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December 24

Wisdom for Today
There is a saying that goes, "All good gifts come to those who wait." Well, waiting was not something that I was very good at; in fact, I was rather impatient. I can remember growing up as a child and being all excited because Christmas or my birthday was just around the corner. I knew that with these special days I would receive gifts. I was so anxious for the time to arrive that I couldn't wait. I was impatient. Between my impatience and anxiety, I would become irritable and often times would pick a fight with my brothers. In early recovery I was not much different. I continued to want what I wanted, and I wanted it right now. I completed my Fourth Step and wanted some instant reward, but there was none. I didn't want to wait.
I found myself clean and sober, yet still anxious and impatient. I had even listed these things in my Fourth Step. Why didn't they just go away? I found myself getting crabby at meetings and even wanting to pick fights with my sponsor. Wasn't it enough that I completed this inventory? I didn't really understand about what I was becoming angry. At a meeting one night, I was sitting there irritated. I was impatient. The topic for the meeting that night was patience. I sat and didn't even want to listen to what was being said. It came to my turn to talk, and I proceeded to tell everyone how bad my day was going. I whined and complained. Then after I had finished talking, an older and much wiser member of the fellowship looked at me and said, "It sounds like God has given you lots of opportunities to practice patience today." I wanted to get up and walk out of the meeting at that point. After the meeting ended, I talked to my sponsor, and he said, "Gifts come in all types of packages. We do not always see the gifts we receive." I thought about it, and he was right. God was giving me the opportunity to work on my defects. Today I am grateful to have been given such a wonderful gift. Do I see that many of the struggles I have are also opportunities and gifts?
Meditations for the Heart
Sometimes I find that it is important to look at things from a different angle to gain perspective. To see things more clearly, I find it helpful sometimes to imagine what the situation looks like from God's perspective. What I have discovered is that each and every need I have is an opportunity for my Higher Power. When I look at things this way, life looks very different. I can look at my needs and admit that often times I am powerless to meet them. I can turn to my Higher Power and ask for help. I then need to have faith that My Higher Power indeed will find a way to satisfy my needs. God then takes advantage of this opportunity. He provides me with ways to meet my needs. These are not always what I would expect them to be. Just as He provided me with opportunities to practice patience to learn more about my impatience, He also provides me with answers, resources and feedback from friends in the program to aid in my learning. Recovery is all about learning to live again. Do I look at things differently now?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Give me wisdom and insight into all the ways that You gift me with opportunities for growth. Help me to take advantage of each of these opportunities, so that I might learn new ways to live life to it's fullest. Help me to find things each day for which to be grateful, and help me to give credit where credit is due.
Amen.