Naming Our Slavery
“Freedom is the right to choose; the right to create for yourself the alternatives of choice. Without the exercise of choice, a man is not a man but a member, an instrument, a thing.”
—Archibald MacLeish
Gaining personal freedom is no easy matter. Not that it’s impossible to achieve; rather, it’s all too possible, in our heart of hearts, not to really want authentic freedom.
One of the prices of freedom is the requirement that we name our slavery. How we dig in our heels when it’s time for such honesty! We dread it so much we may refuse to even attempt change, let alone accept a program of change and stick with it. But there is no other way. We can’t slip off the chains of slavery if we refuse to see where they are!
But however deep our habits or powerful our compulsions—there are others of us in the program who have had similar feelings. We are not the first or the worst. If we must begin by praying to want freedom, then that’s where we begin.
Today, I move toward greater freedom by looking with greater understanding on my fears.
This inspiration is from
Days of Healing, Days of Joy: Daily Meditations for Adult Children
