Latest / Sober Readings / Two "Magnificent Standards"
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Welcome back to Sober Readings, everyone. Thanks for being here. Today is Tuesday, the 28th of April. Let's begin with the Serenity. 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. All AA progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words, humility and responsibility. Our whole spiritual development can be accurately measured by our degree of adherence to these magnificent standards. That's from As Bill Sees It, page 271. To acknowledge and respect the views, accomplishments, and prerogatives of others, and to accept being wrong shows me the way of humility. To practice the principles of AA in all my affairs guides me to be responsible. Honoring these precepts gives credence to Tradition IV and to all other traditions of the Fellowship. Alcoholics Anonymous has evolved a philosophy of life full of valid motivations, rich and highly relevant principles, and ethical values. A view of life which can be extended beyond the confines of the alcoholic population. To honor these precepts, I need only to pray and care for my fellow man as if each one were my brother. Today's reading from 24 Hours, April 28, AA Thought for the Day. We're so glad to be free from liquor that we do something about it. We get into action. We come to meetings regularly. We go out and try to help other alcoholics. We pass on the good news whenever we get a chance. In a spirit of thankfulness to God, we get into action. The AA program is simple. Submit yourself to God, find release from liquor, and get into action. Do these things and keep doing them. and you're all set for the rest of your life. So ask yourself, have I got into action? The Meditation for the Day. God's eternal quest must be the tracking down of souls. You should join him in his quest. Through briars, through waste places, through glades, up mountain heights, down into valleys, God leads you. But ever with his leadership goes your helping hand. Glorious to follow where the leader goes. You are seeking lost sheep. You are bringing the good news into places where it has not been known before. You may not know which soul you will help, but you can leave all results to God. Just go with Him in His eternal quest for souls. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may follow God in His eternal quest for souls. I pray that I may offer God my helping hand. And for today's final reading, we're gonna go back to chapter 6 of AA Comes of Age. I read from this chapter just a few days ago, but to refresh your memory, the speaker is Bernard B. Smith. He was the chairman of the General Services Board of Alcoholics Anonymous from 1951 to 1956, and this is based on talks by Mr. Smith at the first six General Service conferences. So we are going to page 277, again from A.A. Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age. Truths emerging in a materialistic society are bound at times to be paradoxical. Consider for example the simple statement, am an alcoholic. The first time a man or woman stands before us and says, I am an alcoholic, he speaks those words when he no longer drinks alcohol. Thus when the time comes that members describe themselves as alcoholics, society ceases to regard them as such. Yet it is only at the moment when a member ceases to drink that he asserts the right to describe himself as an alcoholic. When alcoholics live materialistically and drink excessively, they refuse to accept the label of alcoholic. Yet when they cease to drink and when they say to themselves and to the world, we are alcoholics, the world refuses to see them as such. What an unthinking world may look upon as defeat, alcoholics in AA know as a triumph of the spirit. triumph of humility over false pride and self-centeredness. How few human beings ever have the courage to stand up before their neighbors and in humility describe themselves truthfully to say, this is what I really am. There are two moments in which utterance of the words, I am an alcoholic have great significance. There is the first time a member speaks those words at an AA meeting. There is, another and earlier time which is perhaps of even greater This is the moment when a man says to his sponsor, in the darkness and desperation of his soul, I am an alcoholic, and this moment points to another paradox in AA. The paradox is that the member of AA approaches his suffering alcoholic brother not from the superiority and strength of his position of recovery, but from the realization of his own weakness. The member talks to the newcomer not in a spirit of power but in a spirit of humility and weakness. He does not speak of how misguided the still-suffering alcoholic is. He speaks of how misguided he once was. He does not sit in judgment of another but in judgment of himself as he had been. And so that's from page 277, chapter 6 of Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age. And I would highly recommend you get this book and read through it. or continue listening to Sober Readings, because I'm going to keep reading ⁓ chapters from this book on my episodes. And what this ⁓ short paragraph here reminded me of is another book that I was reading where someone said the difference between I can't drink and I don't drink. So, for instance, being out in public, if someone offers me a drink, rather than say, I can't drink, I'm going to say, I don't drink. And for me, the difference is when I say I can't drink, if I were to give examples of why, they're all gonna be negative of why I can't drink. But if I say I don't drink, then that turns my reasons into positive reasons. I don't drink because it doesn't work out for me. I don't drink because I don't wanna wake up with a hangover. I don't drink because it's not healthy for me. And many, many more reasons why I don't drink, and they're all positive. Yet if I switch the word don't for can't, if I say I can't drink, they're all gonna be negative. And I don't wanna be negative, like that's not what my sobriety is about. It's about staying positive. And this also reminds me of people that ⁓ in meetings announce themselves as grateful alcoholics. And I used to think that was kinda crazy, but until I really understood, I am also a grateful alcoholic because... had I not been an alcoholic, I would have never found AA, I would have never found this way of life, I would have never got the chance to practice these principles in all my affairs. And so, although I don't go out in town yelling it, you know, on the streets that I'm an alcoholic, I really don't have a problem saying to someone that I am an alcoholic. And by the way, there is no need to ⁓ explain myself, you know, in situations where if I'm out and somebody asks if I want to drink and I say, I don't drink. I'm not gonna break into all these reasons why I don't drink. I don't have to explain myself. I don't have to explain the reasons why I don't drink. And you don't either. It's just a better way of life and thank God that we have found it. And so that brings us to the end of today's episode of Sober Readings. If you've enjoyed today's show, please do me a huge favor and hit that like button and share this episode also with someone who might want to listen to it. Drop a comment, that also helps a lot. And also, if you'd like to be a guest reader on the show, I'd love to have you. Just shoot me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com and we can make that happen. If you'd like to drop a dollar in today's donation basket, just go to soberreadings.com and click that donate button. And just like in AA meetings, we have no dues or fees for membership. I have no dues or fees for membership here for you guys listening, but I do have expenses. So every donated dollar helps, and thank you very much. So again, thank you 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, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.