Latest / Sober Readings / "...Of All Persons We Had Harmed"
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Welcome back to Sober Readings. Today is Sunday, the ninth of August. Let's start today's episode with the Serenity Prayer. God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections of all persons we had harmed. And it starts by dot dot dot and became willing to make amends to them all. And that's on page seventy-seven of twelve steps and twelve traditions. And if you'll remember, yesterday started off by saying, made a list of all persons we had harmed, and today says, and became willing to make amends to them all. So they're obviously breaking apart step eight in this ⁓ in these two days of readings. One of the key words in the eighth step is the word all. I am not free to select a few names for the list and to disregard others. It is a list of all persons I have harmed. I can see immediately that this step entails forgiveness because if I'm not willing to forgive someone, there is little chance I will place his name on the list. Before I place the first name on my list, I said a little prayer. I forgive anyone and everyone who has ever harmed me at any time and under any circumstances. It is well for me to contemplate a small but very significant two letter word every time the Lord's prayer is said. The word is as I ask, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. In this case, as means in the same manner. I am asking to be forgiven in the same manner that I forgive others. As I say this portion of the prayer, I am If I am harboring hatred or resentment, I am inviting more resentment when I should be calling on the spirit of forgiveness. Today's reading from twenty four hours a day, August nine, AA Thought for the Day. We have an allergy to alcohol. The action of alcohol on chronic alcoholics is a manifestation of an allergy. We allergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all. We cannot be reconciled to a life without alcohol unless we can experience an entire psychic change. Once this psychic change has occurred, we who seem doomed, we who had so many problems that we despaired of ever solving them. Find ourselves able to control our desire for alcohol. So the question is, have I had a psychic change? Meditation for the day. Ask God in daily prayer to give you the strength to change. When you ask God to change you, you must at the same time fully trust Him. If you do not fully trust Him, God may answer your prayer as a rescuer does that of a drowning person who is putting up too much of a struggle. The rescuer must first render the person still more helpless until he or she is wholly at the rescuer's mercy. Just so must we be holy at God's mercy before we can be rescued. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may be daily willing to be changed. I pray that I may put myself wholly at the mercy of God. Today's Meditation from Touchstones We must embrace the absurd and go beyond everything we have ever known. That's a quote from Janie Gustafson. We have stepped beyond the limits of our former life and accepted the responsibility of the unknown. Many of us have always tried to be rational, to trust only what we could understand or reason through. That attempt served the part of us that lusted for control and power. But it kept us from unknown possibilities and dreams. When we decide to be less controlling, we begin to believe in possibilities we didn't allow before. That is how we let God influence our lives. Perhaps we don't see a reasonable way to a more satisfying job, but we can be open to surprising possibilities. We may see nothing we can do to overcome our compulsions, but we pray for God to remove our shortcomings in God's way. And already we have a new attitude. God, give me the courage to step into the unknown, the absurd, and experience the awakening of my spirit. And for today's final reading, I'm gonna read from as Bill sees it page three two six Welcome Criticism. Thanks much for your letter of criticism. I'm certain that had it not been for its strong critics, AA would have made slower progress. For myself, I have come to set a high value on the people who have criticized me, whether they have seemed reasonable critics or unreasonable ones. Both have often restrained me from doing much worse than I actually have done. The unreasonable ones have taught me, I hope, a little patience. But the reasonable ones have always done a great job for all of AA and have taught me many a valuable lesson. And that was written in a letter in nineteen fifty-five. And that's an interesting little reading right there. That was obviously Bill W. talking, ⁓ or actually what he wrote in a letter in nineteen fifty five. And that second sentence right there says, I'm certain that had it not been for its strong critics, AA would have made slower progress. And so I looked up some significant events for Alcoholics Anonymous in nineteen fifty-five, and here's what happened. In nineteen fifty five, AA celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Bill W. transferred leadership of leadership of AA to the fellowship. The General Service Conference became permanent. The second edition of the big book was introduced, and the three legacies were emphas emphasized, which are recovery, unity, and service. And so it sounds like in nineteen fifty-five AA made some pretty significant strides, and maybe it was because of those critics that were writing to him. ⁓ the deeper importance of nineteen fifty-five is that AA stopped being an organization held together primar primarily by the co-founder Bill W. He trusted the members, the groups, and the service structure to protect AA's principles and carry the message into the future. And it demonstrated one of AA's most important ideas, which is No individual owns or governs Alcoholics Anonymous. The ultimate authority rests in a loving God as expressed through the group conscience. And that's gonna do it for today's episode of Sober Readings. I hope you enjoyed that little piece of AA history. I always find that stuff very interesting. ⁓ if you'd like to be a guest reader on my show, I'd love to have you. Send me an email at sober readings with Scott at gmail dot com and we can certainly make that happen. Also, if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings or any other readings, just go to my website, sobereadings.com, and there's a donate button that you can click. So thank you so much for listening today and every day. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other. And remember, just for today, don't drink, go to a meeting, and keep coming back. Have a great day, everyone. And as my friend Larry says, Best day ever.