Wake Up and Live

Dear Reader,

This morning I came across these words attributed to Bob Marley: 

"Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!"  -- Bob Marley

I believe Marley's message lends itself exceptionally well to recovery. Every image in it can be understood through the experience of addiction, sobriety, and spiritual awakening.

The road is life itself. Few would argue that joy and sorrow are constant companions as we travel through our mortal experience. Even before I found recovery, there were moments of great joy - holding a newborn child, sharing laughter with people I loved, and experiencing the simple gifts of an ordinary day. There were also moments of profound sorrow, including holding the hand of a family member as they passed through life's final curtain.

Recovery did not remove either joy or sorrow from my life. What changed was the way I judged, believed, reacted, and acted.

Before recovery, much of my thinking was bound by self, ego, resentment, jealousy, and mischief. Life was often centered on me - what I wanted, what I expected from others, and what I thought the world owed me. Mildly stated, even my desires could have very few boundaries. I believed freedom meant doing what I wanted. In truth, I was often being driven by the very things I thought I controlled.

Even in early recovery, many of those old ways of thinking remained. Sobriety did not instantly erase them. Through the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and by staying close to people who had already walked this road, I slowly began to see life differently. I learned to take inventory, admit my wrongs, make amends, pray, meditate, serve others, and surrender what I could not control.

Somewhere along that road, often without recognizing it at the time, I began to wake up. 

And I began to live.

The road still has bumps, ruts, detours, and potholes. Recovery has never promised me an easy road. What it has given me is a better way to travel it. A spiritual way of living has become something like a stronger suspension system: the rough places are still there, but I no longer have to be thrown about by every one of them.

That does not give me permission to become careless or reckless. Quite the opposite. The spiritual path asks me to surrender the illusion that I am always in control. It asks me to seek a Higher Power and, in my own faith, to place greater trust in God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Through sobriety, prayer, meditation, scripture, and service, my mind has become less complicated. I am learning to live more closely to the prayer, "Not my will, but thine, be done." I still make mistakes. I still encounter potholes. But today I do not have to drive deliberately into every one of them.

Increasingly, I find myself living among the calm, happy people, places, and things that once baffled me. I have come to understand that peace does not require a perfect road. It requires a different way of traveling.

“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” 
- John 8:12 (KJV)

For me, this is the light I have found in recovery and in scripture. It does not remove every obstacle from the road before me, but it illuminates enough of the path for me to take the next right step. It helps me recognize some of the warning signs, avoid many of the potholes I once drove straight into, and find my way again when I wander.

Recovery, then, has become far more than putting down alcohol. It has become a spiritual awakening - a way of seeing more clearly, loving more freely, and living with greater purpose.

Bob Marley's words say, "Wake Up and Live."

Christ's words invite me to walk in the light.

Today, I see those messages meeting on the same road.

It is my sincere hope that every person who is struggling, searching, or simply trying to find a better way through life will have the opportunity to discover such guidance - and, one day at a time, to wake up and truly live.

🙏 🧘‍♂️ 💕 🤗 ☮️