Meditations for Recovering Persons
by A. Philip Parham

LETTING GOD is the first daily devotional book based on the Christian Gospel and Twelve Step Recovery. Published by Harper Collins in 1987, it has become a treasured best seller. A new edition with special monthly meditations has been added. Below you will find a sample devotional.

"No one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins." (Mark 2:22)

Now and new go together. Without now, anything new is meaningless. Without the nowness of Christ's presence, we wither and decay. The new wine of recovery must be poured into new wineskins. The fresh new insights of the Twelve-Step program must fill fresh, soft skins that will allow the new wine to expand and mellow. It is a well known belief that the first year in recovery is casting off the old, and only until the second year does the new, true person emerge. Holding on to destructive old ideas and attitudes will cause the old skin to rupture; it will not give or yield. When the freshness of Christ and our program is poured into old, rigid skins, they seldom will hold or hold up. The old package cannot contain the new.

However, the new can contain worthwhile contents from the old. Think of that! We don't have to completely throw away what was valuable in our past. On the contrary, what was creative in the past can become fresh elements of the present. Good and mellow old wine can be easily welcomed and merged with the new. Only the arrogance of youth and the cocky beginner so often refuse age and its wisdom. For this very reason we remember to "stick with the winners" and seek out those who have had many years of recovery. The old wine is superior and smooth. Such quality lives out the slogan of "easy does it." Only the old bottles and packages have to go! If our program is not working for us, perhaps we are trying to fit the new program as we understand it into our old packages. But with an open and new wineskin of our own, we can contain the healing of the new wine of Christ and our program. Furthermore, we can accept the pouring of seasoned and wise old wine into our new wineskin of recovery.

Thank God Jesus walked this earth. He did not dash from place to place. He had time. He took time. He takes time for us. He seldom resented interruptions. When the blind, lame, dumb, and affllicted called out to him, he took time for them. When the children came to him, he made a very special time of blessing for them. We too are children in the program, all of us. We are also afflicted. We too are in need of his touch and his time. Recovery takes time. It takes time for wine to age and mellow. Why not take time for recovery? It lasts a life time. No one is ever fully recovered but always recovering. We cannot force our program. Let it age, "one day at a time."

"O Christ of the now and the new, help me be a fresh, yielding, and supple wineskin so that I may recieve your new wine as well as the age-old wisdom of yesterday's lessons. Help me discard my old, rigid, and dried-up wineskin, and please pour whatever good and gracious life you have in store for me - into the fresh new container I want to become for you. Amen."

The author is available for retreats, workshops and seminars on Recovery and Spirituality as well as on Emotional Health and Spiritual Wealth. His email is philipp@elp.rr.com