Did you ever see the movie “Evan Almighty”? Evan was tasked with building an ark in modern times because the flood was coming. He kept praying for patience, but patience never came. The situations that allowed him to develop patience kept coming, not the skill or attribute of patience. Recovery is like that. The people I sit with in early addiction recovery sometimes sit waiting in abstinence of the acting out for recovery to come….waiting for it to arrive. It takes some time and “program development” to understand that their consistent work, building the muscle of recovery, if you will, over time to live in the life of recovery.
"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle."
– Phillips Brooks
Did you ever see the movie “Evan Almighty”? Evan was tasked with building an ark in modern times because the flood was coming. He kept praying for patience, but patience never came. The situations that allowed him to develop patience kept coming, not the skill or attribute of patience. Recovery is like that. The people I sit with in early addiction recovery sometimes sit waiting in abstinence of the acting out for recovery to come….waiting for it to arrive. It takes some time and “program development” to understand that their consistent work, building the muscle of recovery, if you will, over time to live in the life of recovery.
Recovery is an inside job of small acts developed over time. Phillips Brooks quote struck a cord with me. Sometimes in early recovery we hope for easier situations to deal with and wonder when the collateral damage of our addictive actions and acting out will cease. Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger within to meet the external tasks. The miracle is not the work…the miracle is you!