The symptom and sign of recovery

INPUTS are symptoms and OUTPUTS are signs. Honesty is the entrance, against dissociation. Serving others is the way out, against selfishness. Honesty is a symptom; only we, ourselves, can really know if we are honest. Serving others is a sign; others can see very well.

What is my thesis for a heart that is actively involved in recovery?

The person in genuine recovery honestly sows and their heart reaps the desire to serve others.

Those with addiction problems often dissociate from themselves and this leads to selfish and self-destructive behaviors. In fact, all sin is dissociation; a distancing from ourselves and from God. Addiction is an absurdly out of control sin. The selfish cannot serve others, because their heart cannot imagine the beauty of trusting God to meet their needs.

Those who engage in the abundant life know that rigorous honesty ignites a heart for service.

The life of wisdom, the heart after God, the life in abundance, the narrow path of the road less traveled … all this is achieved with honesty within ourselves. Y through outward service of ourselves, both venerated with the sincerest desire to acknowledge our existence in God.

The person who is immersed in his recovery process does not feel satisfied with the commitment, the complaint or the comparison. They realize the urgency of their need for God, and their choice makes them prosper through honest contemplation and self-giving. However, they are not exhausted, because they accept their limits and do not serve their own detriment; they do not long to serve. Your honesty is paramount. And their honesty creates in them the ability to see and negotiate, and sometimes accept, their weakness.

So honesty, which is something between us and God, along with a heart to take responsibility for ensuring that others are served first, a service that is visible to others, are the symptom and the sign of recovery.

An addict ceases to be an addict when he consistently serves others more often than he serves them. They have abandoned their insistence on being cared for at the expense of others. His is the transformation from the prison of self to purpose in service.