Latest / Sober Readings / A Full And Thankful Heart
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning, welcome to Sober Readings. Today is Wednesday, March 25th. Happy Hump Day. Remember, we are not a glum lot, people. Alright, today's reading from Daily Reflections. A full and thankful heart. I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love. the finest emotion that we can ever know. That is from As Bill Sees It, page 37. I believe that we in Alcoholics Anonymous are fortunate in that we are constantly reminded of the need to be grateful and of how important gratitude is to our sobriety. I am truly grateful for the sobriety God has given me through the AA program and am glad I can give back what was given to me freely. I am grateful not only for sobriety, but for the quality of life my sobriety has brought. God has been gracious enough to give me sober days and a life blessed with peace and contentment, as well as the ability to give and receive love, and the opportunity to serve others, in our fellowship, my family, and my community. For all of this, I have a full and thankful heart. Today's reading from 24 hours. March 25, AA Thought for the Day. Strength comes from coming to believe in a higher power that can help you. You can't define this higher power, but you can see how it helps other alcoholics. You hear them talk about it and you begin to get the idea yourself. You try praying in a quiet time each morning and you begin to feel stronger as though your prayers were heard. So you gradually come to believe there must be a power in the world outside of yourself, which is stronger than you and to which you can turn to for help. So ask yourself, am I receiving strength from my faith in a higher power? The Meditation for the Day Spiritual development is achieved by daily persistence in living the way you believe God wants you to live. Like the wearing away of a stone by steady drops of water, so will your daily persistence wear away all the difficulties and gain spiritual success for you. Never falter in this daily steady persistence. Go forward boldly and unafraid. God will help and strengthen you as long as you are trying to do His will. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may persist day by day in gaining spiritual experience. I pray that I may make this a lifetime wor- And today's final reading is from the grapevine from February of 26, so last month. And this one is titled, A New Normal. I travel frequently for business. Before each trip, I pack a few grapevines because I rarely find time to read them at home. In the long hours in a lonely hotel or on a long flight, grapevine is my lifeline to an AA meeting. Recently, I found another use for grapevine. My husband was in intensive care for five extremely stressful days. If I left his side for even a few moments to go grab a coffee, the nurses might lock me out of his room due to a care issue, and that meant I could possibly miss a critical update from his doctors. I would take several grapevines and sit quietly in my husband's darkened room and read from the light of my cell phone. Grapevine stories had always carried me through rough times in our, for better or worse, marriage. My husband is also in a 12-step group. One night after he was transferred to a regular room, I walked in to find him 12-stepping a nurse who had been drawn to him by his extraordinary sense of humor and calmness. After all, he was just coming off a catastrophic illness. Soon his room was crowded with friends from our fellowships. They kept up our spirits, brought us food and encouraged us both. At one point, our laughter spilled out of the room and into the hall. A nurse stuck her head in the doorway and asked, where's the party? We all laughed. When my husband was released, I left copies of Grapevine in a few waiting areas. You never know who these magazines will help. Over the years, I have found each story to be an extraordinary glimpse into a person's recovery process. I know how much they help me when I'm going through tough times. My husband is home now and on the road to wellness. The other day, he and I were disagreeing about me helping him with his colostomy maintenance, when all of a sudden he turned to me, wagged his finger in my face and said, honey, we're responsible for our own colostomy bag. That's just the way it is. Humor helps when things get tense. That's something I've learned from my very first AA meetings, when nothing in life seemed funny in the slightest. My husband and I will face a new normal from the complications of his illness. We both know that we will have support from our friends in the fellowship and beyond. of sobriety, we have built lives we could not have imagined when we tramped into these wonderful rooms. Through good and bad, we continue to thrive. That was written by Nancy G. in Phoenix, Arizona. Can you relate to that short story? Do you have a short story like that that you'd like to share on my show? send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com or can go to my website soberreadings.com and fill out that form and while you're there if you don't follow the show click that link that says follow the show and if you want to drop a dollar in the donation basket for today's reading click that donate button and I appreciate it. Thanks everyone for listening 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.