from Touchstones
Dawns another year, Open it aright; Thou shalt have no fear In its fading light. — Joseph Krauskopf
New Year’s Eve is a good time to reflect on the closing year and set our direction for the year ahead. This day reminds us that every day of the year is lived just one at a time. Looking back, we can see a year’s change in ourselves. We see the progress we have made as men on our journey. Perhaps we see how much stronger we are emotionally. Maybe we see relationships that have developed because of our growing ability to love. Certainly, all of us have some things we regret and some changes we mourn. They too have their place today.
As we begin the coming year, let us review our relationship with each of the Steps. We may perceive aspects of our program that call for more attention. One or two particular Steps may speak to our needs at this time or may have been overlooked in this past year. On this last day of the year, we can again turn our lives and will over to the care of a loving God.
I look to the new year with a renewed commitment to the Steps.
From Answers in the Heart
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup. — H. L. Mencken
We are often justly proud of our ideals as we attempt to live by them in our daily lives. Ideals give us hope and help us dream of better worlds. But ideals can easily turn into doctrines and become rigid. They can cause us to shun diversity so that we make false assumptions. The humble cabbage may not fill our ideal of beauty, but it can be transformed into an excellent soup.
Many of us sex addicts are perfectionists who have been brought up to believe in nothing other than the ideal. When we fall away from perfection, we plunge from the heights of idealism to the depths of misery and self-abuse.
We can do better by being less perfectionistic. When we reveal and accept our real strengths and defects with Steps Four and Five, and humbly turn them over in Six and Seven, we get a new perspective on ourselves and a true sense of balance. We learn to be flexible and to appreciate the diversity of life (even the humble cabbage).
Even if I don’t especially like cabbage soup, I can recognize that all things may be good to those who love life and keep their eyes wide open.
Daily Meditation Books
Answers in the Heart - daily meditations for people recovering from sex addiction
Touchstones - daily meditations for recovering men
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