Today's Thought - December

[bluidkiti]

December 6

Fate chooses our relatives. We choose our friends.

~Jacques Delille

Dealing with family-of-origin issues is often extremely painful for recovering adult children. All of us want to be accepted and loved by our own biological families. Some of our deepest wishes and favorite fantasies feature ourselves as loved and loving members of some healthy, whole, all-American family system. All too often, that was not and is not the case. If we have to accept that, then so be it.

That’s the time we should acknowledge that our real families are made up of the people who love us, whether they are relatives or not. Rather than mourn for what isn’t, when family times roll around, we have the option to connect with the spiritual, functioning “family” of loved ones who want and need us to celebrate with them. The program is filled with people who will love us if we let them.

No recovering person need ever be without a family; like hearts bind tighter than like genes.

Today, I am grateful for the healing presence of my friends.

Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy, Daily Meditations for Adult Children