Latest / Sober Readings / Cleaning House
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning, welcome to Sober Readings. Today is Sunday, May 3rd. Let's begin today with a serenity prayer. us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change. Courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Alright, today's reading from Daily Reflections. Cleaning House. Somehow, being alone with God doesn't seem as embarrassing as facing up to another person. Until we actually sit down and talk aloud about what we have so long hidden, our willingness to clean house is still largely theoretical. That's from 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, page 60. It wasn't unusual for me to talk to God and myself about my character defects, but to sit down face to face and openly discuss these intimacies with another person was much more difficult. I recognized in the experience, a similar relief to the one I had experienced when I first admitted I was an alcoholic. I began to appreciate the spiritual significance of the program, and that this step was just an introduction to what was yet to come in the remaining seven steps. Today's reading from 24 Hours, May 3, AA Thought for the Day. AA teaches us to take it easy. We learn how to relax and to stop worrying about the past or the future, to give up our resentments and hates and tempers, to stop being critical of people, and to try to help them instead. That's what easy does it means. So in the time that's left to me to live, I'm going to try to take it easy, to relax and not to worry, to try to be helpful to my fellow men and to trust God. So ask yourself today, for what's left of my life, is my motto going to be, easy does it? The meditation for the day. I must overcome myself before I can truly forgive other people for injuries done to me. The self in me cannot forgive injuries. The very thought of wrongs means that myself is in the foreground. Since the self cannot forgive, I must overcome my selfishness. I must cease trying to forgive those who fretted and wronged me. It is a mistake for me even to think about these injuries. I must aim at overcoming myself in my daily life and then I will find there is nothing in me that remembers injury because the only thing injured, my selfishness, is gone. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may hold no resentments. I pray that my mind may be washed clean of all past hates and fears. And for today's vinyl reading, we'll go to the grapevine from February of 2025. And this is titled, Still Learning. When I was caught up in active alcoholism, I believed I was unique. And being told often that I was pretty, I rested in the belief that some man would always be there to support me. My father had always been the breadwinner of our family. After I married, my husband brought home his paychecks, just like my father had. I had no work history when I walked into a bar, picked up a drink, left my family, and stepped into full-blown alcoholism. Voila! A man sat down beside me at the bar, drew out his wallet, gave me some good pick-up line, and bought me a drink. My prospecting career had begun. I drank for 11 years, sometimes daily. I learned to work as a barmaid when I was between lovers. I was always in love with whomever was paying the freight. I planned that when I grew weary of the bar life, I would marry. It was my understanding that as a wife, I would not be expected to earn an income. When my physical tolerance for alcohol finally gave out, my doctor sent me to AA. I was told on the first day there I would need to get a sponsor. My idea of sponsorship then included an automobile and rent money. The 12th stepper who helped me told me she would be my sponsor and teach me to stop drinking and show me how to live a life based on spiritual principles. She didn't understand that a unique beauty like me had a better definition of the word sponsor. I decided to humor her until the real deal showed up. Old habits die hard. I found a couple more shiny items after I sobered up. Eventually, I learned the difference between fool's gold and the real McCoy. As the years passed, I learned some great skills that not only allowed me to value men as treasured friends, but also taught me to pay my own way financially and to rely on my higher power for guidance and counsel. On May 7th, 2020, I celebrated 50 years of uninterrupted sobriety. This was during the COVID pandemic. The celebration that was planned in my honor had to be canceled. It was perfect timing. I got to sit softly with my higher power and gave credit where it was due. God does good work. AA has shown me how to maintain this priceless gift. And it also taught me two great things. I'm only unique to my mama. and all that glitters isn't gold. And that was written by June B. in Columbus, Ohio. And that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. If you enjoyed the show, please do me a huge favor and hit that like button. Share this episode with someone you think might need it, and drop a comment and let me know what you thought. And if you'd like to drop a dollar in today's virtual donation basket, just go to my website soberreadings.com and click the donate button. So 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.