Al-Anon daily reflection ·

The Privilege of Choice

He gives me the privilege of making my own decisions.

Paths to Recovery, p. 32

My Higher Power gives me the privilege of making my own decisions. That sentence used to scare me. I thought turning my will over meant God would start running everything — telling me what to do, where to go, who to forgive. I half expected a voice from the sky with a daily to-do list.

What happened was the opposite. Instead of losing my ability to choose, I gained clarity about choices I didn't even know I had. My Higher Power didn't override my will. He informed it. Doors I couldn't see before started becoming visible. Options I'd been too frightened or too controlling to notice suddenly appeared.

This is so different from how I treated my girlfriend. I wanted to make her decisions for her — what to eat, who to call, when to go to a meeting. I thought I knew better. My Higher Power doesn't treat me like that. He lets me choose, even when I choose poorly. He trusts me enough to let me learn from my own mistakes.

That kind of trust changed something in me. If God respects my right to make my own decisions — even bad ones — then who am I to deny that same respect to anyone else?

Practice

When I catch myself managing someone else's decisions today, I can stop and extend the same trust my Higher Power gives me — the freedom to choose, even imperfectly.

Today’s Reminder

If God trusts me to make my own mistakes, who am I to deny others that same trust?

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Written by people with lived experience of someone else’s drinking who practice the Twelve Step program of recovery. Published by Daily Growth, LLC.

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