Latest / Sober Readings / Weeding The Garden
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning and welcome to Sober Readings for Wednesday the 4th of March. Today's reading from Daily Reflections. Weeding the Garden. The essence of all growth is a willingness to make a change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails. That's from As Bill Sees It, page 115. By the time I had reached step three, I had been freed of my dependence on alcohol, but bitter experience has shown me that continuous sobriety requires continuous effort. Every now and then, I pause to take a good look at my progress. More and more of my garden is weeded each time I look, but each time I also find new weeds sprouting up where I thought I had made my final pass with the blade. As I head back to get the newly sprouted weed, it's easier when they are young, I take a moment to admire how lush the growing vegetables and flowers are, and my labors are rewarded. My sobriety grows and bears fruit. Today's reading from 24 Hours, March 4, AA Thought for the Day. Having surrendered our lives to God and put our drink problem in His hands doesn't mean that we'll never be tempted to drink. So we must build up strength for the time when temptation will come. In this quiet time, we read and pray and get our minds in the right mood for the day. Starting the day right is a great help in keeping sober. As the days go by and we get used to the sober life, it gets easier and easier. We begin to develop a deep gratitude to God for saving us from that old life. And we begin to enjoy peace and serenity and real quiet happiness. So ask yourself today, am I trying to live the way God wants me to live? the meditation for the day. The elimination of selfishness is the key to happiness and can only be accomplished with God's help. We start out with a spark of the Divine Spirit but a large amount of selfishness. As we grow and come in contact with other people, we can take one of two paths. We can become more and more selfish and practically extinguish the Divine spark within us or We can become more unselfish and develop our spirituality until it becomes the most important thing in our lives. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may grow more more unselfish, honest, pure, and loving. I pray that I may take the right path every day. And finally today, a reading from Asbill sees it, page 251. Face the music. Don't be too discouraged about that slip. Practically always, we drunks learn the hard way. Your idea of moving on to somewhere else may be good, or it may not. Perhaps you have gotten into an emotional or economic jam that can't be well handled where you are. But maybe you are doing just what all of us have done, at one time or another. Maybe you are running away. Why don't you try to think that through again, carefully? Are you really placing recovery first? Or are you making it contingent upon other people, places, or circumstances? You may find it ever so much better to face the music right where you are now, and with the help of the AA program, win through. Before you make a decision, weigh it in these terms. That was written in a letter in 1949. And that's it for today's readings. What do you think about the weeding the garden analogy from daily reflections today? I think for me, what it's talking about is reflection. And that means step 10. At night, reflecting on my day, maybe even possibly writing in a journal, looking at what mistakes I may have made throughout the day, what I can try to do better tomorrow. and which one of those weeds that I can get rid of altogether. So I'd like to hear your thoughts and your comments on that. Send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com or you can go to my website soberreadings.com and fill out the form. While you're there, if you haven't followed the show yet, click that scrolling red link. And if you want to drop a dollar in the donation basket for today's readings, click the donate button. So again, thanks for listening, everyone. Until next time, don't drink. Go to a meeting and keep coming back. Have a great day. And as my friend Larry says, best day ever.