Latest / Sober Readings / Our Primary Purpose
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings. Today is Saturday, the 30th of May. Let's begin 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. From Daily Reflections, our primary purpose. The more AA sticks to its primary purpose, the greater will be its helpful influence everywhere. That's a line from AA comes of age page one zero nine. It is with gratitude that I reflect on the early days of our fellowship and those wise and loving four steppers who proclaimed that we should not be diverted from our primary purpose, that of carrying the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. I desire to impart respect to those who labor in the field of alcoholism, being ever mindful that AA endorses no causes other than its own. I must remember that AA has no monopoly on miracle making. And I remain humbly grateful to a loving God who made AA possible. Today's reading from twenty four hours, May thirty, AA Thought for the Day. I am part of AA, one among many, but I am one. I need the AA principles for the development of the buried life within me. AA may be human in its organization, but it is divine in its purpose. The purpose is to point me toward God and a better life. Participating in the privilege of the movement, I shall share in the responsibilities, taking it upon myself to carry my fair share of the load, not grudgingly. But joyfully. To the extent that I fail in my responsibilities, AA fails. To the extent that I succeed, AA succeeds. Do I accept this as my AA credo? The Meditation for the Day. Praise the Lord. What does praising God mean? It means being grateful for all the wonderful things in the universe and for all the blessings in your life. So praise God by being grateful and humble. Praise of this kind has more power to vanquish evil than has mere resignation. The truly grateful and humble man who is always praising God is not tempted to do wrong. You will have a feeling of security because you know that fundamentally all is well. You look up to God and praise Him. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may be grateful for all my blessings. I pray that I may be humble because I know that I do not deserve them. And for today's final reading, we're gonna pick up where we left off in AA Comes of Age, a brief history of a unique movement. And this was, I believe, chapter two that we're reading from. And chapter two is called The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous. And this was a speech given by Bill W. And if you'll remember, the last time we talked about we read from this book where we left off, ⁓ Ebbie was at his house and he was just leaving, and so we'll pick it up from there. My mood swings continued from rebellion against God to hope and then back again. One day while pretty maudlin I got a great idea. I figured it was time I did some religious investigation on my own hook. Remembering that Sam Shoemaker's Cavalry Church had a mission where Ebbie's Oxford group friends had lodged him, I thought I would go and see what they did down there. I left the subway at Fourth Avenue and 23rd Street. It was a good long walk along 23rd Street. So I began stopping in bars. I spent most of the afternoon in the bars and forgot all about the mission. At nightfall I found myself in excited conversation in a bar with a Finn named Alec. He said he had been a sailmaker and a fisherman in the old country. Somehow that word fisherman clicked. I thought again of the mission. Over there I would find fissures of men. Oddly enough, it seemed like a wonderful idea. I sold Alec on coming along, and soon we reeled in the front door of the mission. Tex Francisco, an ex-Alki in charge, was right there to meet us. He not only ran the place, he proposed to run us out of it. This made us quite sore as we thought of our good intentions. Just then, Ebbie turned up, grinning. He said, What about a plate of beans? After the food, Alec and I had slightly clearer heads. Ebbie told us there would be a meeting in the mission pretty soon. Would we like to go? Certainly we would go. That's why we were there. The three of us were soon sitting on one of those hard wooden benches that filled the place. I had never seen a mission before, and I shivered a little as I looked at the derelict audience. There was a smell of sweat and alcohol. I could well imagine how much suffering was represented in this gathering. There were some hymns and prayers. Then Tex, the leader, exhorted us. Only Jesus could save, he said. Somehow this statement did not jar me. Certain men got up and made testimonials. Numb as I was, I felt interest and excitement rising. Then came the call. Some men were starting forward to the rail. Unaccountably impelled, I started too, dragging Alec with me. Ebbie reached for my coattails, but it was too late. I knelt among the shaking pillows. Penitence. Maybe then and there, for the very first time, I was penitent too. Something touched me. I guess it was more than that. I was hit. I felt a wild impulse to talk. Jumping to my feet I began. Afterward I could never remember what I said. I only knew that I was really in earnest and that people seemed to pay attention. Ebbie, who at first had been embarrassed to death, told me with relief that I had done alright and had Given my life to God. Upstairs after the meeting, I saw the dormitory where the derelicts slept. I met a few who had made good recoveries. Some were living at the mission, working outside by day. Eagerly I listened to their stories. I sobered up very fast, and the dead weight on me seemed to go on lifting. With a qualm I remembered Lois. I had not phoned her and she would be worried. I must tell her all about this. It was good to hear her sigh of relief at the other end of the wire. Slowly and quite con confidently I made my way up twenty-third Street to the subway. As I went down the stairs, it was startling to realize that I hadn't thought of looking in any of the bars. This was something new, very new. Had I too been released? And I'll stop right there for today. Again, that's from AA Comes of Age, and we'll pick that up again in a few days. I wanted to go back and point out the similarities between today's Daily Reflections and the 24 Hours reading. Daily Reflections is our primary purpose. That's the title. And then in 24 hours, there's a couple lines in the thought for the day that that really stood out to me. Participating in the privilege of the movement, I shall share in the responsibilities, taking it upon myself to carry my fair share of the load. So I underlined a couple sentences here participating in the privilege of the movement. And then carry my fair share of the load. And then after that, it says grudgingly, not grudgingly, but joyfully. And so I thought about that and participating in the privilege of the movement. It is a privilege to be a part of AA. And what is what is the movement? What is my my primary purpose in AA? And it tells us right here in the Daily Reflections today. And it also tells us in ⁓ the preamble of AA: our primary purpose is to stay sober. And help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. And so at the end of the AA thought for the day, it says, to the extent that I fail in my responsibilities, AA fails. And to me, what that means is ⁓ you know, going back to my our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. If I don't help other alcoholics, I'm not helping myself say myself stay sober, and I'm not helping anybody else get sober. So I hope you enjoyed those readings. I'd love to hear your thoughts and your comments on today's readings. If you'd like to send me your thoughts and comments, just send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com and I can read them on the air if you'd like. ⁓ also, if you'd like to drop a dollar in today's virtual donation basket, just go to my my website, sobereadings.com, and click that donate button. So thank you so much for listening today. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll see 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.