At our job center the other day some new clients were grumbling about the difficulty of finding work. One needed bus fare. Another didn’t have the right clothes for a job search. Still another had an arrest record that kept him from finding work. The list went on and on.
Finally, the manager spoke.
“How many of you let anything stop you when you looked for drugs or alcohol? If you didn’t have a ride to the dope house, you walked or hitchhiked. If you didn’t have money for drugs or alcohol, you borrowed or stole some. You didn’t let anything stop you when you were trying to ruin your life. Now that you’re trying to get sober, you've got a lot of excuses.”
Several in the group got the point right away. And the tone of the meeting shifted to the positive. The manager had suggestions. The first was that they ask for what they need. If they don’t have appropriate interview clothing, ask the manager for a voucher. If they don’t have bus fare see if house funds are available to buy tickets. If an arrest record is an impediment, we have a long list of employers who hire ex-felons.
But the manager had it right. Many of us, myself included, never let anything slow us down while we were on the road to destruction. Our disease took everything. This often included our relationships, our jobs, our health - even our freedom.
To succeed in recovery we must make positive use of the same skill and determination we used to find drugs, that we used to survive in the streets or jails. After all, if our goal is to rebuild our lives we use every available resource to become what God intended us to be.
When I read this message I found it to be very very true. Today I am grateful and thankful.
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