Keeping the gift
“Life takes on a new meaning when we open ourselves to this gift.”
Basic Text, p.102
Neglecting our recovery is like neglecting any other gift we’ve been given. Suppose
someone gave you a new car. Would you let it sit in the driveway until the tires
rotted? Would you just drive it, ignoring routine maintenance, until it expired on the
road? Of course not! You would go to great lengths to maintain the condition of such
a valuable gift.
Recovery is also a gift, and we have to care for it if we want to keep it. While our
recovery doesn’t come with an extended warranty, there is a routine maintenance
schedule. This maintenance includes regular meeting attendance and various forms
of service. We’ll have to do some daily cleaning-our Tenth Step-and, once in a while,
a major Fourth Step overhaul will be required. But if we maintain the gift of
recovery, thanking the Giver each day, it will continue.
The gift of recovery is one that grows with the giving. Unless we give it away, we
can’t keep it. But in sharing our recovery with others, we come to value it all the
more.
Just for today: My recovery is a gift, and I want to keep it. I’ll do the required
maintenance, and I’ll share my recovery with others.