And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭10

Willingness may be the key to unlocking the steps of recovery, but it is humility that seasons every day going forward.

My lack of it was nearly fatal during active addiction. But then in sobriety, my lack of it threatened to send me back.

At the top of the list of handicaps, a lack of true humility keeps me alone. It cuts off any chance of relationship with God or my fellows.

Part of the discomfort of sobriety is learning to live well among people. Not in terms of success but in terms of equality. We must lay down the idea of being better than or unique from others in order to move into true sobriety and satisfying life.

Here’s the rub: only the wisest of us do this without exhausting other options.

The pain of the realization of the separation from true relationships drove me toward the solution—to lay down my preconceived notions of what it would take, what I would have to do to achieve happiness.

Turns out it takes a lot less and a lot more than I expected.

Less in that it’s not through any achievement that I begin to structure a thought life and attitude and stance that both attracts friendship and solidifies sobriety.

But more in that it requires the sacrifice of letting go.

And it feels like concession.

With God and the business of spiritual alignment, the long-term peace many times starts with counterintuitive short-term pain.

God, help me walk through the temporarily difficult pieces of my journey.