Latest / Sober Readings / The Worth Of Sobriety
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning everyone, welcome to Sober Readings. Today is the twenty sixth of January, it's Sunday. Let's begin 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. From daily reflections the worth of sobriety every AA group. Ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. That's a line from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 160. When I go shopping I look at the prices and if I need what I see I buy it and pay. Now that I am supposed to be in rehabilitation, I have to straighten out my life. When I go to a meeting, I take a coffee with sugar and milk, sometimes more than one. But at the collection time, I am either too busy to take money out of my purse, or I do not have enough, but I am there because I need this meeting. I heard someone suggest dropping the price of a beer into the basket, and I thought that's too much. I almost never give one dollar. Like many others, I rely on the more generous members to finance the fellowship. I forget that it takes money to rent the meeting room, buy my milk, sugar, and cups. I will pay without hesitation ninety cents for a cup of coffee at a restaurant after a meeting. I always have money for that. So how much is my sobriety and my inner peace worth? Today's reading from twenty four hours, july twenty sixth, AA Thought for the Day. When we come to the end of our lives on earth, we will take no material thing with us. We will not take one cent in our cold, dead hands. The only things that we may take are the things we have given away. If we have helped others, we may take that with us. If we have given our time and money for the good of AA, we may take that with us. Looking back over our lives, what are we proud of? Not what we have gained for ourselves, but But what few good deeds we have done those are the things that really matter in the long run. So ask yourself today, what will I take with me when I go? The meditation for the day. Hallowed be thy name. What does that mean to us? Here name is used in the sense of spirit. The words mean praise to God for His spirit in the world, making us better. We should be especially grateful for God's spirit, which gives us the strength to overcome all that is base in our lives. His spirit is powerful. It can help us to live a conquering, abundant life. So we praise and thank him for his spirit in our lives and in the lives of others. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may be grateful for God's spirit in me. I pray that I may try to live in accordance with it. Today's meditation from Touchstones. The lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness. That is a quote from Eric Fromm. Many of us have felt so insecure, so poor, or so much the underdog that we made a fervent promise to ourselves that we'd come out on top later. We know how weak we felt, and that image continues to be our guiding force long after the weakness was overcome. We may have spiritual problems because we are blind to the reality of our present life. While grasping for more security, more love, more money, and more. or trying to lose more weight or attract more friends, we fail to stop and realize the real rewards we have already have today. We are driven by the memory of pain and insecurity, rather than rising above it and relating to the higher principles and people around us. Our spiritual problems are not solved by getting more control or more achievements, but by making peace with the fact that life is insecure. Today I will let go of my grasping for more. I will let go of it again and again throughout the day, so I am not ruled by this weakness. Today's final reading is from Asbil Seesit. I'm gonna read from page three two one today. Results of prayer. As the doubter tries the process of prayer, he should begin to add up the results. If he persists, he will almost surely find more serenity, more tolerance, less fear, and less anger. He will acquire a quiet courage, a kind that isn't tension ridden. He can look at failure and success for what these really are. Problems and calamity will begin to mean his instruction instead of his destruction. He will feel freer and saner. The idea that he may have been hypnotizing himself by auto suggestion will become laughable. His sense of purpose and of direction will increase. His anxieties will commence to fade. His physical health will be likely to improve. Wonderful and unaccountable things will start to happen. Twisted relations in his family and on the outside will improve surprisingly. And that is from a grapevine article from June of nineteen fifty eight. And that's gonna do it for today's episode of Sober Readings. Thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to be a guest reader on the show, send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com. And if you'd like to drop a dollar on the virtual donation basket for today's readings, just go to my website, soberreadings.com and click the donate button. So again, thank you so much for listening. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll see 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.