All We Need is Love
Message from the Director - October 2022
As individuals at Jericho Road (staff and residents alike) we use a program (the “12-steps”) of living and growing that work. On our journey, we discover that our real purpose is to be of maximum service to God and to the people around us. God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. God is love. So, if God's will is expressed in our relationships, love will be there. God's love enhances and takes nothing away from any relationship. To express God's love to another, we must have God's love within ourselves. We have learned that we cannot give away what we do not have.
One party in a relationship cannot love by themselves. You must have an object of love. We've heard that "people who pray together, stay together," and "God has joined us and he becomes the center of our relationships", thus relationships endure. When God is removed from relationships, the relationships die because self takes over and self left undisciplined by the will of God is harmful and destructive. Do you pray together with your community about your relationships? This is a very helpful way in healing damaged relationships. "God bless our relationship" can bring about positive changes. By limiting ourselves to the one purpose – to serve as an expression of God's love - we repair the damage we have caused to our relationships and create unity at the same time. We best help others when we ourselves practice these principles in all our affairs.
These principles also ask us to comfort others. We do this best when we share with each other. This also asks us to give encouragement and understanding to each other. Has it ever occurred to you that when people do or say things that are harmful or hurtful, he/she is probably not happy about being the way he/she is at that time and could possibly need our compassion (love) instead of our being defensive and judgmental? By recognising and encouraging one another’s recovery, we are working on our own recovery.
Our Family Support Group is an example of a loving program. Realizing that we, too, are victims of the disease of addiction and accepting that our growth - spiritual and emotional - has been damaged by this disease helps us to give the other person a break. And remember - when you feel that you do not deserve love, this is when you need it the most! We need to be expressing God's love in our daily lives to all those we meet, especially the most important to us in our lives – our community. Practice of these principles can give us ideas so constructive and helpful that it can make a difference in one's total life and all our relationships.
One exercise we can do to practice serving as an expression of God's love is to become willing to be a loving person. Ask yourself, "what would a loving (mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, friend, etc.) do?" And then do that. If you don't have any idea of what that loving person would do, then find someone you feel is that kind of person and ask them how to become a loving person. Another exercise is to ask God to allow you to see the other person through His eyes...this can be very enlightening.
Together we can and will become more loving as our eyes remain focused on God, one day at a time.
May God continue to bless each one of us.
I hope to see you at our Fall Auction “Unwrapping Recovery”!
Kevin Williams
Executive Director
