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Step 8*

Saturday, March 10, 2001

Matthew 5:20-26
Jesus says,
"If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."


In the film "Traffic," Michael Douglas speaks his own pain from the presidential podium. "We want to wage war on drugs," he says, "but often it's those in our own families who are on the drugs. How can we wage war within our own families?"

This message of this stunning movie is that family values are the only values anybody really cares about. Whether it's a nuclear family or a couple of cops who work together and love each other...no matter what side they're on, people do what they do because of the people they love.

There is no reason, none, to hold a grudge against someone I love. It deprives me of sleep, fills me with tension, fear, anger. My life is lonely and empty. God's understanding and forgiveness slip further and further into dim, distant memory.

Michael Douglas threads his way through the jangling conflicts in his home, holding his ground, succumbing at first to bitterness and then turning away. He turns toward his wife, toward his daughter, and in offering his gift on the altar is given one in return.

In the deepest, darkest place I look for you, Lord, for your eyes that forgive me and fill me with peace. As I humble myself, please look at me, Lord. Let me see your eyes.

*from the Twelve Steps, "I now make a list of all persons I have harmed in thought, word and deed, and a list of all persons I believe have harmed me, and will to make amends to all of them."



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