Growing Up
“Our spiritual condition is the basis for a successful recovery that offers unlimited
growth.”
Basic Text p. 43
When our members celebrate their recovery anniversaries, they often say that
they’ve “grown up” in NA. Well, then, we think, what does that mean? We start to
wonder if we’re grown-ups yet. We check our lives and yes, all the trappings of
adulthood are there: the checkbook, the children, the job, the responsibilities. On
the inside, though, we often feel like children. We’re still confused by life much of the
time. We don’t always know how to act. We sometimes wonder whether we’re really
grown-ups at all, or whether we’re children who’ve somehow been put into adult
bodies and given adult responsibilities.
Growth is not best measured by physical age or levels of responsibility. Our best
measure of growth is our spiritual condition, the basis of our recovery. If we’re still
depending on people, places, and things to provide our inner satisfaction, like a child
depending on its parents for everything, we do indeed have some growing to do. But
if we stand secure on the foundation of our spiritual condition, considering its
maintenance our most important responsibility, we can claim maturity. Upon that
foundation, our opportunities for growth are limitless.
Just for today: The measure of my maturity is the extent to which I take
responsibility for the maintenance of my spiritual condition. Today, this will be my
highest priority.