For Today: October 18th

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

Aristotle

Friendship is sharing experience over time, coming to love and care for one another.  Like the OA program of recovery, it is ongoing and changing, growing in strength and depth.  I cherish old friendships—people with whom I’ve gone through the ups and downs of life, learning and growing.

Much as I treasure my friends in OA, however, I am careful not to yield to the temptation to gravitate into small cliques at meetings.  Practicing the twelfth step does not end with getting compulsive overeaters to come to meetings; it means speaking to newcomers at the meeting and making them feel welcome.  It may be from the ranks of these newcomers that new friendships will arise.

For Today:  Friendship, like the longest journey, starts with a single step.

*****************************************************************

The best feature of an OA meeting is the feeling of belonging amongst the members.  To finally know that we're NOT alone with our issues......that many others experience the same turmoil and struggle that we do is an enormous relief.

Sharing our experience, strength and hope together enables us to grow........to learn from each other and to develop strategies and techniques for dealing with the disease of compulsive overeating.  Together we discuss the meaning of surrender and powerlessness, the true keys to recovery.

Friendships develop as we bond.  We see that there is strength in numbers and together, we can do ANYTHING, with God at our side and the Fellowship to support us, every step of the way.

This journey is never, ever 'easy', but it IS doable, one day at a time.  For today, I pray to continue cultivating the true friendships that develop within the walls of the meeting rooms, whether those walls are in a building or on the internet.  Some of THE best friends I've ever made come from discussion groups in an online forum.  You know who you are, and if you are reading this passage today, I send you love & hugs!