for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬-‭10

Everyone has a choice to make. No one is exempt from picking a path. From turning from darkness to light.

Those of us with addiction and recovery as part of our stories have a somewhat heightened understanding of this. It is a glaring difference for us between the right and wrong ways.

We have big forks in the road as well as small ones. It’s a very obvious difference between using and being sober. It’s binary. We are on the beam. Or we are off the beam.

But carry that thought further. Once we are on the beam, can we simply relax and take it easy? That is exactly what we often hear in recovery.

But don’t take this mantra out of context. Wearing the world like a loose garment is our proper approach towards living life on life’s terms.

This is how we should respond to the inevitable restlessness, irritability and discontent that comes alongside the early days and months of sobriety.

We cannot let the normal rhythms of life sway us from our newfound place in it. We cannot retreat to drinking when we get our feelings hurt.

This business of living in the light suddenly becomes a serious, obtrusive matter.

What is pleasing to God becomes the only way forward and discerning it becomes the key to living one day at a time.

As I relinquish my hold on the ways I used to live and the ways I thought it would be in sobriety I am greeted with the space to breath. God really does not make too hard of terms for us when we honestly start seeking Him.

God help me put one foot in front of the other…and not too far out there.