Today's Reading from Just For Today © NA World Services

 


   October 8                                          A new pattern of living

     "We suspect that if we do not use what we have, we will lose what we
                                    have."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 78

                           ----=----

   Addiction gave a pattern to our lives, and with it a meaning-a dark,
   diseased meaning, to be sure, but a meaning nonetheless.  The Narcotics
   Anonymous recovery program gives us a new pattern of living to replace our
   old routines.  And with that new pattern comes a new meaning to our lives,
   one of light and hope.

   What is this new pattern of living?   Instead of isolation, we find
   fellowship.  Instead of living blindly, repeating the same mistakes again
   and again, we regularly examine ourselves, free to keep what helps us grow
   and discard what doesn't.   Rather than constantly trying to get by on
   our own limited power, we develop a conscious contact with a loving Power
   greater than ourselves.

   Our life must have a pattern.  To maintain our recovery, we must maintain
   the new patterns our program has taught us.  By giving regular attention
   to these patterns, we will maintain the freedom we've found from the
   deadly disease of addiction, and keep hold of the meaning recovery has
   brought to our lives.

                           ----=----

   Just for today:   I will begin a new pattern in my life: the regular
   maintenance of my recovery.