Transcript

False Pride · Sober Readings

Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings. Today is Sunday, the 19th of July. 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: False Pride. Many of us who have thought ourselves religious awoke to the limitations of this attitude. Refusing to place God first, we had deprived ourselves of his help. That's on page seventy-five of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. Many false notions operate in false pride. The need for direction to live a decent life is satisfied by the hope experienced in the AA Fellowship. Those who have walked the way for years, a day at a time, say that a God centered life has limitless possibilities for personal growth. This being so, much hope is transmitted by the elder AAs. I thank my higher power for letting me know that he works through other people. And I thank him for our trusted servants and the fellowship who aid new members to reject their false ideals and to adopt those which lead to a life of compassion and trust. The elders in AA challenge the newcomers to come to so that they can come to believe. I ask my higher power to help my unbelief. Today's reading from twenty four hours, july nineteenth, AA Thought for the Day. Gossip about criticism of personalities has no place in an AA clubroom. Every man in AA is a brother and every woman is a sister, as long as he or she is a member of AA. We ought not gossip about the relationships of any man or woman in the group. And if we say about another member, I think she or he is taking a few drinks on the side, it's the worst thing we could do to that person. If a woman or a man is not living up to AA principles or has a slip, it's up to her or him to stand up in a meeting and say so. If they don't do that, they are only hurting themselves. So today's question Do I talk about other members behind their backs? A meditation for the day. To God, a miracle of change in a person's life is only a natural happening. But it is a natural happening operated by spiritual forces. There is no miracle in personalities too marvelous to be an everyday happening, but miracles happen only to those who are fully guided and strengthened by God. Marvelous changes in people's natures happen so simply, and yet they are free from all other agencies than the grace of God. But these miracles have been prepared for by days and months of longing for something better. They are always accompanied by a real desire to conquer self and to surrender one's life to God. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may expect miracles in the lives of people. I pray that I may be used to help people change. Today's daily meditation from Touchstone. They have rights who dare defend them. That's a quote from Roger Baldwin. There is a hard side to emotional health in manhood. As we grow, we gain many more sides, more ways of responding to the situations we meet. We learn that yielding to God sometimes means letting our full strength flow to defend our rights and ward off intrusion or disrespect. As we have become more loving and tolerant, we have become more assertive for our rights and those of others. We must speak up for ourselves and for our points of view. We must not let others demean us or put us down, nor can we take on blame for others' life problems. When we ought to stand up for ourselves and don't, we may be invaded by a false feeling that we are crazy or bad. As recovering men, we sometimes must call on our hard side and say no, I will not be a doormat for the harmful actions of others. I will defend my rights. I will cultivate my relationship with my higher power and let that lead me to stand up for myself. And for today's final reading, we're gonna read from As Bill Sees It and we're gonna read from page three one seven. Vision Beyond Today. Vision is, I think, the ability to make good estimates, both for the immediate and for the more distant future. Some might feel this sort of striving to be hearsay against one day at a time. But that valuable principle really refers to our mental and emotional lives and means chiefly that we are not foolishly to repine over the past, nor wishfully to daydream about the future. As individuals and as a fellowship, we shall surely suffer if we cast the whole job of planning for tomorrow onto a fatuous idea of providence. God's real providence has endowed us human beings with a considerable capability for foresight, and he evidently expects us to use it. Of course, we shall often miscalculate the future in whole or in part, but that is better than to refuse to think at all. And that is from Twelve Concepts, page 40. And that's gonna do it for today's readings. But again, before I close, I'd like to comment on 24 hours a day, the AA Thought for the Day, because they're talking about gossip. And how does gossip affect us in sobriety? Gossip and talking about people behind their backs can be dangerous in sobriety because it feeds resentment and judgment and dishonesty. The very things that can disturb our peace. And pulls us away from recovery. It doesn't feel like recovery at all. It may feel harmless in the moment, but it often damages trust and keeps us focused on other people's faults instead of my own spiritual growth and my own faults. Sobriety asks us to practice kindness, humility, and restraint, remembering that what we say about others says a great deal about where we are in our own recovery. And I always think about when I'm pointing one finger at someone else. There's three fingers pointing right back at myself. And for me, that's not always talking about blame, pointing the finger of blame. It it can be talking about pointing the finger of gossip. If I'm talking about someone behind their back, I most likely have something going on inside of me that's causing it. Do you hear a lot of gossip in your AA meetings? I'd love to hear about it. I don't want to hear the gossip part, but I'd love to hear how you deal with it and how your group deals with it. Send me an email at sober readingswithscott at gmail.com. I promise we won't be gossiping on the air. That would certainly not be sober behavior. Or if you'd like to be a guest reader and talk about some other topic in sobriety, that would also be great. So again, that email address is soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com. So thank you so much for listening today. If you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket, just go to my website, soberreadings.com, and click the donate button. So again, thanks 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.