He realized that as long as he focuses on his program today, and not his program yesterday, Higher Power’s promises are both in the present and in the future.  

October 8’s reading from The Real Connection brings to mind a member of my home group who was in a meeting many years ago, listening to another’s share about acting-out behaviors. A member leaned over to the person sitting to his left and said, “At least I haven’t done that.” He immediately heard the one-word admonition: “Yet. 

The story about the word “yet“ that was shared that morning hit me hard because of where I am today. I’m sitting here with three days of sobriety after 18 years in this Fellowship, and I’m confronted by my deepest fear: that I am simply irredeemable, that I won’t ever get sober and recover. And the fear is palpable that I will die a physical death before I experience spiritual rebirth.

I am choosing to believe that the word “yet“ is not a period at the end of a sentence; it’s an ellipsis—an ongoing message of hope. It is my Higher Power speaking through the Fellowship, insisting that my story is not over.

This defiance of despair gives me three actions for today.

First, I must let go of the ego that says, “You should be further along.” I must humbly accept that my spiritual progress is not yet complete. The only status that matters is day three. This forces me to surrender the weight of the last 18 years and focus on the only moment where sobriety is possible: now.

Second, the fear of spiritual death is a future-tense problem. The word “yet” brings me back to the present. The solution is always today’s surrender.

Finally, my belief in a loving God is reinforced by the simple fact that I am back in this room. If I were truly beyond help, I would have stopped coming back long ago. The fact that the solution still exists means I am not yet beyond its reach.

I’m grateful for the grace of my three days, and I’m grateful to use the word “yet” not as a cause for fear, but as a source of urgency to keep taking the next right action.