Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   February 27                                             "Pure" motives

     "We examine our actions, reactions, and motives.  We often find that
            we've been doing better than we've been feeling."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 43

                           ----=----

   Imagine a daily meditation book with this kind of message:  "When you
   wake up in the morning, before you rise from your bed, take a moment for
   reflection.  Lie back, gather your thoughts, and consider your plans for
   the day.   One by one, review the motives behind those plans.   If your
   motives are not entirely pure, roll over and go back to sleep."
   Nonsense, isn't it?

   No matter how long we've been clean, almost all of us have mixed motives
   behind almost everything we do.  However, that's no reason to put our
   lives on hold.   We don't have to wait for our motives to become
   perfectly pure before we can start living our recovery.

   As the program works its way into our lives, we begin acting less
   frequently on our more questionable motives.    We regularly examine
   ourselves, and we talk with our sponsor about what we find.  We pray for
   knowledge of our Higher Power's will for us, and we seek the power to
   act on the knowledge we're given.  The result?  We don't get perfect,
   but we do get better.

   We've begun working a spiritual program.   We won't ever become
   spiritual giants.   But if we look at ourselves realistically, we'll
   probably realize that we've been doing better than we've been feeling.

                           ----=----

   Just for today:   I will examine myself realistically.   I will seek the
   power to act on my best motives, and not to act on my worst.