Surrender

Someone once asked me the secret of victorious living. I told him that there is no magic formula. But if any one word could describe it, it would be surrender.

You may ask, "How can I surrender my life?"...There needs to be confession of wrongs and a complete yielding of every area of our lives, personalities, and wills to our Higher Power -- plus faith that God will accept that commitment.

It's not enough for us to have taken the Third Step. It is not enough to have prayed, for the first time, at a specific point in time, the third step prayer. We cannot walk successfully in the glow of that experience for the rest of our lives. We need to return and renew those commitments with God on a daily basis. We need to take inventory and have regular spiritual checkups.

.....daily surrender -- that's the key to daily victory.

adapted from Hope for Each Day, Graham

Incense

Gold and silver are not beautiful and pure until heat is applied. The dross then comes to the surface so that it can be skimmed off. Diamonds, before the chisel, are inert, ugly rocks. Incense, without fire, has no sweet smell.

In recovery, the heat of the steps allows my defects to surface and be removed. The diamond chisel of member relating to program member turns my life into one that radiates the light of my new found freedom. The fire of the working of my Higher Power burns through me. I am the incense, a fragrance for all I touch.