October 30

Contemplating the Gift of Grace

Page 313

"Each day, we are faced with new challenges. And each day, through working our program of recovery, we are given the grace to meet those challenges."

Just for Today, "Meeting the day's challenge," May 27

Life is beautiful--and we may experience immense joy and serenity and love and all that good stuff--but it ain't easy. What addict will argue with that point? However, by getting and staying clean in NA, we develop the competence to deal with life on its own terms. Those "terms" refer not only to immense life-changing events but also to daily challenges that arise in work, family, and relationships. Ideally, meeting those challenges involves acceptance of our limited power, the courage to act in spite of this, and surrendering to the result. We do this with the gift of grace.

For some of us, the challenge we experience with grace is its intangibility. We don't really know what it is or where this gift is coming from. But maybe we don't have to fully understand grace to receive it.

Many of us are reluctant to use "grace" in our everyday language about recovery. We may bristle at its religious undertones, given that it's most often paired with "God," as in "God's grace." What if we don't conceive of our Higher Power as an almighty giver of gifts like grace or staying clean or life itself? Members who hold more traditional conceptions of a Higher Power may find it easier to accept the gift of grace. The rest of us may hesitate, especially if we feel ill equipped to define a gift we're supposed to be getting and then complicate matters by obsessing about the source of this gift.

Perhaps we can look at NA itself as the source of the gift of grace because it teaches us to surrender, be humble, and act with integrity. In essence, the program shows us how to live in accordance with our values. We can achieve a state of grace by striving to do just that.

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integrity and being grateful for the opportunity to do so. Even if I don't fully understand the gift of grace, I will accept it anyway.