traveler.

I am in charge of what I receive from others today. I will get back what I willingly give.

Today's reading is from the book In God's Care: Daily Meditations on Spirituality in Recovery*

December 26

Happiness

If it is happiness you want, change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with shoes than to carpet the whole earth.

~Anonymous

"Happiness" is one of the three spiritual characteristics that the program tells us God wants for us. The other two are "joyous" and "free." In our study of what comes to us during our recovery, we read often about the treasured state of being happy. Someone wrote that we "have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it."

We in the program are not selfish with the happiness we gain through our own efforts and through the sharing of our fellow members. We hope that all around us can be as happy as our program has made us. A happy state of mind is contagious. Happiness breeds satisfaction - with ourselves, our fellow travelers, and life as a whole. It is difficult to be successful without finding happiness.

I accept happiness as a gift and thank my Higher Power for it.

Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It: A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations*

December 27

The heart has reasons which reason does not know.

~Blaise Pascal

In a technological age, we think we can engineer the answers to all our problems. Reason and analysis are the tools we reach for. Our heads rule our hearts.

But our hearts have voices, too, and they deserve to be heard. Emotion is not just a force; it is also a language whose words are often more powerful and effective than those of the mind's language. Our hearts can tell us about caring and affection and helping and loving and being in touch.

In our addiction, we stopped listening to our hearts. Our hearts themselves almost stopped. Recovery sets the heart beating again in hope and love.

I am coming to trust in the language of my heart - the language of loving.

Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart

December 28

Nothing is predestined: the obstacles of your past can become gateways that lead to new beginnings.

~Ralph Blum

At this doorway to a new year, we look ahead to new beginnings. In some ways, this is like any other day in the cycle of our lives. Some things we know for sure, and other things are yet to be revealed. We can know that again on this day we will stay sober and true to our path of healing and recovery. Still, we look to the year ahead with a sense of adventure. This year will be a continuing flow of experiences, and on this path, we deal with each experience with the calm certainty that we are not alone.

We know that we cannot control what happens to us, but we can stay true to ourselves. "Keep coming back" is a well-known motto for our life in recovery. We are not perfect, and we don't expect perfection of ourselves. What we expect is to keep returning to our path. Like any driver or any pilot who continuously reorients his craft as he travels along his route, we look forward to this year, knowing that we will keep returning to the true course we have chosen. It will be an adventure, and we will take whatever happens and use it for our growth.

Living one day at a time, my pledge is to keep coming back to this path of renewal.

Today's reading is from the book Stepping Stones: More Daily Meditations for Men*

December 29

Being quiet does not mean sacrificing productivity.

~Jane Nelsen

To be quiet is to be focused. When we are focused, we are generally much more productive. But our inner dialogue often interrupts our focus. How seldom we manage to throw our entire being into the present moment. How much more we might accomplish if we could do this at will.

Learning to be quiet is not difficult, even though it doesn't come naturally to most of us. We are used to racing around; it doesn't occur to us that life can be experienced in another way. Once we grow accustomed to slowing down, quieting the clatter of our thoughts, we experience a sense of peace: the knowledge of the spirit within.

How lucky for us who share this recovery path that we have the tools we need to learn quietness. Practicing the suggestions in the Eleventh Step will change our lives.

I will relish the quiet today. What I need to do can be easily accomplished with quiet focus.

Today's reading is from the book A Woman's Spirit: More meditations for Women*

December 30

AA Thought for the Day

In AA alcoholics find a way to solve their personality problems. They do this by recovering three things. First, they recover their personal integrity. They pull themselves together. They get honest with themselves and with other people. They face themselves and their problems honestly, instead of running away. They take a personal inventory of themselves to see where they really stand. Then they face the facts instead of making excuses for themselves. Have I recovered my integrity?
Meditation for the Day

When trouble comes, do not say: "Why should this happen to me?" Leave yourself out of the picture. Think of other people and their troubles and you will forget about your own. Gradually get away from yourself and you will know the consolation of unselfish service to others. After a while, it will not matter so much what happens to you. It is not so important anymore, except as your experience can be used to help others who are in the same kind of trouble.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may become more unselfish. I pray that I may not be thrown off track by letting the old selfishness creep back into my life.

Today's reading is from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day: A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life*

December 31

The gods bless you.

~Sappho

We have cause for celebration. Though as individuals and as a community we may have suffered losses, let's remember that we are still here and stronger than ever before. Our joys are meant to be spoken, sung, danced, and shared.

Celebrations are ways to acknowledge ourselves and one another, give praise and thanks for our accomplishments, strengthen our sense of identity and connection, and reinforce our dedication to our dreams.

We have survived. We have a voice. We have helped to nurture and heal one another, physically and spiritually. We have used our many talents to help make the world saner and more beautiful. We have reinvented the family. We've expanded the known boundaries of love. We've been faithful to our visions.

Today, I have cause to celebrate.

Today's reading is from the book Glad Day