Latest / Sober Readings / Real Independence
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: you Welcome to Sober Readings for Wednesday, 18th of March. Today's reading from Daily Reflections. Real Independence. The more we become willing to depend upon a higher power, the more independent we actually are. That's a line from the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 36. I start with a little willingness to trust God, and He causes that willingness to grow. The more willingness I have, the more trust I gain. And the more trust I gain, the more willingness I have. My dependence on God grows as my trust in Him grows. Before I became willing, I depended on myself for all my needs, and I was restricted by my incompleteness. Through my willingness to depend upon my higher power, whom I choose to call God, all my needs are provided for by someone who knows me better than I know myself, even the needs I may not realize, as well as the ones yet to come. Only someone who knows me that well could bring me to be myself. and to help me fill the need in someone else that only I am meant to fill. There never will be another exactly like me. And that is real independence. Today's reading from 24 Hours. March 18, AA Thought for the Day. When a man comes into AA and faces the fact that he must spend the rest of his life without liquor, it often looks like too big an order for him. So AA tells him to forget about the future and bite it off one day at a time. All we really have is now. We have no past time and no future time. As the saying goes, yesterday is gone, forget it. Tomorrow never comes, don't worry. Today is here. get busy. All we have is the present, the past is water over the dam, and the future never comes. When tomorrow gets here, it will be today. So ask yourself, am I living one day at a time? The meditation for the day. Persistence is necessary if you are to advance in spiritual things. By persistent prayer, persistent firm and simple trust, you achieve the treasures of the spirit. By persistent practice, you can eventually obtain joy, peace, assurance, security, health, happiness and serenity. Nothing is too great in the spiritual realm. for you to obtain through persistently preparing yourself for it. today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may persistently carry out my spiritual exercises every day. I pray that I may strive for peace and serenity. And for today's final reading, we'll go to the grapevine from last month. This little reading is titled, Welcome to AA. In 2000, my friend Bob and I attended the International AA Convention in Minneapolis. On Sunday morning, I went to the last of the Alcathon meetings. As I recall, the Texans had volunteered to chair. The speaker that morning had stepped up to the podium. He was wearing a suit that didn't quite fit him. The man had just been let out of the Minneapolis jail the previous Thursday. His lawyer told him about the convention and suggested that perhaps the AA's there could show him a way to quit getting drunk and arrested. Our man shared that when he got to the registration table, a guy asked him, what is your home group? He replied, what's a home group? Right then, the guy at the table summoned some of the local Minneapolis AA members, whose spirit hit him off to a more private area. They worked with their prospect through the weekend, accompanying him to AA meetings, taking him to meals and sharing recovery. By Sunday morning they got him dressed and told him to go to the podium, and he did. He described in detail the kindness and attention the guys showed him all weekend. There was not a dry eye in the house. At the end of his talk, our man looked out at those of us gathered and said, what am I going to do when all you folks leave? The whole crowd burst into laughter as our man looked on in astonishment. He didn't know what he was going to do, but we did. That was written by T.T. in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And I think what they're trying to say at the end of this article is don't try to do sobriety on your own. There are lots of people in the meetings and in the program that are very willing to help and to become sponsors and to help walk you through the steps. And that's one of the most important things that I learned when coming into this program is that I'm not alone and people genuinely want to help. So what are your thoughts on this? Send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com or you can go to my website soberreadings.com. There's a short form that you can fill out. And also while you're there, if you'd like to drop a dollar in the donation basket for today's readings, just click that donate button. So thanks for listening everybody. 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. And as my friend Larry says, best day ever.