Sustained Effort

… it takes a sustained effort to apply its spiritual principles in every area of my life.

                                                                                    ~For Today, page 5

These words in today’s reading really jumped out at me.  So much so I took the time to look up the word “sustained” to expanded my understanding of the phrase.  Here’s what I noted:

-         to keep existence, maintain

-         to supply with necessities or nourishment

-         to support from below; keep from falling

-         to support the spirits, vitality, encourage

-         to affirm the validity of

-         to prove, confirm

Wow!  This word packs a lot of punch, huh?  What I understand is that my recovery is a living thing.  It is something that requires care or else it will die.  

A few weeks ago I read Step 12 in the OA 12 + 12.  While reading this, I wrote down all the spiritual principles gained from working it each step:

-         Step 1 – honesty

-         Step 2 – hope

-         Step 3 – faith

-         Step 4 – courage

-         Step 5 – integrity

-         Step 6 – willingness

-         Step 7 – humility

-         Step 8 – self –discipline

-         Step 9 – love

-         Step 10 – perseverance

-         Step 11 – spiritual awareness

-         Step 12 - service

I think of these spiritual principles as the fruit of the spirit.  This is the fruit that I will bear from tending my garden of recovery.  Now that I have 95 days abstinent, my work is not over.  I learned this week in my Big Book study group that recovered does not mean cured.  I will always be a compulsive overeater.  In order to keep my abstinence, in order to sustain it, I have to keep working the steps.  Someone at a meeting (where the topic was abstinence) referred to spiritual fitness and maintaining a healthy rhythm while working the steps.  For me, this is what a sustained effort is…maintaining a healthy rhythm.  This means balance…not too fast…not too slow…not skipping a beat.