Latest / Sober Readings / Sacrifice = Unity = Survival
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning everyone, welcome to Sober Readings. Today is Tuesday, the thirtieth of June. Let's begin with the Serenity Prayer. God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections. Sacrifice equals unity equals survival. The unity, the effectiveness, and even the survival of AA will always depend upon our continued willingness to give up some of our personal ambitions and desires for the common safety and welfare. Just as sacrifice means survival for the individual alcoholic, so does sacrifice mean unity and survival for the group and for AA's entire fellowship. That's on page two hundred two zero of Asbill season. I have learned that I must sacrifice some of my personality traits for the good of AA, and as a result I have been rewarded with many gifts. False pride can be inflated through prestige, but by living tradition six I receive the gift of humility instead. Cooperation without affiliation is often deceiving. If I remain unrelated to outside interests, I am free to keep AA autonomous. Then the fellowship will be here, healthy and strong for generations to come. Today's reading from twenty four hours. Alcoholics are unable or unwilling during their addiction to alcohol to live in the present. The result is that they live in a constant state of remorse and fear because of their unholy past and its morbid attraction, or the uncertain future and its vague forebodings. So the only real hope for the alcoholic is to face the present. Now is the time, now is ours. The past is beyond recall. The future is as uncertain as life itself. Only the now belongs to us. So ask yourself, am I living in the now? The meditation for the day. I must forget the past as much as possible. The past is over and gone forever. Nothing can be done about the past except to make what restitution I can. I must not carry the burden of my past failures. I must go on in faith. The clouds will clear and the way will lighten. The path will become less stony with every forward step I take. God has no reproach for anything that He has healed. I can be made whole and free, even though I have wrecked my life in the past. Remember the saying, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may not carry the burden of the past. I pray that I may cast it off and press on in faith. Today's Daily Meditation from Touchstones, the final one for June. There is nothing as easy as denouncing. It don't take much to see that something is wrong, but it takes some eyesight to see what will put it right again. That's a quote from Will Rogers. We come to this day with a choice of whether to be for something or against it. Shall we put energy into what we seek and admire, or shall we give our energy to opposition and resistance of what we dislike? If someone asks a favor, we have a choice to resent and resist the intrusion or to engage with the person and see where it might lead. If a project we are working on is frustrating, we can wallow in criticizing it. Or try to get a clearer picture of what will work and what we want. Criticizing may be a helpful first stage in learning, but it is seductive because it holds little risk and we feel safe doing it. In that comfort, we forget to go forward to create what we really want. Our negative energy, when we are seduced by it, creates negative results. When we look back on today, we will admire those choices that risk. Creating something positive. Today I will not give my energy to denouncing, but to creating what I believe is worthwhile. And for the final reading today, we'll go to As Bill Sees It, page three zero six. Is happiness the goal? I don't think happiness or unhappiness is the point. How do we meet the problems we face? How do we best learn from them and transmit what we have learned to others if they would receive the knowledge? In my view, we of this world are pupils in a great school of life. It is intended that we try to grow and that we try to help our fellow travelers to grow in the kind of love that makes no demands. In short, We try to move toward the image and likeness of God as we understand him. When pain comes, we are expected to learn from it willingly and help others to learn. When happiness comes, we accept it as a gift and thank God for it. And that's from a letter written in nineteen fifty. Thanks for listening to Sober Readings today. If you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket, just go to my website, soberreadings dot com and click the donate button. And if you'd like to be a guest on sober readings, just send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com. 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.