Latest / Sober Readings / Group Autonomy
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings. Today is Wednesday, the 29th of April. Before I get started, I'd just like to mention that yesterday was the one year anniversary of Sober Readings. I started one year ago yesterday. And so thank you to all of you listeners, because that's what keeps me going. All right, let's begin today 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 first reading is from Daily Reflections, April 29. Group Autonomy. Some may think that we have carried the principle of group autonomy to extremes. For example, in its original long form, Tradition 4 declares, any two or three gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an AA group, provided that as a group they have no other affiliation. And there's a footnote here that says, this is a misquote. Bill is referring to the third tradition. And he continues, but this ultra liberty is not so risky as it looks. And that's from AA Comes of Age, pages 104 to 105. As an active alcoholic, I abused every liberty that life afforded. How could AA expect me to respect the ultra liberty bestowed by tradition four? Learning respect has become a lifetime job. AA has made me fully accept the necessity of discipline and that, if I do not assert it from within, then I will pay for it. This applies to groups too. Tradition 4 points me in a spiritual direction, in spite of my alcoholic inclination. Today's reading from 24 Hours, April 29, AA Thought for the Day. The AA program is one of faith, hope, and charity. It's a program of hope because when a new member comes into AA, the first thing he gets is hope. He hears the old members tell how they have been through the same kind of hell that he has and how they found the way out through AA. And this gives him hope that if they could do it, he could do it. So ask yourself, is hope still strong in me? The meditation for the day. The rule of God's kingdom is perfect order, perfect harmony, perfect supply, perfect love, perfect honesty, perfect obedience. There is no discord in God's kingdom, only some things still unconquered in God's children. The difficulties of life are caused by disharmony in the individual man or woman. People lack power because they lack harmony with God and with each other. They think that God fails because power is not manifested in their lives. God does not fail. People fail because they are out of harmony with him. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may be in harmony with God and with my fellow men. I pray that this harmony will result in strength and success. And today's final reading is from As Bill Sees It, page 279. the fine art of alibis. The majority of AA members have suffered severely from self-justification during their drinking days. For most of us, self-justification was the maker of excuses for drinking and for all kinds of crazy and damaging conduct. We had made the invention of alibis a fine art. We had to drink because times were hard or times were good. We had to drink because at home we were smothered with love or gotten on it all. We had to drink because at work we were great successes or dismal failures. We had to drink because our nation had won a war or lost a peace. And so it went ad infinitum. And that's from the 12 and 12 pages 46 to 47. To see how our own erratic emotions victimized us often took a long time. Where other people were concerned, we had to drop the word blame from our speech and thought. And that's also from the 12 and 12, page 47. Before I close, I just wanted to talk about the word hope for a minute. In today's 24 hour reading, the AA Thought for the Day, it says the AA program is one of faith, hope, and charity. It's a program of hope because when a new member comes into AA, the first thing he gets is hope. And that reminded me of my first time in rehab. Once a week, the local AA group would send in two or three guys, and they would stand up in front of us and tell their stories. And one thing that I noticed about each of the speakers was that basically they were all saying the same thing, how they got sober, like what happened. For instance, they all said that when they left rehab, they went to a meeting on that same day. They all said they did 90 meetings in 90 days. They also got a sponsor. And they also started doing service in their local meeting. And for most, doing service can start off as making coffee or ⁓ showing up early and helping set the meeting up, staying late and break down the meeting, and then eventually after 90 days, chairing a meeting. And so when these speakers would say that they had two years sober, three years sober, five years sober, I was blown away, I couldn't believe it. I had no idea how anyone could possibly do that. And it gave me hope. And today, when I go to meetings, after I've been in the program for years now, it still gives me hope to hear people speak about how they've been in the program for years, much longer than I have. And they're still coming to meetings daily. They still have a sponsor. They still do service. And that gives me hope because they seem to be happy in life. They seem to have a good life. They still have issues like many of us do. ⁓ But it's a much, much better life than before they came into AA. And that gives me hope that if I stay in the program and I work these 12 steps, these principles and all my affairs, it gives me hope that I can be happy, joyous, and free like they say in the big book. And so I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to hear your comments or your thoughts on hope. and how the AA program or fellowship has given you hope. So that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. If you enjoyed the show, please do me a big favor, hit that like button, share this episode, and like I said, drop a comment and let me know what you thought. So if you're someone who loves to read, especially sober literature, and you want to be a guest reader on the show, I'd love to have you to shoot me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com and we can make that happen. And if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today, just go to soberreadings.com and click the donate button. So again, thank you so much for listening today. 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. And as my friend Larry says, best day ever.