Latest / Sober Readings / Anger: A Dubious Luxury
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Good morning, welcome to Sober Readings for Thursday the 16th of April. 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 wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections. Anger, a dubious luxury. If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics, these things are poison. That's from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, page 66. dubious luxury. How often have I remembered those words? It's not just anger that's best left to non-alcoholics. I built a list including justifiable resentment, self-pity, judgmentalism, self-righteousness, false pride, and false humility. I'm always surprised to read the actual quote. So well have the principles of the program been drummed into me that I keep thinking all of these defects are listed too. Thank God I can't afford them, or I surely would indulge in Today's reading from 24 Hours, April 16, AA Thought for the Day. In AA, we have insurance. Our faith in God is a kind of insurance against the terrible things that might happen to us if we ever drink again. But putting our drink problem in the hands of God, we've taken out a sort of insurance policy, which insures us against the ravages of drink as our homes are insured against destruction by fire. So ask yourself, am I paying my AA insurance premiums regularly? The Meditation for the Day. I must try to love my fellow men. Love comes from thinking of every man or woman as your brother or sister, because they are children of God. This way of thinking makes me care enough about them to really want to help them. I must put this kind of love into action by serving my fellow men. Love means no severe judging, no resentments, no malicious gossip and no destructive criticism. It means patience, understanding, compassion, and helpfulness. In today's prayer for the day, I pray that I may realize that God loves me, since He is the Father of us all. I pray that I, in turn, may have love for all of His children. And for today's final reading, we're going to the grapevine from February of 2025. And this grapevine edition is titled, The Good Life. The short story I'm read is titled, Just That Simple. My toilet seat was broken for six months. I endured the seat sliding to the left, always accompanied by a jolt every time I sat down. One day I decided I would fix it. So I went to the hardware store and bought a new seat and brought it home. But as I reached into the bowl and up under the rim, I could not figure out how to get the old seat off. I finally gave up and returned the seat and went back to jostling for another whole year. Finally, I decided to ask for help. In discussing the nature of my problem, I was informed it was not the seat after all. Nothing wrong there. The bolts just needed a simple tightening. So I went home and followed directions. I unloosened the bolts, adjusted the seat, and tightened the bolts within two minutes. The seat was then steady and secure. I too was once broken. I wanted to be steady and secure and fixed again, relieved of my brokenness. So I asked for help. Then, just like we do in AA, we followed directions, suggestions, and instructions. And we're like new again. It's just that simple. And that's from M.M. in Knoxville, Tennessee. And yes, it is just that simple, but you know what they say about the program of Alcoholics Anonymous? It's a simple program for complicated people. And if you'd like to share your thoughts and your comments on how you have complicated the AA program, you can send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com. And so that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. If you've enjoyed the show, please do me a huge favor and hit that like button, share this episode with someone who might need it, drop a comment and let me know what you thought, and make sure you're following the show so you don't ever miss the next episode. And if you're someone who loves to read, especially sober literature, then I'd love to have you a guest on my show. Just shoot me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com and we can certainly make that happen. If you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings, just go to soberreadings.com and click the donate button. So again, thank you so much for listening, 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.