Meditation reading for Friday April 4, 2025
DESERVING HAPPINESS —
Somewhere along the journey of living sober, we should come to realize that we deserve to be happy. If happiness eludes us, the fault may lie in a lingering guilt from our past. In a strange twist, we might be clinging to unhappiness as a form of penance for our previous mistakes.
We deserve happiness if we are doing the things that bring joy to ourselves and others. Thinking and living rightly paves the way to happiness. Fulfilling our obligations to society and those around us fosters personal contentment. And entrusting the ultimate responsibility for our lives to God offers yet another path to peace.
Our experiences can also teach us valuable lessons. Have we ever met a truly happy person who was entirely self-absorbed? Do we recall any serene, joyful souls among our old drinking companions? Did our fleeting successes or victories ever yield lasting happiness?
The wisdom of AA provides the answers we need. Happiness always flows toward love and service, never toward selfishness. We deserve to be happy, but we must sow the seeds of happiness through our thoughts and actions.
I’ll choose happiness today. If something troubles me, I’ll set aside the worry and allow myself to feel joy despite it. I deserve to be happy, and I am usually the one responsible for making it happen.