July 19: Wash in the Jordan
Go to meetings. Pray. Call your sponsor. Read. Help someone. It all sounds too simple. Shouldn’t something this big need a bigger answer?
“And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”
Naaman was a powerful army commander with a serious skin disease. He came to the prophet Elisha expecting a show. Instead, Elisha didn’t even come out of the house. He sent a message. Go wash in the Jordan River seven times.
Naaman was furious. The Jordan was nothing special. His home rivers were better. He’d come all this way for something that simple? He turned around to leave.
Then his servants said something wise. If the prophet had asked you to do something hard, wouldn’t you have done it? So why not do something easy? Naaman swallowed his pride, went down to the river, and dipped seven times. His skin became like a child’s.
A lot of people in recovery are like Naaman. They want a big answer. A dramatic moment. A special program built just for them. When they’re told to go to a meeting, make a call and say a prayer, it feels insulting. Too basic. Not enough.
But the simple things work when you actually do them. Over and over. Seven times, and then seven more. Humility is willing to do the plain thing without needing it to be impressive.
Notice also who helped Naaman. Not the prophet. His servants. People below him in rank told him the truth, and he listened. Sometimes the best advice in recovery comes from people you’d never expect. A newcomer. A quiet old-timer. Someone you wouldn’t have given the time of day before.
Pride keeps a lot of people sick. They’d rather do something hard their own way than something easy someone else’s way. Don’t let that be you.
One thing today
Do the most basic recovery thing you’ve been skipping. If it’s a meeting, go. If it’s a call, make it. If it’s prayer, kneel. Don’t wait to feel like it.
A prayer
Lord, I keep wanting a bigger answer. Give me the humility to do the simple things You’ve put in front of me, again and again, until they change me. Amen.
Start Here lays out the simple daily basics in plain words.
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