Each Day a New Beginning: June 17th

Wisdom never kicks at the iron walls it can't bring down.
—Olive Schreiner

God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change. Many times - yesterday, last week, today, and even tomorrow - we'll come face-to-face with a seemingly intolerable situation. The compulsion to change the situation, to demand that another person change the situation, is great. What a hard lesson it is, to learn we can change only ourselves! The hidden gift in this lesson is that as our activities change, often the intolerable situations do, too.

Acceptance, after a time, smooths all the ripples that discourage us. And it softens us. It nurtures wisdom. It attracts joy and love from others. Ironically, we often try to force changes that we think will "loosen" love and lessen struggle. Acceptance can do what our willpower could never accomplish.

As we grow in wisdom, as we grow in understanding, as we realize the promises of this program, we'll stand ready, as women, to weather all our personal storms. Like the willow in the wind, we'll bend rather than break. And we'll be able to help our sisters become wise through our example.

My lessons are not easy. But they will ease my way. Better days begin, today.

From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey © 1982, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation

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 One of the hardest lessons I've learned along this journey is Acceptance; to accept that which I am powerless to change.

Since I am a 'fixer' by nature, I tend to demand an intolerable situation be changed! Who am I to play God? It's not my job to change what IS; it's my job to ACCEPT what 'is' and to remain peaceful throughout.  Each situation I face in life is there for a reason.  Each situation I face brings with it a lesson which I am to learn and grow from. 

If everything in life were easy, where would wisdom be learned? It's through my struggles & difficulties that I learn and grow. 

If I weather my personal storms with grace & acceptance, and if I don't rage against whatever faces me, I will be like a willow in the wind; bending rather than breaking.

My addictions have broken me in the past, brought me to my knees in defeat & humiliation.  Through those defeats came recovery; without them I wouldn't have found the inner peace & strength I enjoy today.

For today, I will not lament my difficulties. Instead, I will embrace them, knowing such difficulties have arisen as a means to help me achieve wisdom. 

For today, I will Accept the things I cannot change.