Today's Gift for Families - April 2014

[MajestyJo]

Thursday, April 10, 2014

You are reading from the book Today's Gift

But don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden.

—Beatrix Potter

Since we are members of a family, we are not free to do anything we like. We may not be able to go as far from home as we would like. We may have to get up earlier in the morning than we would like. We may have only limited use of the car. Families set up limits in order to maintain order and happiness. If each of us demanded something different for supper each night, the situation would be unmanageable.

Limits also keep us safe. When Peter Rabbit was told not to go into Mr. McGregor's garden, it was for his own good. Limits and restrictions are a form of love and protection, and we all have them. When we bump up against one of these limits, we can be assured they serve to point us in another direction, one with freedoms of its own which we may never have explored without being forced to.

What freedom can I discover in a limitation today?

One of the reasons I kept coming back to the program was that I wanted the freedom the program offered.

Freedom from active addiction, freedom to be myself, freedom to find the God of my understanding, freedom to heal through the 12 Steps.

As a woman once shared, "I had to learn to live the Traditions, until such a time as I could work the Steps. Recovery is a program of progress, not perfection. I am offered freedom from addiction, be it to alcohol, drugs, men, relationships, work, etc., one day at a time.