Daily
Reflections reading November 25th
A Powerful Tradition
In
the years before the publication of the book “Alcoholics Anonymous,” we had no
name. . .by a narrow majority the verdict was for naming our book “The Way Out.”
. . .One of our early lone members. . . found exactly twelve books already
titled “The Way Out.”. . . So “Alcoholics Anonymous” became first choice.
That’s how we got a name for our book of experience, a name for our movement
and, as we are now beginning to see, a tradition of the greatest spiritual
import. “A.A. TRADITION: HOW IT DEVELOPED.” pp. 35-36
Beginning
with Bill’s momentous decision in Akron to make a telephone call rather than a
visit to the hotel bar, how often has a Higher Power made itself felt at
crucial moments in our history! The eventual importance that the principle of
anonymity would acquire was but dimly perceived, if at all, in those early
days. There seems to have been an element of chance even in the choice of a
name for our Fellowship.
God
is no stranger to anonymity and often appears in human affairs in the guises of
“luck”, “chance,” or “coincidence.” If anonymity, somewhat fortuitously, became
the spiritual basis for all of our Traditions, perhaps God was acting
anonymously on our behalf
©
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
My thoughts on November 25th Reading
If anyone has read the pamphlet "AA Tradition: How It Developed"
you will find after reading this pamphlet, Bill. W knew we needed traditions to
unite the groups, in the early days we had to many rules and regulations, it
was almost impossible to join a group
The unity of AA is the most cherished
quality AA has, our very lives and the lives of all to come depend squarely
upon our unity with our common problem, without unity with-in our fellowship
the heart of AA would cease to beat
Our world arteries would no longer carry
the life giving grace of God, as we understand Him, with out unity His gift to
us would be lost and we would be back into the misery of our past, hopelessly
lost to the pain and suffering of alcoholism, with no way out of the misery
This does not mean our individual
opinions do not mean anything, we are not dominated by any individual or by any
group as a whole, everyone counts and is heard if unity is to be maintained,
today I know there isn't a fellowship on earth that lavishes more devotion and
care
Upon Its individual members, we have to
look out for each other in order to survive ourselves, our traditions guard our
individual right, to think, talk, and act, as we feel, nobody in AA can compel
another to do anything, nobody can be punished or expelled
Our Twelve Steps to recovery are
suggestions, the Twelve Traditions guarantee AA unity, contain not a single you
don't, they repeatedly say we ought, but never, you must! Almost every newcomer
seeing the power of AA for the first time is puzzled they see true freedom
Yet they see at once that AA has an
irresistible strength of purpose and action, how can they we place our common
welfare first, looking closely we soon have the key to this strange paradox,
the AA member has to conform to the principles of recovery
His life depends upon obedience to
spiritual principles, if he deviates too far, the penalty is sure and swift, he
sickens and dies, we in AA have discovered a way of life but we cannot keep this
priceless gift unless we give it away, we can not survive unless we all carry
the AA message
When twelfth Step work forms into a group,
we discovery most individuals cannot recover unless there is a group, we are
but a small part of a great whole, no personal sacrifice is too great for
preservation of the fellowship, the desires and ambitions within each of us
must be silenced
When these could damage the group, to me
it becomes absolutely clear the group and the fellowship as a whole must
survive, or we all as individual will not, unity is defined as singleness of
purpose, or action, we sure have a single purpose, that is to carry the message
of recovery
I found so many people reaching out to
help me on my journey, but carrying the message can become carrying the mess
some times, we all needed to learn when to let go and let God handle things,
some just are not ready to surrender to the disease YET!
There is no joy greater than helping
others, when it is accepted by the new comer, to watch their eyes open with
wonder, as they move from darkness into light, to see their lives fill with
meaning, to watch people awaken to the presence of God, living by His will
Wisdom is knowing we can not keep this
fellowship unless we give it all away, reach out even when they slip we learn
patience, tolerance, and understanding, of our own disease with this new
knowledge we grow in the fellowship and our own life is always enriched
God bless you Al M
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