Latest / Sober Readings / Removing Threats To Sobriety
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning everyone, welcome to Sober Readings. Today is Sunday, the 6th of September. 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 wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections: Removing Threats to Sobriety. Except when to do so would injure them or others. That's from Alcoholics Anonymous, page 59. Yesterday's reading began with the first half of the ninth step. Today's reading begins with the second half of the ninth step. Step 9 restores in me a feeling of belonging, not only to the human race, but also to the everyday world. First, the step makes me leave the safety of AA, so that I may deal with non-AA people out there, on their terms, not mine. It is a frightening but necessary action if I am to get back into life. Second, step nine allows me to remove threats to my sobriety by healing past relationships. Step nine points the way to a more serene sobriety by letting me clear away past wreckage, lest it bring me down. Today's reading from twenty four hours a day. September sixth, AA Thought for the Day. Another of the mottos of AA is live and let live. This, of course, means tolerance of people who think differently than we do, whether they are in AA or outside of AA. We cannot afford the luxury of being intolerant or critical of other people. We do not try to impose our wills on those who differ from us. We are not holier than thou. We do not have all the answers. We are not better than other good people. We live the best we can and we allow others to do likewise. Am I willing to live and let live? The meditation for the day. And this is life eternal, that we may know thee, the only true God. Learning to know God as best you can draws the eternal life nearer to you. Freed from some of the limitations of humanity, you can grow in the things that are eternal. You can strive for what is real and of eternal value. The more you try to live in the consciousness of the unseen world, the gentler will be your passing into it when the time comes for you to go. This life on earth should be largely a preparation for the eternal life to come. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may live each day as though it were my last. I pray that I may live my life as though it were. Everlasting. Finally, today a reading from As Bill sees it. Today we're reading from page ten. Out of the dark. Self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision, action, and grace to bear upon the dark and negative side of our natures. With it comes the development of that kind of humility that makes it possible for us to receive God's help. Yet it is only a step. We will want to go further. We will want the good that is in us all, even in the worst of us, to flower and to grow. But first of all, we shall want sunlight. Nothing much can grow in the dark. Meditation is our step out into the sun. And that's from page ninety eight of twelve twelve. A clear light seems to fall upon us all when we open our eyes. Since our blindness is caused by our own defects, we must first deeply realize what they are. Constructive meditation is the first requirement for each new step in our spiritual growth. And that was written in a letter in nineteen forty six. And that's it for today's readings. Before I close, let's go back to the question from twenty four hours a day and the AA Thought for the Day. The question was, am I willing to live and let live? Most of the readings lately have been on step nine because we're in the ninth step. So let's talk about how live and let live pertains to step nine. Live and let live takes on especially important meaning for me when I think about step nine, made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Step 9 asked me to take responsibility for my side of the street. It isn't about convincing someone that I've changed, getting them to forgive me, or explaining why I behave the way I did. My responsibility is to acknowledge the harm I caused and, whenever possible, try to make it right. What the other person does with my amends belongs to them. They may not forgive me, they may still be angry, or they may want nothing to do with me. Live and let live reminds me that I have to allow them that choice. That can be difficult because I may walk into an amends hoping for forgiveness, acceptance, and even reconciliation. But step nine isn't about getting the response I want. It's about doing the next right thing without trying to control the outcome. I can clean up my side of the street and leave the other person's side alone. When I practice live and let live, I can make an honest amends, listen to what someone else has to say, accept their reaction, and then continue moving forward in my recovery. I can't change the past, and I can't control how another person feels about it. What I can do is live differently today and allow my actions going forward to demonstrate the person I am trying to become in sobriety. So tell me how you live and let live and how you practice that in your everyday sobriety. Send me your thoughts and your comments at sobereadingswithsc at gmail.com. And if you'd like to be a guest reader on the show and come talk about step nine or live and let live, I would love to have you and we can certainly make that happen. So that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. I hope you enjoyed the show. If you did and you'd like to help me pass along the message, click that like button and share this episode and also subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. If you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket, just go to my website, sobereadings.com and click the donate button. So thank you so much for listening. 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, everyone, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.