You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.

Psalm‬ ‭73‬:‭24‬

As my own guide, I’m going nowhere fast.

The draw is that I’m master of my own destiny, but if I’m clueless as to the endgame, I’m just a dog chasing its tail.

What’s worse is when I do have a clue. Then I’m confined to this present world. I’m investing in the fleeting moment rather than the eternal reality.

There is balance here. This moment is all we have to live in. But when I confuse living moment by moment with investing my hope in the present, I’ve got the cart before the horse.

My hope should instruct my daily actions. It shouldn’t be graspable though.

This is why sponsorship, mentorship and apprenticeship work. In industry and in faith and in recovery.

We need guidance that can look above our next plans while still encouraging us to keep our nose to the ground for the challenges that are right in front of us.

It’s not about holding up people past their own humanity, it’s about attaining perspective born from experience.

As I entered recovery, it took a while before I gave myself over to this age-old practice of seeking wisdom from those who’d gone before.

But when I finally did, the results were undeniably good.

I believe this is the number one way that God can communicate with and through us today. Is everything infallible? Of course not. We are all human. Status and station don’t change this.

But there was much wisdom to be gleaned from the old timers in recovery when I was starting out.

And this remains the case.

God, open my ears to the forms your wisdom takes.