Latest / Sober Readings / The Key is Willingness
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning, it's Saturday the 7th of March. This is Sober Readings and I am Scott. Today's reading from Daily Reflections. The key is willingness. Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more. That's a line from the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, page 35. The willingness to give up my pride and self-will to a power greater than myself has proved to be the only ingredient absolutely necessary to solve all my problems today. Even the smallest amount of willingness, if sincere, is sufficient to allow God to enter and take control over any problem, pain, or obsession. My level of comfort is in direct relation to the degree of willingness I possess. at any given moment to give up my self-will and allow God's will to be manifested in my life. With the key of willingness, my worries and fears are powerfully transformed into serenity. Today's reading from the 24 Hours Book. March 7th, AA Thought for the Day. There are two important things we have to do if we want to get sober and stay sober. First, having admitted that we're helpless before alcohol, we have to turn our alcoholic problem over to God and trust Him to take care of it for us. This means asking Him every morning for the strength to stay sober that day and thanking Him every night. It means really leaving the problem in God's hands and not reaching out and getting the problem back to ourselves. Second, having given our drink problem to God, we must cooperate with him by doing something about it ourselves. So ask yourself, am I doing these two things? The Meditation for the Day. I must prepare myself by doing each day what I can to develop spirituality and to help others to do so. God tests me and trains me and bends me to his will. If I am not properly trained, I cannot meet the test when it comes. I must want God's will for me above all else. I must not expect to have what I am not prepared for. This preparation consists of quiet communion with God every day and gradually gaining the strength I need. prayer for the day. I pray that I may really try to do God's will in all my affairs. I pray that I may do all I can to help others find God's will for them. And finally today, a reading from As Bill Sees It. Today we're reading from page 254. Satisfactions of Right Living. How wonderful is the feeling that we do not have to be specially distinguished among our fellows in order to be useful and profoundly happy. Not many of us can be leaders of prominence, nor do we wish to be. Service gladly rendered, obligations squarely met, troubles well accepted or solved with God's help, the knowledge that at home or in the world outside we are partners in a common effort. The fact that in God's sight all human beings are important. The proof that love freely given brings a full return. The certainty that we are no longer isolated and alone in self-constructed prisons. The surety that we can fit and belong in God's scheme of things. These are the satisfactions of right living for which no pomp and circumstance, no heap of material possessions could possibly be substitutes. That's from the 12 and 12, page 124. Let's go back and talk about this first paragraph in As Bill Sees It. How wonderful is the feeling that we don't have to be specially distinguished among our fellows in order to be useful and profoundly happy. That just reminds me of how many different types of people you see in AA meetings. People from many different backgrounds with all different income levels. And most of the time you would never know it because we don't talk about that type of stuff in meetings. We talk about the important stuff, the readings, the steps, sobriety. And what I found is that none of that stuff really matters because you see people from all different walks of life coming in to make the coffee and people from all different backgrounds chairing meetings. And so I think the point is what we learn in AA is that being useful leads to being profoundly happy. And being useful in meetings can mean coming in early and helping set up the meeting, making coffee, staying late and talking with people, helping break down the meeting, clean up after the coffee mess. And I've found that that type of stuff leads to better sobriety for me. So I'd love to hear your thoughts and your opinions on this subject. Send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com or you can go to my website soberreadings.com. and fill out the form. And while you're there, if you'd like to drop a dollar in the donation basket for today's readings, click that donate button. So thanks everyone for listening today. 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 said, best day ever.