“In Step One we confronted our addiction, admitting that we were powerless over marijuana and that our lives had become unmanageable. We were then left with two alternatives: to stay as we were and continue using marijuana until we died, or to seek spiritual help.”

– Life with Hope, second edition, page 5

What? Death or spiritual help? Those are our only alternatives? Surely, there must be other options. When I really thought about it, I had tried and exhausted every option besides spiritual help without success before coming to Marijuana Anonymous. In fact, before I came, I never even considered spiritual help to be an option.

After my first few MA meetings, I was glad to have help staying clean. I came to understand that help from any one or two of my fellows would not be enough and would lead me to disappointment or worse. Help that comes from within; that never leaves me if I seek it out. That help could possibly be enough for those times late at night, or when interaction with other people was not possible. I came to understand that spiritual help was often a quiet voice inside me that comforted and supported me. This voice told me that I did not need marijuana to make me whole, or normal, or fun. The more I listened to that quiet voice, the louder and stronger it became and the less I heard the voice inside me that lured me to use marijuana.

Final thought: For today, I embrace spiritual help as a constant loving companion.