Changing Constitution

A Personal Framework for Moving from Fear to Love Developed with Richard | March 2026 The Root: Pride and the Inward-Curved Self After 30+ years of sobriety, faith, and searching, clarity…

I’ve identified a pattern that fuels the relational anxiety underneath most of my reactivity: fear, then control, then perfectionism, then shame. It runs in that order, every time, fast enough that…

I asked myself a question I couldn’t shake: if feelings aren’t tangible, how can they be the most real thing I know? I can’t weigh a feeling or hold one. But…

What working the steps looks like… “I earnestly advise every alcoholic to read this book through, and though perhaps he came to scoff, he may remain to pray.” William D. Silkworth, MD…

If You Have a Jesus You Like, You Have the Wrong One (my attitude “problem”) Reflections on Bill Dogterom, Romans 12, and the Impossible Command to Love “Bill Dogterom has taught…

“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.” I keep circling back…

I grew up in a home with an alcoholic father and a mother in survival mode. In a house like that, being honest about your feelings wasn’t safe. Feelings caused problems,…

“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” I read that line this morning and it stopped me cold. The verse comes…

My mom’s new boyfriend told me the easy yoke means to man up. He’s the smart guy at church who makes the Bible teacher hand over the pulpit. I heard it…

A “mensch” (sometimes spelled “mench”) is a Yiddish word that means a person of integrity and honor—basically, a really good person. It describes someone who is: When someone says “He’s a…

The Question That Started Everything In exploring the story of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus, a profound question emerged: If God is love, why didn’t God’s love save Judas? What…

I didn’t start this blog because I had something figured out. I started it because I was sober, successful, and quietly suffering from depression — and the truth kept showing up…

The Daily Reprieve Today I am willing to let joy have its way and practice Love: Faith-Hope-Trust, an Attitude of Gratitude and Humility “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will…

There’s a difference between having insight and being free. I know because I’ve lived on the insight side of that line for years at a time. I could tell you exactly…

I used to think love was something I should naturally feel if I was doing life right. If I was spiritually grounded, emotionally healthy, and mature enough, then patience and warmth…

This morning as I reflect on certain beliefs and attitudes that affect my relationships in a way that stirs up dissension, I realize that my self-centeredness colors my posture constantly and…

I came into a hard week looking for labels. I wanted words that would explain what I was feeling and maybe help me manage it. What I found instead was a…

The Big Book says some people are “constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.” For years I read that as a sentence passed on other people, and on my worst days…

There is a realization that can hit a man hard, late at night when the house is quiet and the day’s conversations replay themselves without permission. I am selfish. Not in…

“He has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Corinthians 1:22 NLT) Your faith will grow stronger as you focus on your identity in…

Dear Friend, Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone, to have a deep, full relationship with another, to be loved thoroughly and exclusively. But GOD says, “No. Not until you…

Dear Friend, Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone, to have a deep, full relationship with another, to be loved thoroughly and exclusively. But GOD says, “No. Not until you…

Psalm 1 – Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but…

Seven readings, rooted in identity given by God. Today I am putting off the old pattern and putting on this mind — not because the old groove is gone, but because…