For Today:  August 19^th

The remedy of all blunders, the cure of blindness, the cure of crime, is love.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

All growth, all healing depends on love.  Love is what God is all about.  A loving God---as I understand God---does not preach or dictate or threaten.  God is my backer, supportive of me, no matter what I do.  God does not make deals: “Do this and I’ll do that.”  God does not bully or punish or say, “I told you so.”  God listens and accepts me as I am, loves me as I am.  God doesn’t give advice.  God knows that learning comes only from experience---experience I am not led to until I am ready.

For Today: God’s perfect love is mine any time I am willing to receive it.  II let go the God of my childhood and believe, with all my heart, in this God that brought me here and gave me new life.

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"When you love you should not say,
"God is in my heart," but rather,
"I am in the heart of God."
Kahlil Gibran

What is love? And what does it mean to love myself? I've found from my experience that it is easier to describe what love is not. Through many failures -- and with my Higher Power's help -- I have discovered that to love myself means choosing to not hurt myself by overeating. Self-love means choosing to no longer ignore my inner-child who sometimes screams to be heard and must have a tantrum to get my attention. Self-love means not isolating or allowing the hurtful, grieving, angry, fearful thoughts to possess my mind to the degree that the disease overtakes any sanity I may have. This list could go on -- focusing on the failures and the negative -- but my Higher Power has given me the desire, strength and power to feel, express and give love. Our Higher Power offers the freedom and joy of self-love to each of us who are willing to receive and practice it.

The more I am able to receive the love of others, the more I am able to love myself. And conversely, the more I love myself, the more I am able to receive love from others. As I work this Twelve Step program to the best of my ability each 24 hours, I am shown love through meetings, my sponsor, meditating, journaling, spending time with my Higher Power, and sharing my experience, strength and hope with another person. Some days, �the best of my ability� may be to just get out of bed and say the Third Step prayer. Other days, �the best of my ability� will seem like I'm working the program close to perfection. Regardless of my ability on any particular day, I've found that love can be gleaned from each day.

As the quote above states, "I am in the heart of God." I experience this when I am willing to surrender daily to the will of my Higher Power and to be completely and absolutely surrounded and protected by the heart of God.

One Day at a Time . . .
I will seek to see love in as many moments as possible by looking to my Higher Power and then reaching out to others.