Transcript

Equality · Sober Readings

Scott Hayes: Welcome back to Sober Readings. Today is Saturday the 28th of March. Today's reading from Daily Reflections. Equality. Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought AA membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an AA group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation. That's from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, page 563. Prior to AA, I often felt that I didn't fit in with the people around me. Usually, they had more or less money than I did, and my points of view didn't jibe with theirs. The amount of prejudice I had experienced in society only proved to me just how phony some self-righteous people were. After joining AA, I found the way of life I had been searching for. In AA, no member is better than any other mem- We're just alcoholics trying to recover from alcoholism. Today's reading from 24 Hours. March 28, AA Thought for the Day. When you come into an AA meeting, you're not just coming into a meeting. You're coming into a new life. I'm always impressed by the change I see in people after they've been in AA for a while. I sometimes take an inventory of myself to see whether I have changed and if so, in what way. Before I met AA, I was very selfish. I wanted my own way in everything. I don't believe I ever grew up. When things went wrong, I sulked like a spoiled child and often went out and got drunk. So ask yourself, am I still all get and no give? Today's meditation for the day. There are two things that we must have if we are going to change our way of life. One is faith, the confidence in things unseen, that fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe. The other is obedience, that is, living according to our faith, living each day as we believe that God wants us to live, with gratitude, humility, honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. Faith and obedience. These too will give us all the strength we need to overcome sin and temptation and to live a new and more abundant life. today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may have more faith and obedience. I pray that I may live a more abundant life as a result of these things. And today's final reading is from As Bill Sees It. Today we're reading from page 266. Give thanks. Though I still find it difficult to accept today's pain and anxiety with any great degree of serenity, as those more advanced in the spiritual life seem able to do, I can give thanks for present pain nevertheless. I find the willingness to do this by contemplating the lessons learned from past suffering, lessons which have led to the blessings I now enjoy. I can remember how the agonies of alcoholism, the pain of rebellion and thwarted pride, have often led me to God's grace and so to a new freedom. And that's from an article in the grapevine from March of 1962. And that's it for today's readings. I'd like to go back to the last sentence from the Daily Reflections read today. In AA, no member is better than any other member. We're just alcoholics trying to recover from alcoholism. And I'd like to hear you guys' thoughts and comments on this. In my opinion, This is 100 % true because for me, a lot of times when I'm in meetings, I don't know anything about the other people in the meetings. With the exception of my home group, I know them all pretty well by now and what their personal lives are like and what they do for a living and all that stuff. But a lot of times, I don't know ⁓ too much about the other people in a meeting. All I know is what they share and usually what they share about is the readings or the topic of the meeting and... And I think that's why AA works so well is that I can usually relate to those people. I mean, I can usually relate to most people in meetings after they share. And it's that shared suffering that really creates that bond with the members of AA. So send me your thoughts and your comments. I'd love to hear from you. You can send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com or you can fill out the form at my website, is soberreadings.com. And while you're there, you can follow the show. And can also drop a dollar in the donation basket by clicking the donate button. So again, thanks for listening everyone. 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.