Conscious Contact. Ph.D. Ph.D. Anonymous

recovery without expecting much compassion and kindness. Many of us thought we might be humiliated into abstinence or perhaps something worse. More than one of us has been shocked by the loving embrace of compassion and the words of kindness that we had long ago chased from our lives. These acts of love are most often what kept us around long enough to “get it.” Therefore, it is imperative that when newcomers arrive, even straight from the crack house stinking to high heaven, we show them compassion. We match their belligerence with kind and patient words, their confusion with understanding, and their disdain with love. We help clean them up, find them a seat, and give them a hug. This is our way.

      I give my gift away.

      {G}od can still use this beaten-up, tired shell of a man to help someone else in recovery, to be of service to someone in need, to encourage the less fortunate, or to pray for a brother's salvation.

      ∼Chemically Dependent Anonymous P 342