September 30

”Service is the rent we pay to be living. It is the very purpose of life and not something to do in your spare time.” Marian Wright Edelman

I know for a fact that most of my life has been spent wondering how I can get what I want. It centered on looking to get what I felt I deserved or what was owed to me. It was certainly not focused on what I had to give, on how I was able to share of myself with others. No, I was very self-centered and concerned first and foremost with my own needs. The thing is, I am not more important that anyone else in this world. The universe does not owe me what I want or desire. My Higher Power certainly has a plan for my life, but it’s not to hand over everything I ask for on a silver platter. Recovery is teaching me that my life is meant to be about service, about looking at what I can do for others. The culmination of the Steps is the 12th, focused on “carrying the message to others” – in other words being of service. I was privileged enough to get a second chance, which obligates me to spread the word and find ways to help others have the same opportunity. Service, like working my program, is not something I do like a job from 9-5, but needs to integrate into the new person I have become.

Affirmation I will seek ways to serve others today, whether in relation to my 12-Step work, or simply as another human being, here to share my talents with those around me.