Transcript

We Forgive... · Sober Readings

Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings. Today is Saturday the 16th of May. Let's begin with the Serenity Prayer. 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. We forgive. Often it was while working on this step with our sponsors or spiritual advisors that we first felt truly able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt they had wronged us. Our moral inventory had persuaded us that all around forgiveness was desirable, but it was only when we resolutely tackled step five that we inwardly knew we'd be able to receive forgiveness and give it too. That's from the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, page 58. What a great feeling forgiveness is. What a revelation about my emotional, psychological, and spiritual nature. All it takes is willingness to forgive. God will do the rest. Today's reading from 24 Hours. May 16, AA Thought for the Day. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the wayfarer fell among robbers and was left lying in the gutter, half dead. And a priest and a levite both passed by on the other side of the road. But the Good Samaritan was moved with compassion and came to him, and bound up his wounds and brought him to an inn and took care of him. Ask yourself, do I treat a fellow alcoholic like the priest and the levite? or like the good samaritan. The Meditation for the Day. Never weary in prayer. When one day you see how unexpectedly your prayer has been answered, then you will deeply regret that you have prayed so little. Prayer changes things for you. Practice praying until your trust in God has become strong, and then pray on, because it has become so much a habit that you need it daily. Keep praying until prayer seems to become communion with God. That is the note on which true times of prayer should end. End the prayer for the day. I pray that I may form a habit of daily prayer. I pray that I may find the strength I need as a result of this communion. And for today's final reading, I'm going to read from a book called Voices of Women in AA, Stories of Experience, Strength and Hope from Grapevine. And I'm going to go to chapter 4, which is titled, Sponsoring Others. The special one-on-one bond of women sharing their experience and time. So this story is titled, OK for this day, and it's from April 2010. At my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, I peered up at the 12 Steps banner on the wall and nearly burst into tears at the sight of one word, unmanageable. That word seemed to sum up my entire existence. My life had gone from one I was capably and competently breezing through to one where thoughts and cravings for booze haunted me mercilessly night and day, all in fewer than six months. And now I was pregnant. I could barely make it through each day without ending up drunk, but that was all I could do in that day. How would I ever manage a difficult pregnancy and eventually a brand new baby? But the woman sitting at the front of the room was my first and most vital lesson on how it could be done. By living one day at a time and continuing to do the next right thing when life got rough. Donna B's husband was stationed in an extremely dangerous area of Iraq. I buried him every day in my mind, she told me later. But she managed to raise three terrifically rambunctious kids and keep this meeting alive for anyone who needed it three days a week. all the while simply waiting for her husband's next call, whenever it would come, to know he was still alive. She became my first sponsor and I followed her every step during my first year in the program. I rarely left her side and she helped me work the steps for the first time. Donna never told me how to live my life without alcohol. She just showed me that she could live hers that way. She told me during difficult times, when you get sober, life isn't going to be okay. But as long as you don't drink, you will be. True our words were never spoken. I sobered up just in time to face a terribly colicky baby, severe postpartum depression, and the discovery that my six-year marriage rock-solid through so many of my husband's military deployments, now consisted of a hollow relationship that was devoid of any emotional intimacy or caring. Desperately, I tried every imaginable remedy for us. and eventually learned another lesson, all on my own. I could not change someone else. So I changed myself. My life and sobriety were both in danger by the time of our final split, and that night I took my 13-month-old daughter to a meeting where I vaguely knew some of the old timers. There I sobbed out my story, ending with the fearful realization that I had no idea where I was going to live or how I would even get my daughter's crib there in a few short days. But by the end of the meeting, that group of gentlemen had an apartment, a rental truck, and a moving date all arranged for me. I could hardly believe it. How could these people give so much caring and support to a virtual stranger? The answer was through the miracles of my higher power and Alcoholics Anonymous. Today, life is not always okay. In fact, sometimes being a single parent makes me wonder if any part of life will reach okay again. However, through this program, I am now close friends and neighbors with many of those old timers, and I know that I can count on them when going any further by myself seems unmanageable again. In fact, I even sit in Donna's chair at that original meeting, now my home group, three days a week. We frequently have first step meetings for newcomers, and I always tell them what Donna told me. For today, because I am here, I am okay." And that was written by Kate. in Lockwood, Washington. And I chose this reading today because it reminds me of maybe the most important and popular slogan, one day at a time. The line in this reading, when you get sober, life isn't going to be okay, but as long as you don't drink, you will be. And that just reminds me that there's nothing that happens today that a drink won't make worse. It reminds me that I only have to get through today without a drink because tomorrow is a new day. And it also reminds me that just because I'm sober, life isn't all cupcakes and rainbows. So I hope you enjoyed that last reading from Voices of Women in AA. And with that, that wraps up 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 also drop a comment and let me know what you thought. And just like in an AA meeting, I don't have dues or fees, but I do have expenses. So if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings, just go to soberreadings.com and click the donate button. So thank you so much for listening. 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.