Daily Reflections reading February 26th
No Ordinary Success Story
A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 35
Upon entering A.A. I listened to others talk about the reality of their drinking: loneliness, terror and pain. As I listened further, I soon heard a description of a very different kind–the reality of sobriety. It is a reality of freedom and happiness, of purpose and direction, and of serenity and peace with God, ourselves and others. By attending meetings, I am reintroduced to that reality, over and over. I see it in the eyes and hear it in the voices of those around me. By working the program I find the direction and strength with which to make it mine. The joy of A.A. is that this new reality is available to me.
© Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
My thoughts on February 26th Reading
A.A.
is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word, It is a story of
suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress, AA is a set of principles, a society of alcoholics
in action, we must carry the message our we all can wither and those who
haven't been given the truth may die
Faith is our greatest gift, sharing with others is our greatest responsibility, we continually seek the wisdom and the willingness by which we may well fulfill that immense trust, we were given the Twelve Steps to provide the suffering alcoholic with clear-cut directions for recovery
From the fatal malady of alcoholism, we were then given the Twelve Traditions to establish the boundaries for the Fellowship, the way it lives and grows through out the world, the founders of many groups ultimately divide into two classes, the elder statesmen and the bleeding deacons
The elder statesman sees
the wisdom of the group's decision to run itself and holds no resentment over
his reduced status, his judgment fortified by considerable experience is sound,
and he is willing to sit quietly on the sidelines patiently waiting to be of
service
The bleeding deacon is
just as surely convinced that the group cannot get along without him, he
constantly connives for re-election to office and continues to be consumed with
self-pity, nearly every old-timer has gone through this process in some degree
Most of them survive and
live to become elder statesmen, they become the real and permanent leaders of
A.A., and will you be one of those who can be humble enough to become a student
and practitioner of this program of recovery
Living a life of purpose
and service you will make the difference, some people are willing to bet their
life on the Fellowship and just go to meetings, hoping against hope, they will
not be one of the many who fail to remain sober
Some people believe
they are above, all this Fellowship Program and this God stuff, if you are one
of those you very likely will never see the truth about yourself recovery will
mean some inconvenience and interruptions in your daily life
But if you can sense
that you drank to change the way you thought and the way you felt, that option
is no longer available, isn’t it worth the time and effort to see if this
program might not do all those things for you, that you cannot do for yourself
A Solution to problems,
we paid a hell of a price to get here, why shouldn’t we be willing to pay the
price to stay here, It is far less painful to learn the truth about ourselves
rarely have we seen a person fail to find both physical sobriety and emotional
sobriety
Who has carefully followed
the path, as it was laid out to us, try it you just might like it, we give
thanks to our higher power, who, through so many friends, through so many means
and channels, has allowed us to construct this wonderful life of the spirit we
are now dwelling in
This home of alcoholics
anonymous with foundations already resting upon the corners of the earth on its
floor we have inscribed our Twelve Steps of recovery, on the sidewalls, the
buttresses of the A.A. Traditions have been set in place to contain us in unity
for as long as God may will it so
Eager hearts and hands
have lifted the spire of our home into its place, that spire bears the name of
Service, may it ever point straight upward to God, we recover from the steps we
take not the meetings we make, It’s much easier to stay sober that it is to try
to sober up
"It
is not only to the few that we owe the remarkable developments in our unity and
in our ability to carry A.A.'s message everywhere. It is to the many; indeed,
it is to the labors of all of us that we owe these prime blessings,"
Many
who have put the A.A. "booze cure" to severe, but successful tests,
still find they often lack emotional sobriety, or humility, we must develop
real maturity and balance in our relations with ourselves, with our fellows,
and with God.
God Bless Al M
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