What does it mean to be reborn? We all talk about being reborn, so what does it mean in dying that we are reborn? Then the day comes, we’re working in recovery and we realize I don’t even know what I’m passionate about anymore. I realize my passion is what led me here, this is what I thought I was passionate about, this is what I did; but when I look at the fact that I’m not doing that anymore. Thus comes the question, should I pick it up again, or was that really my passion, or was it something else? Then the feeling comes in that it doesn’t really matter anymore because I can relate this to that moment of thinking all the faulty foundation has been torn out. I don’t have any idea of what I think is going to make me happy today, so now to God I can trust; and say to my Creator I give myself to you to build with me and do with me what thou wilt, take away my difficulties that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help with Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. That’s a reborn prayer, so reborn means it’s painful to die, it’s painful to let go and look in the mirror and say; “Man you don’t even know what makes you happy anymore, look at you.” All this stuff you hung onto, all these attitudes, all these emotional deformities, all these twists and turns, and all these ugly characteristics. One day through the program of recovery, if you can shut your head off for a little bit, tried to come to believe in a Power Greater than Yourself, and now are trying to make a decision to turn your will and your life over to the power of your Creator; but that doesn’t mean that the other steps haven’t been there, you’ve done inventories and admitted to God, because if you touch one, you touch them all.
To really know where you are in the building process, I feel I have no idea where my passion lies, and I thought I did. At that moment, I can say I’ve arrived. It’s in dying, right now, that I can be reborn, I’ve got a clean slate, that’s what you’re saying. I may want to do my old passion, for example chimpanzees, but maybe I’m open, and that saddens, and hurts, thinking you’ve lost your passion. Because of the program of recovery, it becomes clear that you’re at that point of being reborn now. This truly is what it means in all Christianity, Buddhism, all philosophies of being baptized, or eating the bread, or whatever the Muslims do to show that in dying I’m reborn. The body of Christ, I’m baptized, therefore I’m cleansed of all my sins, whatever that means; screwing up a life, such as being an addict or an alcoholic, or maybe you’re just a miserable person. Now, you’ve taken on a way of life, which we call the Twelve Steps, in terms of what guidance you’re in. Now, you have something in your hands that can tell you how to live, there is promise, life isn’t a dead end. It is not meant to be mastered or endured and to truly know what that means because you’ve applied some spiritual principles.
You’ve discovered that your inner life is unmanageable, by you. What it really means to come to believe in a Power greater than yourself, to God, or Buddha, or Allah, whatever it is; what it truly means to have that philosophy or religion, which you’ve stated by coming to believe in a Power greater than yourself. Then the description of when you’re not in belief. That, to me is a beautiful process of coming to believe. There’s a measuring system, which is what these steps allow. It allows us to measure the perfect ideals, all philosophies or religions are perfect ideals, which measures the philosophies, by saying what it looks like when you’re in hell and what it looks like when you’re in heaven, now you have to decide which one do you want to live in; it even tells you the way to go The twelve steps are a measuring stick and helps you to decide how well you live by them, how much you apply those principles in the day you are in. To be reborn with all these tools now, and I realize “Yeah, I am going somewhere, I’m not a deadbeat; and I have all the tools I need to discover, create, search, and research again and again will give you the ability to do whatever you want in life. You can do anything you want in life as long as you search and research, you’ll always find your answer and you’ll always move forward by that one principle, science has proven it. So, be grateful that I can describe to you, and you can describe to God and be reborn. You know what you want to do, you’re not dead, you just have a clean slate now, now rejoice in the fact that you can recognize, instead of being sad because I don’t think I have any passions, instead of that think I am literally reborn
