Latest / Sober Readings / A List Of Blessings
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: you Welcome to Sober Readings, I am glad you're here. Today is Thursday, the 21st of May. Let's begin today with a 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, May 21, a list of blessings. One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings. That's a line from As Bill Sees It, page 37. What did I have to be grateful for? I shut myself up and started listing the blessings for which I was in no way responsible, beginning with having been born of sound mind and body. I went through 74 years of living right up to the present moment. The list ran to two pages and took two hours to compile. I included health, family, money, AA, the whole gamut. Every day in my prayers I ask God to help me remember my list and to be grateful for it throughout the day. When I remember my gratitude list, it's very hard to conclude that God is picking on Today's reading from 24 Hours. May 21, AA Thought for the Day. One of the finest things about AA is the sharing. Sharing is a wonderful thing because the more you share the more you have. In our old drinking days, we didn't do much sharing. We used to keep things to ourselves, partly because we were ashamed, but mostly because we were selfish. And we were very lonely because we didn't share. When we came into AA, the first thing we found was sharing. We heard other alcoholics frankly sharing their experiences with hospitals, jails, and all the usual mess that goes with drinking. Am I sharing? Meditation for the day. Character is developed by the daily discipline of duties done. Be obedient to the heavenly vision and take this straight way. Do not fall into the error of calling, Lord, Lord, and doing not the things that should be done. A man needs a life of prayer and meditation, but he must still do his work in the busy ways of life. The busy man is wise to rest and wait patiently for God's guidance. If you are obedient to the heavenly vision, you can be at peace. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may be obedient to the heavenly vision. I pray if I fall, I will pick myself up and go on. And for today's final reading, I'm going to read from the grapevine. This is from February of 2025. And this one is titled, One Bite at a Time. In early sobriety, my outpatient rehab required me to attend AA meetings. At each meeting, I was amazed at how honest folks were and how wise. I was surprised at how effective the slogans in AA were. For example, H-O-W. Honesty, open-mindedness, willingness. I became more honest about my motives and I became more open to accepting help. I also became willing to do the steps. It was suggested that to stay sober you needed to do service, so I became a coffee maker. Soon I began to make friends before and after my meetings. I've been reaping the rewards of service ever since. I tried working with a few sponsors, but then finally I struck gold. I was blessed with a man who listened to my concerns, complaints, and frustrations. Fortunately, he gave me practical tips on how to overcome them. He showed me that by blaming others for my misery I was going to stay stuck. Taking my own personal inventory has freed me. As a result, I have not only stayed sober, but I've actually had many days of genuine happiness. I'm still blown away by the simple tip of staying sober a day at a time. We don't have to swallow this sobriety sandwich whole, just one bite at a time. And that was written by Ken H. in Farmington, New York. And I love that reading because he talks about doing service, he talks about the importance of a sponsor, he talks about, you know, working the steps. And I love that he points out being a coffee maker in the beginning because when I first got sober, when I hit 90 days, my home group ⁓ was at 6.45 a.m. and I would always show up early to help make coffee, help set up the chairs. I would stay late after the meeting and I really got to know a lot of people there and got real close with people and that's fellowship. And it wasn't long after that that I picked up my first real service position which was I chaired Friday mornings and the format was we read out of the Living Sober book and I chaired that meeting for about two years straight. I know usually chair positions only last three months but for some reason I did this one for two years and I am totally grateful for that. And so I hope you enjoyed that last reading. If you did, do me a big favor and hit that like button and share this episode with someone you think might need it. Drop a comment, let me know what you thought. And if you'd like to be a guest reader on the show, just send me an email at sober readings with Scott at gmail.com and we can make that happen. Also, if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings, just go to sober readings.com and click the donate button. So thank you very much for listening, everyone. 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.