Latest / Sober Readings / Freedom To Be Me
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Happy Monday everyone, welcome to a new week of Sober Readings. Today is Monday the 18th of May. Let's begin 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. Freedom to be me. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. That's from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous, page 83. And that's also the first line in the Ninth Step Promises. My first true freedom is the freedom not to have to take a drink today. If I truly want it, I will work the 12 steps and the happiness of this freedom will come to me through the steps, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. Other freedoms will follow, and inventorying them is a new happiness. I had a new freedom today, the freedom to be me. I have the freedom to be the best me I have ever been. Today's reading from 24 Hours. May 18th, AA Thought for the Day. We're in AA for two main reasons. To keep sober ourselves and to help others to keep sober. It is a well-known fact that helping others is a big part of keeping sober yourself. It's also been proved that it's very hard to keep sober all by yourself. A lot of people have tried it and failed. They come to a few AA meetings and then stay sober alone for a few months. but usually they eventually get drunk. So ask yourself, do I know that I can't stay sober successfully alone? The Meditation for the Day. by faith into that place beyond space or time where God dwells and whence you came and to which you shall eventually return. Look unto him and be saved. To look beyond material things is within the power of everyone's imagination. Faith's Faith's look saves you from despair. Faith's look saves you from worry and care. Faith's look brings a peace beyond all understanding. Faith's look brings you all the strength you need. Faith's look gives you a new and vital power and a wonderful peace and serenity. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may have faith's look. I pray that by faith I may look beyond the now to eternal life. And today's final reading is from As Bill Sees It. Today we're going to page 284. Faith, a blueprint and work. The idea of 24-hour living applies primarily to the emotional life of the individual. Emotionally speaking, we must not live in yesterday nor in tomorrow. But I have never been able to see that this means the individual, the group, or AA as a whole should give no thought whatever to how to function tomorrow or even in the more distant future. Faith alone never constructed the house you live in. There had to be a blueprint and a lot of work to bring it into reality. Nothing is truer for us of AA than the biblical saying, faith without works is dead. AA's services, all designed to make more and better 12-step work possible, are the works that ensure our life and growth by preventing anarchy or stagnation. And that is from a letter written in 1954. And that last reading, the one from As Bill Sees It, really stuck with me. Faith without works is dead. And I never really put a lot of thought into that until my relapse about a year and a half ago. And after that relapse, I was reflecting on the time leading up to it. And I can relate to this. I tried prayer each morning, then went right along through my day, not trying to live for the things that I pray for. know, God doesn't will me to act a certain way. God doesn't will me into getting sober, but He certainly gave me opportunities, as He continues to do today. You know, this is a program of action, and it's also a spiritual program. God will show me the way to the mountain, but I need to be the one to climb it. And then I also wanted to comment on the reading from 24 hours to You know, in our AA preamble, it says, our primary purpose is to stay sober and to help another alcoholic. And I know for sure that I didn't get sober on my own, and I don't stay sober today on my own. It's a combination of staying spiritually fit, the 11th step, and carrying the message to other alcoholics, the 12th step. And the fellowship of AA is, it's part of, to me, it's part of the 12th step. You know, men and women in the fellowship show me the way to live a sober life each day. You know, that saying in AA, happy, joyous, and free. And what we do is we show each other how to live that way by practicing these principles in all our affairs. Well, that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. If you enjoyed the show, do me a big favor and hit the like button, share this episode, and also leave a comment and let me know what you thought. and make sure you're following or subscribed so you don't miss a new episode. And if you're someone who loves to read sober literature and you'd like to be a guest reader on the show, I would love to have you. All you have to do is send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com. Also, if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket, just go to soberreadings.com and click the donate button. So thank you so much 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, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.