Stealing Light From Tomorrow

A couple weeks ago, I read ahead a couple days in Daily Reflections (the only official AA daily reader). The next morning, I remembered that I had already read that day's selection. So I skipped it.

There was so much I wanted to do that day, I also skipped my daily quiet time. I prayed here and there, but took absolutely no time to seek God's direction for my day - the essence of twelve step life.

The day went OK, but mid-afternoon I had a moment of passive-aggressive retaliation in a situation I usually navigate without thinking about it. I went to a meeting a few hours later, feeling terrible for my attitude and not feeling very good about myself. The self-pity in which I was indulging further revealed my spiritual condition.

Turns out, the topic was read from Daily Reflections and I had been living the topic all day. Since I wouldn't read it, I guess I had to get the lesson anyway.

After the meeting, I was talking about my day with a man who said that I should be careful about "stealing light from tomorrow" (or something like that). That line has stayed with me since and I'm beginning to see the wisdom in it.

There's more to it than can be shared in a few paragraphs, but it has worked enough open-mindedness to show that I am seeking spiritual strength for tomorrow. Despite my insistence that we live one day at a time and can't depend on yesterday's spiritual life, I am trying to save up for tomorrow. Manna doesn't keep; it's a mother's milk for today's needs.

Just enough light for this part of the path, that's all I need and all I should ask for: the knowledge of God's will and the power to carry that out.