Transcript

We Just Try · Sober Readings

Scott Hayes: Good morning and welcome to Sober Readings. My name is Scott. I am glad you're here with me today. Today's Friday, august the twenty first. 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 We Just Try. My stability came out of trying to give. Not out of demanding that I receive. That's from The Best of Bill, pages forty six to forty seven. As long as I try with all my heart and soul to pass along to others what has been passed along to me and do not demand anything in return, life is good to me. Before entering this program of Alcoholics Anonymous, I was never able to give without demanding something in return. Little did I know that once I began to give freely of myself, I would begin to receive without ever expecting or demanding anything at all. What I receive today is the gift of stability as builded. Stability in my AA program within myself, but most of all in my relationship with my higher power, whom I choose to call God. Today's reading from twenty four hours a day. August twenty one, AA Thought for the Day. Who are you to say there is no God? This challenge comes to all of us. Are we capable of denying that there is a design and purpose in all of life as we know it? Or are we willing to admit that faith in some kind of divine principle is part of our makeup just as much as the feeling we have for a friend? We find a great reality deep down within us if we face ourselves as we really are. In the last analysis, it is only there that God may be found. When we find this reality within us, we are restored to our right minds. Have I found the great reality? The meditation for the day. Behold, I make all things new. When you change to a new way of life, you leave many things behind you. It is only the earthbound spirit that cannot soar. Loosen somewhat the strands that tie you to the earth. It is only the earthly desires that bind you. Your new freedom will depend on your ability to rise above earthly things. Clipped wings can grow again. Broken wings can regain a strength and beauty unknown before. If you will, you can be released and free. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may be freed from things that hold me down. I pray that my spirit may soar in freedom. Today's meditation from Touchstone. Many situations can be clarified by the passing of time. And that's a quote from Theodore Isaac Rubin. Time heals our wounds. It teaches lessons that cannot be learned in a day. It allows truths to rise to the surface that at first were difficult to see. In our impatience and restlessness, we may forget that our answers come and our needs are often filled simply by waiting. We live in a goal oriented world, and we are expected to go after what they want. But that is sometimes a foolish approach. Our problems developed over time, and now recovery and growth take time. The learning we missed while we were absorbed in our excesses cannot be captured in a day. Anxieties and stresses come and go for everyone, but we often worsen our problems by trying to cure what would pass on its own accord. We are learning to live more wisely through our periods of stress by trusting in the care of God. Today I will allow time to heal, and And correct rather than automatically reaching for a cure. And for today's final reading, I'm gonna go to a new book that I got, and this one is titled Keep It Simple: Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal. And this is also a Hazeldin publication. So we'll go to August 21st. Beauty is not caused. It is. And that's a quote by Emily Dickinson. Probably there have been many times when we thought we weren't beautiful. We thought we were ugly. We thought we were bad people. This is a natural part of addiction. Our program tells us we're good, we're beautiful. Do we believe this? Do we accept this part of our program? Beauty is an attitude, just as self-hate is an attitude. We need to keep the attitude that we're beautiful. We owe it to ourselves and to those around us. And yes, it's true that you must love yourself before you can love others. Remember, ours is a selfish program. We have to love and see ourselves as beautiful before we try to give to others. And in this book there is a prayer for the day and an action for the day. So the prayer for the day, higher power, help me claim my beauty. Help me to see that sometimes I have to be selfish to grow. And the action for today. Today, I'll work at falling in love with myself. And that's it for today's readings. I really enjoyed this last reading in Keep It Simple because it talks about an attitude. And a positive attitude in sobriety doesn't mean pretending that everything is okay or ignoring the difficult days. It means choosing to believe that whatever I'm facing can be handled without picking up a drink. When I focus on gratitude and progress, and what sobriety has given me instead of what I'm what I think I'm missing, recovery stops feeling like something I have to do. And become something I'm grateful that I get to do. So tell me how you keep a positive mindset, a positive attitude, and sobriety just for today. I'd love to hear your thoughts and your comments. Send me an email at soberreadings with Scott at gmail.com and I'd love to read them on the air for you. And that's gonna do it for today's episode of Sober Readings. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed the show, help me pass along the message by clicking that like and share button. 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 you can scroll down a bit and find that donate button. So again, thanks for listening today. 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, everyone, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.