Transcript

Giving Back · Sober Readings

Scott Hayes: Good morning everyone, welcome back to Sober Readings. Today is Thursday, the thirtieth of July. Let's begin today's episode 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, Giving Back. He has struck something better than gold. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless load which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product. That's from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous page one hundred two nine. My part of the seventh tradition means so much more than just giving money to pay for the coffee. It means being accepted for myself by belonging to a group. For the first time, I can be responsible because I have a choice. I can learn the principles of working out problems in my daily life by getting involved in the business of AA. By being self supporting, I can give back to AA what AA gave to me. Giving back to AA not only ensures my own sobriety, but allows me to buy insurance that AA will be here for my grandchildren. Today's reading from twenty four hours, july thirty, AA Thought for the Day. The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise, and perhaps its poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is as yet unborn. So ask yourself what? Do I still worry too much about tomorrow? The meditation for the day. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is not seeing but believing. Faith is not seeing, but believing. Down through the ages there have always been those who obeyed the heavenly vision, not seeing but believing in God, and their faith was rewarded. So shall it be to you. Good things will happen to you. You cannot see God, but you can see the results of faith in human lives, changing them from defeat to victory. God's grace is available to all who have faith, not seeing but believing. With faith, life can be victorious and happy. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may have faith enough to believe without seeing. I pray that I may be content with the results of my faith. Today's meditation from touchstones. Many could forgo heavy meals, a full wardrobe, a fine house, etc. It is the ego they cannot forego. And that is a quote from Gandhi. We inevitably confront our ego in this program. We face our macho self, our powerful self, or our always right self. We have developed many trappings that give us an identity, our car, our job, our social position. The more attached we are to these trappings, the tougher it is for us to make progress on this spiritual path. In stepping across a stream, we must leave the side we are on in order to get to the other side. The repeated challenge in our spiritual life is to leave the secure trappings we know and take comfort in the still unknown new self. That is the leap of faith. We take the risk and trust something will be there for us. We have faith that letting go of our immediate attachments will bring us to a better place, that God will be there for us. I will let go of external images and use my faith to take the leap forward. And for today's final reading, I'm gonna read out of As Bill Sees It. And I'm reading from page three two three. Roping toward God. More than most people, I think, alcoholics want to know who they are, what this life is about, whether they have a divine origin and an appointed destiny, and whether there is a system of cosmic justice and love. It is the experience of many of us in the early stages of drinking to feel that we have had glimpses of the absolute and a heightened feeling of identification with the cosmos. While these glimpses and feelings doubtless have a validity, They are deformed and finally swept away in the chemical, spiritual, and emotional damage wrought by the alcohol itself. In AA and in many religious approaches, alcoholics find a great deal more of what they merely glimpsed and felt while trying to grope their way toward God in alcohol. That is from a letter written in nineteen sixty. And that's it for today's readings. Before I close, I want to go back to Daily Reflections. Remember, that was titled Giving Back. And in the second part of the reading, it talks about the seventh tradition. So I wanted to read the seventh tradition, the short form and the long form from the big book. Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. That's the short form. Here's the long form on the next page. The AA groups themselves ought to be fully supported by the voluntary contributions of their own members. We think that each group should soon achieve this ideal, that any public solicitation of funds using the name of Alcoholics Anonymous is highly dangerous whether by groups, clubs, hospitals, or other outside agencies. That acceptance of large gifts from any source or of contributions carrying any obligation whatever is unwise. Then too, we view with much concern those AA treasuries which continue beyond prudent reserves to accumulate funds for no stated AA purpose. Experience has often warned us that nothing can sure so surely destroy our spiritual heritage as feudal disputes over property, money, and authority. And now I'm gonna go to twelve steps and twelve traditions. Tradition 7, and I'm gonna read a couple paragraphs out of there. This is important stuff. There is another story about money. One night in 1948, the trustees of the foundation were having their quarterly meeting. The agenda discussion included a very important question. A certain lady had died. When her will was read, it was discovered that she had left Alcoholics Anonymous in trust with the Alcoholic Foundation a sum of ten thousand dollars. The question was. Should AA take the gift? What a debate we had on that one. The foundation was really hard up just then. The groups weren't sending in enough for the support of the office. We had been tossing in all the book income and even that hadn't been enough. The reserve was melting like snow in springtime. We needed that ten thousand dollars. Maybe, some said, the groups will never fully support the office. We can't let it shut down. It's far too vital. Yes, let's take the money. Let's take all such donations in the future. We're going to need them. So now I'm gonna skip a few paragraphs and go to the next page. Then our trustees wrote a bright page of AA history. They declared for the principle that AA must always stay poor. Bare running expenses plus a prudent reserve would henceforth be the foundation's financial policy. Difficult as it was, they officially declined that $10,000 and adopted a formal airtight resolution that all such future gifts would be similarly declined. At that moment, we believed the principle. Of corporate poverty was firmly and finally embedded in AA tradition. And there's a lot more to that chapter, but I just wanna wanted to read those two parts because I think they're really important. And here's here's my take on it. AA declined that $10,000 donation from an outside source because they recognized that accepting a large outside donation could eventually make the fellowship dependent on wealthy benefactors and allow money. Influence or obligations to interfere with its spiritual purpose. Even though AA needed funds at the time, the trustees believed that members should accept responsibility for supporting the organization that helped them. And this decision became an important example of Tradition 7. By relying on its own members, AA protects its independence, it avoids outside control, and it keeps its primary focus on carrying the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. And personally, I am grateful that they made that decision because I think as we all know, money can corrupt people and even people with the best intentions. And so I'd love to hear your thoughts and your comments on Tradition 7. You can 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 at the website, if you'd like to drop a dollar in the donation basket, just click the donate button. So thank you so much 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, everyone, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.