Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭16‬:‭13‬-‭14

Passivity will kill me. I’m either moving toward or away from my addiction. Standing still equates to sliding backwards.

No? Perhaps not at first. Perhaps we might get away with complacency for a time. But certainly, over any meaningful amount of time, the winds of addiction pull us back.

Slightly at first.

And then, when we might least expect it, we pick up a drink.

These are not idle warnings; nor are they unknown. The experience of others confirms this time and again. We must walk forward or go backward.

Stand firm, then.

But how do we stand firm when much of our lives is strewn about in the aftermath of our drinking? How are we to be strong when the first suggestions in recovery are surrender and letting go?

We should become accustomed to if not comfortable with paradoxes like this.

Our strength comes out of our weakness because it is His strength being finally allowed to bloom in us.

Our firm foundation is from the admittance that if we were to continue on our own, failure was inevitable.

The premise is simple but hard to swallow until we try it out. We must relinquish the things of ourselves that we most want to cling to. We must be willing to try another way.

And this way, we will find if we truly seek it, provides us with the footing we needed all along.

God, help me accept your unlikely strength and grab hold of your hope.