Daily
Reflections reading December 23rd
Recovery, Unity, Service
Our
Twelfth Step — carrying the message — is the basic service that AA’s Fellowship
gives; this is our principal aim and the main reason for our existence. THE
LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, P. 160
I
thank God for those who came before me, those who told me not to forget the
Three Legacies: Recovery, Unity and Service. In my home group, the Three
Legacies were described on a sign which said: “You take a three-legged stool,
try to balance it on only one leg, or two. Our Three Legacies must be kept
intact. In Recovery, we get sober together; in Unity, we work together for the
good of our Steps and Traditions; and through Service-we give away freely what
has been given to us.”
One of the chief gifts of
my life has been to know that I will have no message to give, unless I recover
in unity with A.A. principles
© Alcoholics Anonymous
World Services
My
thoughts on December 23rd Reading
Without unity 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, AA must maintain unity or this
precious gift from God would be lost, we would all be back into the
misery of our past life
Unity is the life blood of
AA, this does not mean we can't have individual opinions, we are not controlled
or dominated by any individual, or by any group as a whole, everyone counts,
everyone must be heard if unity is to be maintained
As individuals we all have
the right to think, talk, and act, as we feel is right, no one individual in AA
can compel another to do anything, no one can be punished, or expelled, we all
have but one common goal, to stay sober and help other achieve sobriety
Our Twelve Steps to
recovery are to help us as individuals to maintain our sobriety, the Twelve Traditions
guarantee AA unity, the traditions contain not a single you don't, and they
repeatedly say we ought, but never you must!
Our lives depend upon
obedience to spiritual principles, if we deviate too far, the penalty is sure
and swift, we will sicken an be caught in the disease of alcoholism, until we
go out of our minds, go to jail or die a hopeless death
AA's have discovered a way
of life they cannot keep, a priceless gift from God, but unless we in AA give
it away, we cannot survive, unless we all carry the AA message of unconditional
love and absolute forgiveness of others and ourselves AA will die
No personal sacrifice is too great for preservation of the
fellowship, the desires and ambitions with-in each of us must be silenced, when
they could damage the group, it becomes absolutely clear the group and the
fellowship as a whole must survive, or we all as individual will not
Our unity with out service
positions filled, we would not have any fellowship, or meetings to go to, I
believe that service work is a vital part of my personal twelfth step work,
helping others when someone wants information they call the AA hot line
They are served by a
member, of AA this member is at this time doing twelfth step work by sharing
their knowledge we another, service work and twelve step work are one in the
same, with out one we could not have the other
I am responsible for my
own recovery, but I have to give all the credit for my sobriety to God and the
12 steps of recovery, I learned from people of the fellowship of AA, those
people who were active doing service for their group sharing there ESH with me
Everyone who has walked
thru our doors is also responsible for my recovery, as we say in the fellowship
God works thru people, we support one another and are part of each others
recovery, we are never alone as long as we choose to stay sober
And live with in the
principles of the twelve steps, with your help I will stay sober, I must remain
active in my recovery and the recovery of others in my life today, God has put
people in my life and I hope to pass their love kindness along to others
Unity plus service equal
recovery, a process of growing and living in today, with out the unity and
service for the average alcoholic, recovery would be impossible to achieve, we
have to stand united to insure our own recovery
Like any program there are
exceptions, people who do recover after going to some meetings, they can do it
on their own, for me most are just sober, with the same faulty attitude,
because they are to stubborn to admit they need to change their attitudes
Thanks God we do not all
feel that way, because if we did the unity and service of AA would soon
disappear, those who are coming into the halls will have not direction, on how
to apply the steps into their lives as we have had, YES AA would die and so
would most of those to come
The program keeps me on
the right track, every morning I ask God to keep me from my selfish ways, I try
to do His will for me, at night I just thank him for what He has given me, for
what He has taken away from me, and For what He has left me, another day free
from alcohol
God bless Al M
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suggestions or comments
