This poem by the Sufi mystic Rumi is one of my favorites.  I see this as the essence of living one day at a time, living life on life’s terms, in recovery.

The poem also speaks to me on another level.  The grace of sobriety, I could never predict the direction or the results.  I could never have predicted when I first got sober where I would have ended up today.  When laying in the detox bed a bunch of years ago, all I wanted was a relief from the binges, the self-loathing, the black-outs.  What I got was so much more.

THE GUEST HOUSE

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.

meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

-Rumi