Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience

Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬

Look, drinking isn’t bad. It’s the addiction part that becomes the issue.

There are plenty of people—most, in fact—that can handle their alcohol just fine. It enhances their lives. It’s consumed but doesn’t become all-consuming.

It can’t be the problem if it’s simply not a problem for the majority of folks. There’s an argument to be made for the level to which it has saturated and influenced modern society, but the heart of the matter is what it unearths within us.

Are we concerned with our drinking because of one night of heavy use and a hangover? Or are we riddled by the incessant desire we cannot seem to shake?

In the last days of my use I can see clearly where the substance was both a symptom of my misaligned desires as well as the manifestation of a craving due to physical dependence on it.

We do fight a battle on two fronts. And when we cannot even identify, much less pursue things like kindness, humility and patience, we can be sure that something is dreadfully off-kilter.

This is why detox is so important. Whether by ourselves or under medical care, getting the poison out of our bodies cuts the battlefront in half.

Stating the obvious: to get sober we’ll have to stop drinking. And truly, we find that to feel better, to heal, to begin to seek the fruit of the spirit we must start with the obvious and eliminate our using.

We have a chance when we give up drinking. And we only do it a day at a time. I must stop concerning myself with my own future choices. In the here and now—the only way to get to the future—I must not pick up.

We are naked then. That’s the real scary part. Without this intoxicated mask, we are going to feel the brunt of life.

This is where hope must take the shape of action. I was given a chance to make good, tough choices not the benefits that can come as the result of good choices.

God, I must walk away. Help me walk till it’s light again.