Narcotics Anonymous

Just For Today - Daily Email Service

   June 12                                                   A vision of hope

                     "Yes, we are a vision of hope..."

                                                            Basic Text, p. 53

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   By the time we reached the end of our road, many of us had lost all hope
   for a life without the use of drugs.  We believed we were destined to die
   from our disease.  What an inspiration it was, then, coming to our first
   meeting and seeing a room full of addicts who were staying clean!  A clean
   addict is, indeed, a vision of hope.

   Today, we give that same hope to others.  The newcomers see the joyful
   light in our eyes, notice how we carry ourselves, listen to us speak in
   meetings, and often want what we have found.  They believe in us until
   they learn to believe in themselves.

   Newcomers hear us carry a message of hope to them.   They tend to see us
   through "rose-colored glasses."  They don't always recognize our
   struggle with a particular character defect or our difficulties with
   improving our conscious contact with our Higher Power.  It takes them time
   to realize that we, the "oldtimers" with three or six or ten years
   clean, often place personalities before principles or suffer from some
   other unsightly character defects.

   Yes, the newcomer sometimes places us on a pedestal.  It is good, though,
   to openly admit the nature of our struggles in recovery for, in time, the
   newcomer will be walking through those same trials.   And that newcomer
   will remember that others walked through that difficulty and stayed clean.

                           ----=----

   Just for today:  I will remember that I am a beacon to all who follow in
   my path, a vision of hope.