[bluidkiti]

February 10

Wisdom for Today
I remember the incredible honesty of the sharing I heard at meetings when I first started to attend. I was just amazed as one person after another openly described his or her own faults. I was encouraged by the ones I heard share a real sense of hope. It really didn't matter if it was an open meeting, closed meeting, topic or discussion meeting. Even at study meetings when I heard people read from conference-approved literature, their comments were open and honest. I really found it hard to share at first. But as I became more comfortable and less paranoid in meetings, I began to open up as well. It then seemed that the floodgates were opened. All the baggage I had been carrying around had to be unloaded. I found that I felt better when I left the meeting. Something was different.
Even after working through many of the steps and sharing my story of how it was, I have found that I still need to unload sometimes. Life has problems, and I have found that I need meetings as a sounding board. I still need to bounce things off of other people. I still need to do reality testing to check out my thinking and attitudes. Sometimes I still need to talk about the pain that life can bring. Other times I simply need to share the joys that I experience. Do I recognize that sharing is important if I want to stay clean and sober?
Meditations for the Heart
Call on the strengths of God and claim them as your own. I remember walking into the Twelve Step program and feeling like a weakling. The disease had physically, psychologically, morally and spiritually beaten me. I knew that I could not do it on my own; and even if I could muster all the strength I had, it would not be enough. Fortunately the program has taught me not to rely on my strength but on my Higher Power's strength. I know I can also count on the strength of my home group and my sponsor. There is more than enough strength available to me. All I need to do is claim it. When I am facing a struggle or needing to make a decision, I turn to my Higher Power. I ask God for strength and guidance. When I am reasonably sure of the direction that God wants me to go, I claim His strength and move forward with confidence that the strength I have been given will be sufficient to accomplish what I need to do. Each day I am given the strength I need for the journey, and each day I can go back to the renewable source of strength that is God. Do I turn to God daily for the renewable supply of strength I need?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Thank You for the strength I am given for this day. I know I do not need to worry about tomorrow because the source of my strength is You. I can seek renewed strength whenever I need it and can trust that it is always there for me. Help me this day to share all that I need to share. Give me courage not to hold back, because I know that secrets can hurt me.
Amen.