Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭24‬

How willing am I to get sober, to stay sober and to do the work necessary to pass it on?

For all the strengths of the recovery way of life, it’s riddled with suggestions that invariably take up every bit of time I allow it.

There is a great benefit in this, of course. As we fill our lives with the practical actions laid forth in the steps, we become so busy doing the right things, it is difficult to imagine making time for doing the wrong ones.

And that’s the very point. We are sober and sane not only by the removal of the poison of our vice. We must go much further. Only as those vices are supplanted with the goodness of God’s grace, the forgiveness we both give and receive, and the spiritual leaning forward that we attempt on a daily basis do we begin to straighten out.

Removal is less than half the battle. It’s the refilling of our tanks that gives life. It’s the steps we take toward God and our fellow man that meld us back into the fold of the living.

The willingness to bring into the light of each of our days the solution we’ve found through continued seeking is the lifeblood of our new life.

We will fatigue. We will be tempted to cut corners. We will not always wake with the fervor of the newly saved. We will want to count on the benefits of yesterday’s action.

More prayer is in order on days such as these. And then—action in the face of discontent.

Sometimes going through the motions is the necessary repetition of building up the faith. Sometimes showing up for devotion feels empty. But we do it anyway. We do it bored. We stay willing because we remember the cost of living on a whim.

Am I staying willing today?