Latest / Sober Readings / A Great Paradox
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning everyone, welcome to Sober Readings for this last day in April for 2026, the 30th of April. 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. A Great Paradox. These legacies of suffering and of recovery are easily passed among alcoholics, one to the other. This is our gift from God, and its bestowal upon others like us is the one aim that today animates AAs all around the globe. And that's from the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, page 151. The great paradox of AA is that I know I cannot keep the precious gift of sobriety unless I give it away. My primary purpose is to stay sober. In AA, I have no other goal, and the importance of this is a matter of life or death for me. If I veer from this purpose, I lose. But AA is not only for me, it is for the alcoholic who still suffers. The legions of recovering alcoholics stay sober by sharing with fellow alcoholics. The way to my recovery is to show others in AA that when I share with them, we both grow in the grace of the higher power. And both of us are on the road to a happy destiny. Today's reading from 24 Hours, April 30, AA Thought for the Day. The AA program is one of faith because we find that we must have faith in a power greater than ourselves if we are going to get sober. We are helpless before alcohol. But when we turn our drink problem over to God and have faith that he can give us all the strength we need, then we have the drink problem licked. Faith in that divine principle in the universe which we call God is the essential part of the AA program. So ask yourself, is faith still strong in me? Today's meditation for the day. Every person is a child of God and as such is full of promise of spiritual growth. When a person is young he is like the springtime of the year. The full time of the fruit is not yet, but there is promise of the blossom. There is a spark of the divine in every one of us. Each has some of God's spirit which can be developed by spiritual exercise. Know that your life is full of glad promise. Such blessings can be yours, such joys, such wonders, as long as you develop in the sunshine of God's love. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may develop the divine spark within me. I pray that by doing so, I may fulfill the promise of a more abundant life. And for today's final reading, I chose a reading out of The Grapevine from January of 2012. And this one is titled Young Sober Crazy Fun. I was six years sober and had met a cute guy from the east side of Milwaukee. We started dating and about three months later he asked me to go to a young people's conference in Bloomington, Illinois called ISCYPAA. I asked him what E P ⁓ AA? I immediately talked to my sponsor since it didn't sound like real AA. Needless to say, I went It was Illinois State Young People in AA. Due to my boyfriend's connections, I was put on the security crew and was told to monitor the elevator as the people arrived. I was so nervous and didn't know what to expect. You could hear them running and laughing. I had never seen so many young people in one place before. After about two hours of riding the elevator, I excitedly went to the opening ceremonies everyone was talking about. The hall was packed. More than a thousand people showed up. A man in a suit came up and started talking about unity and how it only takes one person to get excited about his recovery to get people involved. It was the guy I was with. He had created this vision for the Bloomington young people before he had moved. Their theme was plant a seed and boy did he. There were more than 2,000 young, sober, crazy, fun people all there for real recovery. I wanted it. I wanted what they had, their fellowship, the love of the program, the late nights of talking, the smoking like a chimney, the all-night dance. It was all there for me to take. I didn't sleep the rest of the conference, afraid to miss something. I was on such a high after leaving that conference, I told my sponsor I was never going to miss another ISCYPAA as long as I was sober. I was changed. My recovery was changed. I had this feeling that I had a higher purpose in recovery, that it wasn't just about hitting meetings. I really felt that this YPAA experience should be shared by all young people so they didn't feel alone like I did when I first got sober. My purpose was going to be to serve young people. My first efforts went to getting people to I- SCYPAA every year. Three years later, Wisconsin started our own young people's conference called WICYPAA. I have recently rotated off advisory council to WICYPAA and continue to work with the YPAAs. I am now working on the bid for the international, learning about a whole new group of people. I have met people from all over the US and Canada. I believe I was at a time in my sobriety when I felt that if all I had to look forward to was smoking cigs and playing cards, you might as well have shot me. I can't express my gratitude and love for that first YPAA that changed my sobriety and gave me a purpose to focus on. I have missed only one ISCYPAA in the last 20 years and continue to support the conference that changed my life. Two years ago, I was given the highest privilege of sharing my experience, strength, and hope at ISCYPAA. What an honor. Thank you YPAAs and all you do for those who are coming through your doors. That was written by Tina H. in Wisconsin. And I chose this reading because it talks about young people getting sober. I didn't get sober for the first time until I was 43 years old. And it always amazes me when people talking about talk about getting sober in their early 20s. And when I think about myself in my early 20s, there was no way in hell that I was even considering getting sober. It was the last thought that would have ever crossed my mind. And so I hope you enjoyed that reading. Again, that's from the grapevine dated January of 2012. And so that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. And if you did, do me a huge favor and hit that like button and share this episode with someone. you think might need it or like it. Drop a comment and let me know what you thought and be sure to follow the show so you never miss the next episode. And if you'd like to be a guest reader on the show, send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com. And if you'd like to drop a dollar in today's virtual donation basket, just go to soberreadings.com and click the donate button. Again, thank you so much for listening. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll see 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.