Latest / Sober Readings / We Asked His Protection
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to Sober Readings. My name is Scott, and I am glad you're here with me today. It is Tuesday, the 8th of September. 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 wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections. We ask his protection. We asked his protection and care with complete abandon. And that's a line from chapter five, How It Works in the Big Book, Page fifty nine. I could not manage my life alone. I had tried that road and failed. My ultimate sin dragged me down to the lowest level I had ever reached, and, unable to even function, I accepted the fact that I desperately needed help. I stopped fighting and surrendered entirely to God. Only then did I start growing. God forgave me. A higher power had to have saved me, because the doctors doubted that I would survive. I have forgiven myself now and I enjoy a freedom I have never experienced before. I've opened my heart and mind to him. The more I learn, the less I know, a humbling fact. But I sincerely want to keep growing. I enjoy serenity, but only when I entrust my life totally to God. As long as I am honest with myself and ask for His help, I can maintain this rewarding existence. Just for today, I strive to live his will for me soberly. I thank God that today I can choose not to drink. Today, life is beautiful. Today's reading from twenty four hours a day, September eighth, AA Thought for the Day. Another of the mottos of AA is but for the grace of God. Once we have fully accepted the program, we become humble about our achievement. We do not take too much credit for our sobriety. When we see another suffering alcoholic in the throes of alcoholism, we say to ourselves, but for the grace of God, there go I. We do not forget the kind of people we were. We remember those we left behind us. And we are very grateful to the grace of God which has given us another chance. So ask yourself today, Am I truly grateful for the grace of God? The meditation for the day. A consciousness of God's presence as one who loves you makes all life different. The consciousness of God's love promotes the opening of your whole being to God. It brings wonderful relief from the cares and worries of our daily lives. Relief brings peace, and peace brings contentment. Try to walk in God's love. You will have that peace. Which passes all understanding and a contentment that no one can take from you. Feel sure of God's unfailing love and care for you and for all his children. There is freedom and serenity in those who walk in God's love, held safe in his loving care. And the prayer for today. I pray that I may walk in God's love. I pray that as I go I may feel the spring of God's love in my steps and the joy of his love in my heart. And for today's final reading, I'm gonna read a story from the Grapevine, the newest grapevine, by the way, of August 2026. And the cover says, Taking off on a spiritual adventure. At 70, with 11 years sober, a member in Alabama crosses the country on his bike to connect with his higher power. And this story is on page twenty, and it's titled Mother Earth, Father Sky, God and Me. When I had 11 years of sobriety, I started feeling the need to put a name to my higher power. I've always been open and have sought out a lot of religions, but the only things that have opened and touched my heart in a spiritual way were the things I heard and read in AA and the Native American spiritual way of life. I'm an outdoors person and I've always seemed to connect to something spiritual when I go on backpack trips alone. So I thought maybe I could find and put a name to my God if I took a spiritual journey in nature. I'm 70 years young now, and riding a dirt bike sounded a whole lot better than carrying a 30 pound backpack with my worn out knees. Besides, I love riding on trails. So after a blessing from my wife, I packed my tent, sleeping bag, some food, and my latest grapevines. I came up with a trail from Alabama to Maine and up to Canada. I got on my little dirt bike and headed north for a four week spiritual journey. Just me, Mother Earth, Father Sky, and God. After a week into my trip, I thought it strange that I had not felt the loneliness and insecurity that has always given me the need to connect to something spiritual. But looking back I now see I was connected from the very start. I was seeking something I already had. One day in the northeast, it started to rain and looked like rain for a couple of days, so I searched for a place to stay dry for the night. My GPS took me to a little town in Rockingham, Vermont, population 476. I looked around and got a hotel room for the night. After cleaning up and eating from my campsack, I went out to the front porch and talked with a man and woman as we watched it rain. After a while, the man asked if I wanted a beer. I said no, thank you. Then he asked if I wanted to smoke some pot. I finally told him I'd been sober eleven years. I was hoping he would stop trying to get me high. When the man left to get his beard, the woman with him said she was sixteen years sober and asked if I was going to the Wilson House. What the heck is the Wilson House? I asked. She said that it was the inn Bill W.'s parents ran and where AA's co founder was born. Bill and his wife Lois were laid to rest near there. She said it was less than forty five miles away. I was dumbfounded. I had no idea any AA related history was even in Vermont. I always thought everything was in Akron in New York. So the next morning I packed up and headed off to visit it. On my way there I could feel the spirit of Mother Earth and Father Sky guiding me. When I got to the Wilson House, I was the only visitor there, so I got the full tour. I also got a full pot of coffee. After the tour, the nice woman there asked if I would like to go to Bill's childhood home across the street. Yes, please, I said. She gave me the key and said to be sure to lock it up when I was done. When I walked into the house, I could feel the presence of my higher power, Mother Earth, Father Sky, my father, my late sponsor, and Bill W. I knew they all worked together to get me to this place in my life. I was right where I was supposed to be. I dropped to my knees and started crying. Thank you, God, I said out loud. It was a spiritual awakening. While all this was happening, an AA friend texted me a photo of a book to read. I had asked him a while back about Native American spirituality. What a coincidence. That's what I was feeling in my heart right then. After about an hour, I locked up the house and went back to the inn and texted my AA friend about where I was and the spiritual moment I was having. When I gave the key back, the woman at the inn asked me where I was from, and I told her Alabama. She said there was a volunteer at the inn who was from Alabama. She asked if I would like to meet him. I sure do, I said. When we met, I shared with him the spiritual journey of how I got there and my spiritual experience. We had a wonderful talk. It turned out we lived only fifty miles apart. He knew my late sponsor and had gone to meetings in my area. What a visit. I believe that day gave me more answers and faith than all my seventy years of life. My road trip lasted two more beautiful weeks. My new faith helped me see the unseen. From the rain that took me to an inn, to the people on the porch who got me to say I was sober, to the woman guiding me to Bill W's birthplace, which gave me a spiritual awakening and showed me that my higher power lives strong in AA and in all things. I discovered that when I'm in nature or doing the AA program, it's much easier to stay in the spiritual world and out of the material world. It helped me see that I should keep doing what I'm doing. How else could a 70-year-old alcoholic searching for his higher power on a trail from Alabama to Maine find himself at Bill W's birthhouse, more than 1,100 miles from home, when he had no idea it even existed? Before I would have called this a coincidence, but today I know it's following and living my spiritual signs. As long as I'm seeking, there's no wrong road. And that was written by RJ in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. And that is a great example of how you're never too old to learn something new. So again, that's from the Grapevine, the latest article of august twenty twenty six. And you know I can't sign off today without saying something about one of the readings, and today again it comes from the twenty-four hours a day reading, where they mention the line, but for the grace of God, there go I. That line is a powerful reminder of humility, especially in recovery. When I see someone else struggling with alcohol, experiencing a relapse, or suffering the consequences of addiction, it can be easy to separate myself from them. To think that I'm somehow different because I'm sober today. This phrase reminds me that I'm not fundamentally different. I'm only one decision away from returning to the life I worked so hard to escape. Rather than judging someone who's struggling, I can look at them with compassion and remember that I've been there too, and under different circumstances, I could be there again. It also reminds me that my sobriety isn't something I should take entirely for granted. Or claim solely as my own accomplishment. I certainly have to do the work, go to meetings, stay connected, help others, practice the steps, make healthy choices. But there's also an element of grace in being given another chance. Especially after experiencing relapse, I can look at the person who's still drinking and think, that could be me. Instead of feeling superior, I can feel grateful. And perhaps the best way to express that gratitude is is to reach out a hand to the person who's still struggling, remembering that someone once reached out a hand to me. And that's going to do it for today's episode of Sober Readings. If you'd like to share your thoughts and your comments on that phrase, but for the grace of God, there go I, you can send me an email at sober readings with Scott at gmail.com, or you can come on my show and talk with me about your experience with that phrase. That would be great. If you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings, just go to my website, soberreadings.com, scroll down a little bit and find the donate button. So again, thanks 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 great day, everyone, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.