My Apple Tree
"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." - Martin Luther King Jr.
To me, this is what our recovery is all about, using our Recovery Program to teach us a new way of life. Teaching us each day to plant a new apple tree. Not living with the regrets of yesterday or worrying about the pitfalls of tomorrow, but living today. Planting seeds of hope, love, forgiveness, patience, courage and wisdom on our way to a better life.
How do we achieve this in our lives? How do we get past the conflicting emotions? How do we convince ourselves to plant these seeds of recovery? One suggestion is to look around you at all that is good in your life. Get past the pity just long enough to see other people's struggles. Get past the anger just long enough to see the pain in the faces of your loved ones. Get past the need to be in control just long enough to see just how out of control you really are. There is no doubt that being a compulsive gambler is not easy. It destroys the person. It steals the honesty and confidence of its' victim and replaces it with lies and self-doubt. But life is not easy for most people.
Take a moment and place yourself as a young, intelligent, motivated black student living in the southern United States in the 1960s. Just like a handicapped person in a wheelchair where there are no ramps or no elevators, you just can't get in. You can't go to a white school, you can't eat at a white restaurant, you can't ride the bus, and on and on it goes. But above all of this you still have the hope, love, forgiveness, patience, courage and wisdom to plant an apple tree. No matter how often you hear the word "no", you keep saying "yes".
As compulsive gamblers we need to keep saying "yes". "Yes" I have a problem. "Yes" I need help. "Yes" I need to go to my meetings. "Yes" I need to work the Recovery Program. "Yes" I want to help others succeed.
"Yes" today is my day and I will not waste it. "Yes" I will plant an apple tree today!!!
To me, this is what our recovery is all about, using our Recovery Program to teach us a new way of life. Teaching us each day to plant a new apple tree. Not living with the regrets of yesterday or worrying about the pitfalls of tomorrow, but living today. Planting seeds of hope, love, forgiveness, patience, courage and wisdom on our way to a better life.
How do we achieve this in our lives? How do we get past the conflicting emotions? How do we convince ourselves to plant these seeds of recovery? One suggestion is to look around you at all that is good in your life. Get past the pity just long enough to see other people's struggles. Get past the anger just long enough to see the pain in the faces of your loved ones. Get past the need to be in control just long enough to see just how out of control you really are. There is no doubt that being a compulsive gambler is not easy. It destroys the person. It steals the honesty and confidence of its' victim and replaces it with lies and self-doubt. But life is not easy for most people.
Take a moment and place yourself as a young, intelligent, motivated black student living in the southern United States in the 1960s. Just like a handicapped person in a wheelchair where there are no ramps or no elevators, you just can't get in. You can't go to a white school, you can't eat at a white restaurant, you can't ride the bus, and on and on it goes. But above all of this you still have the hope, love, forgiveness, patience, courage and wisdom to plant an apple tree. No matter how often you hear the word "no", you keep saying "yes".
As compulsive gamblers we need to keep saying "yes". "Yes" I have a problem. "Yes" I need help. "Yes" I need to go to my meetings. "Yes" I need to work the Recovery Program. "Yes" I want to help others succeed.
"Yes" today is my day and I will not waste it. "Yes" I will plant an apple tree today!!!
posted by Taximan at 10:18 AM
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