One Day at a Time in Al-Anon:
Most of us come to Al-Anon for help as a last resort. We’ve tried everything else. Perhaps we’ve seen its effects on others; it seems to have worked like magic, and we want some of that! Then we find out that it isn’t magic — it’s a kind of spiritual common sense that we must buckle down and learn.
We start, like children in first grade, with the First Step: Admitted we were powerless over alcohol; that our lives had become unmanageable. The second part of this Sep is easy to admit; but to the first part we usually give only lip service. We find it difficult to surrender to the idea that we, the competent ones who have tried to cope with an alcoholic situation, don’t really know how to handle it correctly.
Today’s Reminder:
Step One must be learned and repeated until it becomes a part of me. Whenever I give in to my natural impulse and habit to take over and try to force a change, I’m in trouble again. I know I can only make progress when I really believe in, and practice, the First Step.
“I pray to be released from my compulsion to control my situation. I have so often proved I am unable to control it. Let me think, know and feel my powerlessness; then I will at least learn to let go and let God.”