THE PROGRAM WORKS!!!

At the end of some of the meetings I attend, they say "Keep coming back, it works if you work it".  During one meeting I heard a share where the person says "it works even if you don't work it".  I struggled with that for a long time, because I didn't believe that sent the right message.  So I took what I liked and tried to leave that statement behind.  However, I will say that many months down the road now, when I find myself being resistant to work the program, my higher power is working on me through my Al-Anon friends.  I am fortunate enough to have reached a place in my journey where I have experienced enough growth that my old habits and self-preservation mechanisms are not working...they don't fit anymore.  I keep trying to squeeze into them...laying across the bed, holding my breath and trying to make it work...and my new progress is overflowing in such a good way.  My old habits were like that comfortable pair of jeans...the old faithful pair that you rely on.  Well...mine just don't fit.  I keep struggling to make them fit, but I realize that I have to accept that there are new tools and new ways to cope and deal.  It is time to face the things that inhibit me from further growth.  Excuses, expectations, and denial...how about today...just for today, I will ask my HP what is in store, I will do my best to listen.  I am powerless over my expectations, so I ask my HP to remove them from me.

In the rooms, the faces may change, but the program remains the same.  It is the organization and the program that are there time and time again.  The program and the guidelines are the outward symbol of the unmeasurable love that my HP has for me, and that I aspire to have myself.

Here again is my third step prayer: 

Today God, open my heart  to see what you see,

Take the thoughts of my mind that clutter the pathway to recovery and remove them from me.

Take my will and my life and make them yours today, moment by moment, step by step.

I am willing, I have made the decision.

Amen