Latest / Sober Readings / The Quality Of Faith
Transcript
- 11 5Reading: Good morning everyone, welcome back to Sober Readings. My name is Scott. Today is Thursday the fifth of November. Thanks for joining me for today's readings. We're gonna 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 is titled The Quality of Faith. This has to do with the quality of faith. In no deep or meaningful sense had we ever taken stock of ourselves. We had not even prayed rightly. We had always said grant me my wishes instead of thy will be done. And that comes from the twelve steps and twelve traditions. God does not grant me material possessions, take away my suffering, or spare me from disasters, but he does give me a good life, the ability to cope, and peace of mind. My prayers are simple. First, they express my gratitude for the good things in my life, regardless of how hard I have to search for them. And second, I ask only for the strength and the wisdom to do his will. He answers with solutions to my problems, sustaining my ability to live through daily frustrations with a serenity I did not believe existed, and with the strength to practice the principles of AA in all my everyday affairs. And for me, the I've come to believe that God doesn't always give me the things I ask for, but He does present opportunities. Opportunities to grow, to learn, to become a better person. And when I make mistakes or poor decisions, I can't expect God to swoop in and save me from the consequences of my actions. Sometimes those consequences are exactly what I need to experience in order to learn a valuable lesson. But I have to do my part. I need to remain open minded, aware of what's happening around me, and willing to recognize the opportunities God's put God puts in front of me. And most importantly, I need to live in today. If I'm constantly dwelling on yesterday or worrying about tomorrow, I might completely miss the opportunity that's right in front of me. In sobriety I've learned that God's will doesn't always look like what I had planned, and sometimes the greatest blessings come disguised as challenges. My job isn't to tell God how to run my life. My job is to trust Him, pay attention, and take action when those opportunities present themselves. Let's go to today's reading from twenty-four hours a day. The AA Thought for the Day for November 5. During our thoughts about the rewards that have come to us as a result of our new way of living, we find that we have new kinds of homes, new relationships with our spouses and our children, also peace, contentment, hope, faith, charity, and new ambition. What are some of the things we have lost? Each one of us can answer this question in many ways. And I'm gonna stop right there and answer that question in my way, and I hope you will too. When we talk about sobriety we often focus on all the things we've gained, and believe me, those gifts are incredible. But let's talk about some of the things that I've lost because of my sobriety. I've lost so much of the fear that used to control my life, the selfishness that made everything about me, and the anger and resentment that kept me miserable. I've lost the need to lie and manipulate and make excuses for my behavior. I've lost that constant feeling of guilt and shame and the need to run away from my problems instead of facing them. I've lost the need to change myself to fit what I think others want me to be in order to like me. I'm comfortable in my own skin these days. Now, I'm not saying these things have disappeared completely. I'm still human and they can creep back into my life if I'm not careful. But through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, my faith in God, and the daily work I put into my sobriety, these things no longer have the power over me that they once did. And when I think about it, losing these things has been just as much of a blessing as everything I've gained. So for today's final reading, let's go to Touchstones. It's a book of daily meditations. And I'm sorry, ladies, if you hear a lot of talk about men in this reading because there is quite a bit of it. But I'm sure that if you change it to say women, the concepts and the ideas can apply as well. The struggle of the male to learn to listen to and respect his own intuitive inner promptings is the greatest challenge of all. His conditioning has been so powerful that it has all but destroyed his ability to be self-aware. And that's a quote from Herb Goldberg. Men strive to be successful with mechanical, physical, and powerful things. Some of us have succeeded in those supposedly male ways, and others haven't. But whether we have or not, most of us have poured our energies into those directions and neglected the other way of being strong men. We may not have learned how to be gentle and helpful fathers, sensitive lovers, or men in tune with our own spirits and feelings. Many of us never learn to recognize what we feel. Perhaps we were taught to stand up for ourselves. But have we learned to stand up for our right to have feelings? Do we stand up for our right to be learners and to make mistakes? Do we stand up for our right to be aware and to be the men we find ourselves to be, rather than what others tell us we should be? And for me that's a very powerful reading because I never learned that growing up how to deal with my feelings and my emotions. They were always suppressed or in time hidden under alcohol and drugs. And I think one of the most important things men can learn in sobriety is that we have every right to have feelings and to express those feelings and to not be ashamed of them. For so many years we're taught that men are supposed to be tough, keep our emotions bottled up, and never show weakness. And for me, alcohol and drugs became a way to hide from those feelings rather than deal with them. But sobriety has taught me that there's nothing weak about being vulnerable, admitting that I'm scared. Telling someone I'm hurting or even shedding a few tears. In fact, I believe it takes far more courage to express those emotions than it does to bury them. We don't have to apologize for being human, and we certainly don't have to pret pretend everything is fine when it isn't. Today I can tell another man that I love him, I can ask for help, and I can talk openly about what's going on inside my head. That's not a sign of weakness, that's a sign of growth, strength. And emotional sobriety. And if someone is uncomfortable with me expressing my feelings, that's okay too. I don't have to change who I am to make someone else comfortable. Sobriety has given me the freedom to be myself, feelings, and all. And so that's gonna do it for today's episode of Sober Readings. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you heard something. I hope I said something that stays with you today today and helps you. If you'd like to be a guest on the show and share your experience, strength, and hope, or just talk about the readings, there's a link down below in the show notes for my email. You'll also find a link in the show notes to my website, sobereadings.com, where you can learn more about the show, you can learn more about me, and also help support Sober Readings by going to the support page and dropping a dollar in the virtual donation basket. So again, thanks for spending a few minutes of your day with me. Be good to yourselves, be good to others. And remember, we only have to do this one day at a time. So 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.