Latest / Sober Readings / Know God; Know Peace
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings everyone and happy Friday. Today is the 15th of May. 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 reading from Daily Reflections. No God, no peace. And those are know as in K-N-O-W. It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. That's from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, page 66. Now below this, there's four lines. And they are, no God, no peace, no God, no peace, the first two lines being K-N-O-W, the second two lines being N-O, so no God, no peace. Today's reading from 24 Hours. May 15, AA Thought for the Day. In AA, we find a new strength and peace from the realization that there must be a power greater than ourselves, which is running the universe and which is on our side when we live a good life. So the AA program really never ends. You begin by overcoming drink and you go on from there to many new opportunities for happiness and usefulness. So ask yourself, am I really enjoying the full benefits of AA? ⁓ The Meditation for the Day. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. We should not seek material things first, but seek spiritual things first and material things will come to us, as we honestly work for them. Many people seek material things first and think they can grow into knowledge of spiritual things. You cannot serve God and mammon at the same time. The first requisites of an abundant life are the spiritual things, honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. Until you have these qualities, quantities of material things are of little real use to you. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may put much effort into acquiring spiritual things. I pray that I may not expect good things until I am right spiritually. And for today's final reading, I'm going to read a few paragraphs out of A.A. Comes of Age, a brief history of a unique movement. And so I'm reading from chapter two, which is the three legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous. And the section is titled Recovery, the first legacy. So this page is page 54. And this is speech that Bill W. is giving, and he's talking about his drinking career. When the war was over, I returned from France and Lois and I lived in the city. I, the former officer, had to go to work as a clerk, but that only spurred the same old power drive. Although I was only a clerk for the New York Central Railroad, I set my sights to become president of a steel corporation. When the railroad fired me because I was such a bad clerk, I vowed I would show that railroad and everybody else too. Finally, I got into Wall Street, that famous shortcut to wealth and power, or poverty. In a few years time, I made far too much money for one so young. I was not disturbed about my drinking, although Lois had become increasingly concerned. In this period, I was drinking to dream great dreams of greater power. I wanted to be a director of many large enterprises. Indeed, I was on the point of realizing my ambitions at the time of the 1929 crash when everything melted away. Although I had gone many thousands of dollars into debt, my arrogance was supreme. I looked with disgust upon the bankrupt people who were then jumping from the high buildings. I said and believed, I can build all this up once more. I've done it once. I can do it again. But I did not do it again. My alcoholic obsession had already condemned me. I no longer had the capacity to hold even the first rung on any comeback ladder. So I began sinking. I could not get a toehold anymore and became a hanger-on in Wall Street. Without money or sobriety, I was discredited everywhere. People knew all too well what I was becoming. Finally, I slid down into a state where I was not drinking to dream dreams of power. I was drinking to numb the pain, to forget. All at once, at the very bottom of the depression, there came a business opportunity that might have meant millions for Lois and me. But I had to sign a contract which bound me legally not to drink. During the life of the agreement, which might be long, I committed myself not to drink at all. This opportunity was colossal from any Wall Street point of view. I said to myself, I'll soon have Lois out of that department store where she's supporting me and I'll make more money than I ever did. This time we are really going to arrive. We Vermonters set great store by our contracts. I really meant to keep my agreement and for two or three months I did stay absolutely sober. The new business operation began and I went on a trip to look over an industry. One night a few engineers and I were sitting in a hotel room. They produced a jug. With great relief I found that I could easily say no. I could think of my contract. I could think of Lois. But as the evening wore on, I began to be bored. The jug kept going around and finally someone said, Bill, this is Applejack, Jersey Lightning. Better have one. I suddenly realized that in all my drinking career, I had never had any Jersey Lightning. I said, boys, one little shot won't hurt me. Inexplicably, both Lois and my business promise faded. I could think only of the Applejack. In that moment, my insane obsession seized me once again. There followed three days of complete oblivion. Then my new business partners called me on the phone and told me the deal was off. And now I really began to lose hope. My mental disintegration proceeded rapidly and implacably. Soon I was in a hospital, the first of many such cures during the next two years. But it wasn't until that fateful night in September of 1934 that Lois and I learned from the doctor what my score really was. And so that's a reading from AA Comes of Age, a brief history of a unique movement. And that was Bill W. during a speech that he gave. And this section again is titled Recovery, the First Legacy. And I could keep reading going on from this. It's a great story. I highly recommend reading this book. And I will definitely put more of these readings into the Sober Readings ⁓ And if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket, just click that donate button. So again, 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.