Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   July 23                                             Surrendering self-will

   "We want and demand that things always go our way.  We should know from
       our past experience that our way of doing things did not work."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 93

                           ----=----

   All of us have ideas, plans, goals for our lives.  There's nothing in
   the NA  program that says we shouldn't think for ourselves, take
   initiative, and put responsible plans into action.  It's when our lives
   are driven by self-will that we run into problems.

   When we are living willfully, we go beyond thinking for ourselves-we
   think only of ourselves.   We forget that we are but a part of the world
   and that whatever personal strength we have is drawn from a Higher Power.
   We might even go so far as to imagine that other people exist solely to do
   our bidding.    Quickly, we find ourselves at odds with everyone and
   everything around us.

   At this point, we have two choices.   We can continue in our slavery to
   self-will, making unreasonable demands and becoming frustrated because the
   planet doesn't spin our way.  Or we can surrender, relax, seek knowledge
   of God's will and the power to carry that out, and find our way back to
   a condition of peace with the world.  Thinking, taking initiative, making
   responsible plans-there's nothing wrong with these things, so long as
   they serve God's will, not merely our own.

                           ----=----

   Just for today:   I will plan to do God's will, not mine.   If I  find
   myself at odds with everything around me, I will surrender self-will.