When one alcoholic/addict shares with another alcoholic/addict

[MajestyJo]

Sharpen Your Ax

A young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. "That depends," replied the foreman. "Let's see you fell this tree." The young man stepped forward, and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, "You can start Monday."

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by--and Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today."

Startled, the young man replied, "I thought you paid on Friday."

"Normally we do," said the foreman. "But we're letting you go today because you've fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first place on Monday to last place today."

"But I'm a hard worker," the young man objected. "I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks?"

The foreman, sensing the young man's integrity, thought for a minute and then asked, "Have you been sharpening your ax?"

The young man replied, "No sir, I've been working too hard to take time for that!"

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to "sharpen the ax." In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?

There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But God doesn't want us to get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like taking time to pray, to read and study Scripture, or to listen to "the still small voice of God." We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don't take time to sharpen the ax,
we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.

Found this on another site, originally posted by BW in 2010

For me, it was my tongue that was sharp. Was so busy cutting everyone down, comparing instead of identifying my own problems.

We do need to be vigilant as this disease is cunning, baffling and powerful. You never know when it is going to raise it's head and try to take you by surprise. Many times I have asked myself, "Now where did that thought come from?" It is generally my disease telling me that things are okay, when in fact they are not. For me it was about self-honesty and letting go of the denial.

I can't, God can, just for today, I chose to let Him.