Latest / Sober Readings / Brothers In Our Defects
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings, today is Sunday the 19th of April. Let's begin with the Serenity 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. Okay, today's reading from Daily Reflections, April 19. Brothers in our defects. We recovered alcoholics are not so much brothers in virtue as we are brothers in our defects and in our common strivings to overcome them. That's from As Bill Sees It, page 167. The identification that one alcoholic has with another is mysterious, spiritual, almost incomprehensible. But it is there. I feel it. Today I feel that I can help people and that they can help me. It is a new and exciting feeling for me to care for someone, to care what they are feeling, hoping for, praying for, to know their sadness, joy, horror, sorrow, grief. to want to share those feelings so that someone can have relief. I never knew how to do this or how to try. I never even cared. The fellowship of AA and God are teaching me how to care about others. Today's reading from the book 24 Hours. April 19, AA Thought for the Day. Since I've been putting sobriety into my life, I've been taking out a lot of good things. I can describe it best as a kind of quiet satisfaction. I feel good. I feel right with the world, on the right side of the fence. As long as I put sobriety into my life, almost everything I take out is good. The satisfaction you get out of living a sober life is made up of a lot of little things. You have the ambition to do things you didn't feel like doing when you were drinking. So ask yourself, am I getting satisfaction out of living a sober life? Today's meditation for the day. It is a glorious way, the upward way. There are wonderful discoveries in the realm of the Spirit. There are tender intimacies in the quiet times of communion with God. There is an amazing, almost incomprehensible understanding of your fellow men. On the upward way, you can have all the strength you need from that higher power. You cannot make too many demands on him for strength. He gives you all the power you need as long as you are moving along the upward way. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may see the beautiful horizons ahead on the upward way. I pray that I may keep going forward to the more abundant life. And for today's final reading, we're going to, as Bill sees it, today we're reading from page 274, Going It Alone. Going it alone in spiritual matters is dangerous. How many times have we heard well-intentioned people claim the guidance of God when it is plain that they were mistaken? Lacking both practice and humility, they had deluded themselves and so were able to justify the most errant nonsense on the ground that this was what God had told them. People of very high spiritual development almost always insist on checking with friends or spiritual advisors the guidance they feel they have received from God. Surely, then, a novice ought not lay himself open to the chance of making foolish, perhaps tragic, blunders. While the comment or advice of others may not be infallible, it is likely to be far more specific than any direct guidance we may receive while we are still inexperienced in establishing contact with a power greater than ourselves. And that's from the 12 and 12, page 60. I think the message here with this last reading, going it alone from As Bill Sees It, is that I can't do this alone. And what I mean is, I didn't get sober on my own. I don't stay sober on my own. I didn't go through the 12 steps on my own. The importance of a sponsor, the importance of a fellowship, the importance of going to meetings, and... sharing in meetings and talking with people and being an actual part of the fellowship is very important to me and it means that I'm contributing something to not only the meetings but to the fellowship and I don't know about you but when I came into the program I wasn't experienced and so if I was honestly gonna work this program I certainly needed the help of a sponsor and still today I need the help of not only my sponsor but of the fellows, my friends in the program. And I run things by my friends all the time. Not that I don't trust myself, but I've just come to trust in them and build a relationship with my friends in the program and my sponsor so that I don't have to make decisions all on my own. I like to get the perspective of my friends, of other people in this program. because sometimes I'm not always seeing things clearly. And so I know that I don't want to do anything in this program alone because it's gotten me to the point where I am now, which is happy. And I hope you all are sober and happy as well. And I would also love to hear about how you don't do it alone in this program. Who helps you in your sobriety? Send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com or you can go to my website. soberreadings.com and there's a short form that you can fill out to send your comments to me. So that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. Thank you all for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please do me a favor and hit that like button, share this episode with someone you think might need it. And also if you are interested in being a guest reader on the show, if you like to read sober literature, just send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com and we can certainly make that happen. Also, if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's reading, just go to soberreadings.com and click the donate button. So again, thank you so much for listening. 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 great day, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.