Latest / Sober Readings / Surrendering Self-Will
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: you Good morning, welcome to Sober Readings. Today is the 9th of March. Happy Monday. Today's reading from Daily Reflections, Surrendering Self-Will. made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. That's from the 12 Steps in 12 Traditions, page 34. No matter how much one wishes to try, exactly how can one turn his own will and his own life over to the care of whatever God he thinks there is? In my search for the answer to this question, I became aware of the wisdom with which it was written. That this is a two-part step. I could see many times where I should have died, or at least been injured, during my previous style of living, and it never happened. someone or something was looking after me. I choose to believe my life has always been in God's care. He alone controls the number of days I will be granted until physical death. The matter of will, self-will, or God's will, is the more difficult part of the step for me. It is only when I have experienced enough emotional pain through failed attempts to fix myself that I become willing to surrender to God's will for my life. Surrender is like the calm after the storm. When my will is in line with God's will for me, there is peace within. Today's reading from 24 Hours. March 9th, AA Thought for the Day. If we had absolute faith in the power of God to keep us from drinking, and if we turned our drink problem entirely over to God without reservations, we wouldn't have to do anything more about it. We'd be free from drink once and for all. But since our faith is apt to be weak, we have to strengthen and build up this faith. We do this in several ways. One way is by going to meetings and listening to others tell how they have found all the strength they need to overcome drink. So ask yourself today, is my faith being strengthened by this personal witness of other alcoholics? the meditation for the day. It is the quality of my life that determines its value. In order to judge the value of a man's life, we must set up a standard. The most valuable life is one of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. All men's lives must be judged by this standard in order to determine their value to the world. By this standard, most of the so-called heroes of history were not great men. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, if he loseth his own soul? prayer for the day. I pray that I may be honest, pure, unselfish, and loving. I pray that I may make the quality of my life good by these standards. And the final reading for today is from As Bill Sees It, page 256. And it's titled, A Special Experience. I was the recipient of a tremendous mystic experience or illumination, and at first it was very natural for me to feel that this experience staked me out as somebody very special. But as I now look back upon this tremendous event, I can only feel very grateful. It now seems clear that the only special features of my experience were its suddenness and the overwhelming and immediate conviction that it carried. In all other respects, however, I am sure that my own experience was essentially like that received by any AA member who has strenuously practiced our recovery program. Surely, the grace he receives is also of God. The only difference is that he becomes aware of his gift more gradually. And that's from an article in the Grapevine from July of 1962. And that's it for today's readings. But before I close, I'd like to ask you, was there a special experience in your life that brought you into AA? And also, what are you grateful for today? I can tell you that my gratitude for this program and the fellowship runs very deep. It has completely changed my life. And for that, I am forever grateful. So let's talk about gratitude. Send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com or you can go to my website soberreadings.com and fill out that form. If you'd like to be a guest reader on the show and talk about gratitude or any other AA literature or readings that we do, we can make that happen. So again, thanks for listening, everyone. 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.