Latest / Sober Readings / I Had Dropped Out
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Welcome back to Sober Readings, everyone. Thank you for joining me. Today is Sunday, the 16th of August. Let's get started 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. I had dropped out. We might next ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have harmed other people. What kinds of harm do people do one another anyway? To define the word harm in a practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in collision, which cause physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual damage to people. And that's on page eighty of twelve steps and twelve traditions. I had been to eighth step meetings, always thinking I really haven't harmed many people, mostly myself. But the time came when I wrote my list out and it was not as short as I thought it would be. I either liked you, disliked you, or needed something from you. It was that simple. People hadn't done what I wanted them to do, and intimate relationships were out of hand because of my partner's unreasonable demands. Were these sins of omission? Because of my drinking I had dropped out, never sending cards, returning calls, being there for other people, or taking part in their lives. What a grace it has been to look at these relationships, to make my inventories in quiet, alone with the God of my understanding, and to go forth daily with the willingness to be honest and forthright in my relationships. Today's reading from twenty four hours a day, August sixteenth, AA Thought for the Day. The alcoholic is absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. We must admit we can do nothing about it ourselves. Willpower and self-knowledge will never help in the strange mental blank spots when we are tempted to drink. An alcoholic mentally is in a very sick condition. The last flicker of conviction that we can do the job ourselves must be snuffed out. The spiritual answer and the program of action are the only hope. Only spiritual principles will solve our problems. We are completely helpless apart from divine help. Our defense against drinking must come from a higher power. So ask yourself today, have I accepted the spiritual answer and the program of action? Meditation for the day. Rest now until life, eternal life, flowing through your veins and heart and mind, bids you to bestir yourself. Then glad work will follow. Tired work is never effective. The strength of God's Spirit is always available to the tired mind and body. He is your physician and your healer. Look to these quiet times of communion with God for rest, for peace, for cure. Then rise refreshed in spirit and go out to work, knowing that your strength is able to meet any problems because it is reinforced by God's power. today's prayer for the day I pray that the peace I have found will make me effective. I pray that I may be relieved of all strain during this day. Today's meditation from Touchstone. We did not all come over on the same ship, but we were all in the same boat. That's a quote from Bernard Barouch. As we listen to others' stories and tell our own, we see that there are many roads into this program. Some of us hit bottom. Others were spared the worst catastrophes, getting the message of recovery early. In the final analysis, we are all in the same boat with our powerlessness. The differences are superficial. There is no higher or lower status for anyone in our program. When it comes to the power of our addictions and codependencies, We are equally in need of help from our higher power. Perhaps there was a time when we felt totally alone with our problems, but we were alone just like thousands of others needing recovery. Because we all have suffered and know our need for help, we can now have a caring and supportive group. We can turn to our brothers and sisters in the program, knowing that they are in the same boat, and they will understand. No one else provides that kind of healing relationship. I am grateful for the closeness I have with others who are in the same boat with me. And for today's final reading, we're gonna go to As Bill Sees It, page three three one. The Great Fact. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your relationship with him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the great fact for us. To the newcomer. Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the road of happy destiny. May God bless you and keep you until then. And that's on page one six four Of the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. And that's it for today's readings. But before I close, let's talk about this last sentence in As Bill Sees It. The phrase, as you trudge the road of happy destiny, is especially meaningful because Trudge acknowledges that recovery is not always easy. The road can include grief, disappointment, temptation, fear, and ordinary days that are just difficult. Yet it's still called the road of happy destiny because we're moving toward a life of greater freedom, usefulness, peace, and connection. We don't have to skip happily down the road every day. Sometimes simply continuing to put one foot in front of the other is enough. Sometimes not taking a drink is enough. And as we continue, we inevitably encounter others making the same journey. Some ahead of us, some behind us, and some just beginning. The promise is not that the road will be effortless, but that we don't have to walk it alone, and the promise that the destination is worth the journey. So thank you for listening to Sober Readings today. I'd love to hear your thoughts and your comments on the phrase as you trudge the road of happy destiny and what that means to you. You can send them to me at sober readings with Scott at gmail.com or simply comment below. So if you enjoyed the show, please do me a big favor and hit that like button and share this episode to help me get the word out. And if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings, just go to my website, soberreadings.com and click the donate button. So again, thank you so much for listening today. 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 good day. Great day everyone and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.