Staying Right-Sized: A Recovery Reflection
Inspired by Proverbs 30:5–9
I recently read a biblical passage that, when I broke it down, inspired me. It was something I could use and apply to my own recovery in AA. The more I looked into these verses, the more they appealed to me. To me, they are really about staying sober and staying right-sized in recovery. I deemed them worthy of sharing with others in recovery.
Staying Honest and Balanced
There’s a biblical passage — Proverbs 30:5–9 — that talks about staying honest and balanced. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the wisdom in it. In fact, if you strip away the biblical framing, what’s left sounds a lot like the spiritual principles we hear and talk about in AA rooms every day.
The writer asks for two simple things: to be kept honest and to be kept “right-sized.” That’s recovery language — it’s humility. Most of us didn’t arrive at AA because we were living in truth. We arrived because our lives were in shambles, and what remained was built on denial, rationalization, and the kind of self-deception that slowly eats away at everything good. That’s the real nature of our disease.
There is no help unless we totally stop drinking — and that is only the beginning. Sobriety begins when we stop lying to ourselves and others, and it continues only if we stay sober and keep practicing that honesty one day at a time.
Avoiding Extremes
The second part of the passage is about avoiding extremes. In essence, the verse states, “Don’t give me too much, and don’t give me too little. Just give me enough to stay steady.” That’s the heart of AA’s spiritual middle ground.
When life gets too easy, it’s easy to start running the show again. When life gets too hard, anxiety and fear take over, and the old familiar solutions start looking good. This disease is cunning, baffling, and powerful — all extremes can lure us into bad behavior and relapse if we’re not careful.
Recovery teaches us to live in the middle — not in self-reliance, not in despair, but in a place where humility and sanity can breathe. I know that being centered is my safe ground.
Understanding the Truth
AA was never about any one religious sect or belief. The choice of a Higher Power or God is always left to the individual’s own concept — whatever works for them. Remember, we are talking about spirituality here, not religion.
So, you don’t have to believe in the Bible to understand the truth of this passage. Anyone who has tried to stay sober knows how dangerous extremes can be. Too much comfort can lead to complacency, and too much stress can lead to desperation.
For myself, this passage is really about staying grounded, staying connected, and being honest — the same things we ask for when we say the Serenity Prayer or at times when we check in with a sponsor before making a big decision. This is exactly how I stay anchored in recovery: by measuring and maintaining the quality of my sobriety on a daily basis.
Balance Matters
Read this way, Proverbs 30:5–9 becomes less of a religious statement and more of a spiritual one. It’s a reminder that balance matters. Honesty matters. Staying right-sized matters. And whether we call it God, Higher Power, or simply the collective wisdom of our AA groups, we all need something outside ourselves to help us stay centered.
No man is an island unto himself.
In that sense, the passage fits perfectly into recovery: it’s a simple request to live in truth, avoid extremes, and stay connected to something greater than our own ego. That’s not religion — that’s sobriety.
My Recovery Prayer
“Aid me in my continuance of recovery — keep me honest, keep me humble, and keep me grounded in AA and the fellowship. Let neither hardship nor comfort pull me off the path.”