A friend of mine sent me an email this morning (Christmas Eve).

Very simple. Very direct.

Hey Kev,
The Eagles sing it right

It included a link, his signature, and a phrase: One Day at a Time. That’s all.

My friend is an alcoholic in recovery. I’ve lost track of the years, perhaps two decades sober. Every day for him is a new day. Every day is an opportunity to embrace Life, a Life we can live only One Day at a Time.

The Eagles were the best rock and roll band of the 1970s. Their Greatest Hits album remains the best-selling album in history. Rolling Stone magazine ranks Hotel California the 37th out of the best 500 albums ever recorded.

Joe Walsh joined The Eagles in 1976. Walsh took the Eagles to creative new heights – from an easy pop-country-rock sound to something with a harder edge, and a more searching voice. Hotel California was prophetic.

The last verse in Hotel speaks to many levels of the human experience, but especially to addicts:

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
’relax,’ said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

In 1978 Joe Walsh recorded a song lampooning Rock and Roll stars. Here is a reprise of Life’s Been Good recorded during an Eagles Reunion tour:

The email was brief, perhaps because the new song by Joe Walsh says everything my friend has to say to me on this Christmas Eve. Its called One Day at a Time.

Here is spiritual wisdom every addict learns in recovery. God blesses his children one day at time. God’s blessing is not in the past, not in the future. Blessing is for today.

Life comes in reception of the ever-present blessing.

In resentment, one dies a slow, agonizing death at the hands of a past that no longer exists. In fear one dies a slow, agonizing death at the hands of an imagined future that will never exist.

The addict seeks salvation trying to anesthetize the pain of resentment and anxiety. The instrument of “salvation” may be alcohol and drugs; it may be behaviors including eating disorders, and what achievement-junkies crave – “success.”

As I listened to One Day at a Time, one phrase hit me on the head: “the scene of the crime.”

You know, I was always the first to arrive at a party
And the last to leave the scene of the crime
Well it started with a couple of beers
And it went I don't know how many years
Like a runaway train, heading for the end of the line.

Remember the line from Life’s Been Good?

They say I'm crazy
But I have a good time
I'm just looking for clues
At the scene of the crime
Life's been good to me so far

What is the scene of the crime?

Each has his own, and they multiply no doubt. But the ultimate "scene of the crime" is Jesus' crucifixion. God blesses us every day. In our resentment and fear, we nail him to the cross. Every day. All of our shame – rooted in resentment and fear -- finds its spiritual root in this Crime of Crimes./p>

Jesus' response to God is an appeal to Good Friday. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Jesus' response to us is an appeal Christmas. "And they shall call his name Immanuel, which means, God with us.

In Life’s Been Good. Walsh revels in the drunk’s appeal of last resort: defensiveness, blame, and avoidance of responsibility

I go to parties
Sometimes until four
It's hard to leave
When you
Can't find the door
It's tough to handle
This fortune and fame
Everybody's so different
I haven't changed

Hear the avoidance of responsibility? I hear it everywhere: "Everybody's so different/I haven't changed."

No. The crime has changed us all.

In One Day at a Time Joe Walsh has come to his spiritual awakening, what Jesus called "Poverty of Spirit.”

Well I finally got around to admit that I might have a problem
But I thought it was just too damn big of a mountain to climb
Well I got down on my knees and said, "Hey, I just go on living this way
Guess I just have to learn to live my life one day at a time."

Jesus said with faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains; you don’t need to climb them. Joe Walsh has discovered the real meaning of Christmas.

It is not a once a year thing. Christmas comes every day for those willing to confess their need and willing to learn to let go of resentment and fear, and live One Day at a Time.

When every day is Christmas, sobriety is a breeze.

Ross, thanks for the best Christmas present I will receive this year. I miss you buddy.