When I was new in recovery I stumbled across a famous passage in the Bible which ended up having a huge impact on my sobriety. Today, nearly fourteen years later, I still find myself feeling inspired whenever I read it. It's from ICorinthians13:

"When I was a child I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child; when I became a man I put away childish things."

For me this sums up the recovery process perfectly: it's time to put away the booze and the drugs and all the other toys and face life as an adult. Or, more simpy put: it's time to grow up. I know this isn't the place for Bible study, but I believe that passage was written by a man who used to lead a very corrupt and depraved lifestyle, that is, until he heard the good word, and then, overwhelmed with regret and remorse, decided to dedicate the rest of his life to spreading peace and love througout the world. Looking back on the lifestyle I once lead, this passage hit me very hard when I first read it, and so I began to read it every day, inspired to do everything I could to close permanently that old worn chapter of my life and start afresh. I think that's the beauty of recovery--a second chance at life, regardless of how old we are or how far down the scale of human depravity and corruption we may have fallen. As long as I maintain my sobriety, today's always a new day, fresh and clean and full of promise and potential, and though I may never forget the past, I do cease to be a prisoner of it. Today I'm a free man and, ironically enough, will continue to be a free man as long as I continue to commit to doing that one thing which for so many years I avoided like the plague--growing up.