August 18, 2026 “A New Chance!”

My wife and I were filled with joy as we welcomed our new grandchild into the world. We just returned from a two-week visit with our daughter and son-in-law. Josiah Roy Couch was born on August 6, 2026, at 9:36 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces.

There is a tremendous amount of joy and gratitude that comes with witnessing the birth of a child. It reminds me of something I heard a few years ago: “It is a new generation and another chance for the human condition to get it right.”

A new child brings hope. It reminds us that life is always beginning again. With each new generation, we are given another opportunity to love, forgive, grow, and become more fully who God created us to be.

This connects with what we mean by Recovery. As we grow, we slowly let go of the need to protect, defend, prove, or constantly explain who we are. We begin to discover that we are already enough. We do not have to keep proving our worth. We can simply be who we are.

When we get our “Who am I?” question right, many of our “What should I do?” questions begin to work themselves out. Our identity comes before our actions. When we know who we are, we do not have to spend so much energy trying to convince others—or even ourselves—of our worth.

In the first half of life, we often focus on success, security, and contentment. We want to “look good” to ourselves and to others. These things can feel like absolute truths, and in the early stages of Recovery, they may feel necessary. We want security. We want to know that we are safe and that our lives are on solid ground.

This is also where faith and trust can be difficult to understand. We may hear about faith as part of the 12 Steps, but we often understand faith more deeply as we continue along the Recovery journey.

We need different kinds of “insurance” throughout our lives. Some of these things help us feel safe and secure. But we need to be careful. If our need for security takes over, these things can become our masters. What once helped us can begin to keep us from growing.

One of the most common messages in the Bible is, “Do not be afraid.” I have heard that this message appears 365 times—one for every day of the year. Whether or not that exact number is correct, the message is powerful: We do not have to live our entire lives from fear.

If we never move beyond our early needs for security and survival, we may never move into the deeper stages of Recovery and spiritual growth.

Carl Jung wrote, “One cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning; for what was great in the morning will be of little importance in the evening.”

Perhaps this is one of the great lessons of Recovery. What once helped us survive may not be what helps us truly live. As we grow, God may gently invite us to let go of old ways of thinking and open our hearts to something deeper.

So we return to two simple questions:

Who are we?

What does our Recovery ask of us?

Remember, Recovery is happening right now, in this moment.

email: ljw@superhumanbeing.net

website: https://superhumanbeing.net/