Daily
Reflections reading July 30th
Given
Back
he has struck something
better than gold. . . . He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a
limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his
life and insists on giving away the entire product. ALCOHOLICS
ANONYMOUS, p. 129
My part of the Seventh Tradition means so much
more than just giving money to pay for the coffee. It means being accepted for
myself by belonging to a group. For the first time I can be responsible,
because I have a choice. I can learn the principals of working out problems in
my daily life by getting involved in the “business” of A.A. By being
self-supporting, I can give back to A.A. what A.A. gave to me! Giving back to
A.A. not only ensures my own sobriety, but allows me to buy insurance that A.A.
will be here for my grandchildren.
© Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
My thoughts on July 30th Reading
Tradition Seven "Every A.A. group ought to be
fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."
This simply means we pay our own way by passing the
basket, a dollar a meeting is a lot of money if you go twice a day like I did
in the beginning of recovery, But I managed to give whenever I could you can't
mix program and money, we had to separate the spiritual from the material
Despite these misgivings we had to recognize the fact
we had to function as an organization, meeting cost money for rents, coffee,
supplies, books, we have to support the structure of AA from the group, to the
district, to the inter-group, to the area on up to The General Service Office
Positions have to be filled with workers, telephones
manned and full-time people need to be hired, these things had to be done, if
they weren’t, the man coming in the door couldn't get help, these simple
services require money
We would have to raise to pay for these services, a
dollar a year, per member, was all our founders asked, from each member in the
beginning, today with the growing, the numbers of people seeking help, the cost
of rents going up, one or two dollars a meeting is needed
To keep the fellowship going, being ready and willing
to reach out and help the new people There is a place in AA where spirituality
and money would mix and that was in the basket, give what you can so AA will
always be here for the still sick and suffering
In the beginning it was a conflict as to just how was
the money going to be used, a lot wanted to start up hospitals, treatment
centers, clubhouses, etc, after seeing all the problems that would come from
all these enterprises and how involved everyone would be AA
Decided It would be best to not have money, When Bill
saw all the mail and questions coming in, it became apparent more help would be
need to answer all the mail, the service office idea was formed, then the need
to hire works was apparent
There was so much fear about how to do the work and
who should be paid, why couldn’t they find outside help to finance the
foundation, all these fears turned out to be very healthy today we don’t have
the fears of having too much excess money
Would we become greedy and use it for self-centered
purposes, this had been done, until the group conscience decided what the money
would be used for, in most groups it’s to support AA as a whole not to pay
people for 12-step work that keeps them sober in the first place
Tradition seven is God’s intervention to keep us
humble and stead fast, to carry out our primary purpose of helping all to find recovery
in this program, not get messed up in matters of money and grandiose
The responsibility of supporting AA is directly upon
AA members, It is the only way we could be truly self-supporting, each
individual member is the person who thru the group conscience, tells AA where
to spend the collective money of the program and their individual group
We need to only concern ourselves with paying the
group expenses on a monthly basis, the excess money goes to the District
Inter-group area and the general service office a prudent reserve usually three
months operating expenses is keep to be sure to meet the monthly services of
the group
My part of the Seventh Tradition means so much more
than just giving money it means being accepted and belonging to a group. For
the first time I can be responsible, because I have a choice, I can offer my
services Such as being secretary, treasurer, Chairperson
I can go out on commitments for my group, carrying the
message to others, I Can offer to become a General Service Representative I
could serve as the District Committee Member for my District, Serve on
committees, be a Secretary or treasurer,
I sure was not to generous when I was tanked in a
barroom, The individual member of AA is the single support, we have, given of
our time and money insures we all have a part in the whole picture of AA, we
are the ultimate voice in AA,
The treasurer is the one who makes sure bills are paid
and if there’s a report given, expenses to be paid voted on, or we could lose
our meeting hall, As a treasurer of my group, I felt it was my duty to provide
my group the information on spending,
So They could as a group decide where the monies are
going, In my 35 years in AA I have never felt like I was receiving charity,
rather I felt I was given the best gift in the World, sobriety, recovery, and
fellowship, this can never have a price on it
God bless you
Al M
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