By Kathy L

Recovery Editor

I am not a Bible person. What I mean is that I have read certain passages but could never quote any one of them book and verse. I am also not the type of Big Book person who can hear a few words and recite the exact page or how many times the words were used within the book. And so when I say that the phrase "faith without works is dead", I am fairly sure I am paraphrasing a quote from the Bible that became the mantra for action in the early years of Alcoholics Anonymous (and I believe that it was Lois Wilson, Bill W.'s wife that brought those words to life).

Within the past two years that I have been writing as the 12 Step Recovery Editor for BellaOnline, I have talked about sponsorship more than a few times. I talk about it often because I truly believe that the numbers of people who sponsor are far too few for the number of people needing sponsors. I don't think it is that many recovering alcoholics/addicts don't want to sponsor, I think they are afraid to sponsor. And isn't that just old demon "fear" still hanging around telling us we are not good enough or strong enough?

By Kathy L.

Bella Online's Recovery Editor

It can be big or it can be small. It can be homemade or store bought. It can be an expensive decoration or it can be an old shoebox. It can be found in any room of a home. Maybe it is hidden inside of a drawer or closet or maybe it's sitting on the kitchen counter. Maybe it is in the workplace or even in the car. Well, you know from the title of this article what I'm talking about. The God Box!

The God Box isn't something that is reserved for those of us in 12 Step Recovery. As a matter of fact, I would be fairly sure that it is something recovery programs borrowed from religious folk somewhere along the line. There is nothing in any of the AA literature that I know of that mentions a God Box or anything similar. A number of years ago, my mom had this little silk purse that was labeled the "God Bag". Even though we were adults, my sister and I would chuckle at which one of us, or our kids, might be in the "bag" at that moment. I can't speak for my sister, but I chalked it up to just another one of mom's attempts to be better than anyone else. (By the way, today I don't see my mom that way at all as a result of my first Step Four).

Mother's Day is only one Sunday in the month of May.  I would like to dedicate the entire month of May not only to moms but the relationship between mothers and daughters.  So here's to mothers and daughters!

I do not believe that anyone will ever be able to unravel the mystery of love/hate, love/resentment, love/friendship, love/whatever between a mother and a daughter. 

A Positive Attitude and Living in the Now

By Kathy L.

Bella Online's Recovery Editor

I am searching for a few things that continue to elude me. Those "things" are: achieving a higher or perhaps different level of spirituality; identifying, with the help of my Higher Power, any deep-rooted resentments or feelings that keep me from feeling free; and most important, not only living life on life's terms but living in the present-in the now.

No matter how many days, months, or years we have been in recovery, the fact that we can't be perfect gives us an opportunity to get better all of the time. This is why we use the word "practice" so often. We "practice our principles in all our affairs"; we practice meditation and actually, we practice being the best person we can be daily. So my search is not frustrating although I must admit it requires patience. The difficult task for me is thinking that everyone else "gets it" and I don't even though I know intellectually that is not true.