Latest / Sober Readings / The "Number One Offender"
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings, today is Tuesday the 14th of April. Let's start 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. Alright, today's reading from Daily Reflections, the number one offender. Resentment is the number one offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease. For we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. And that is from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous page 64. As I look at myself practicing the fourth step, it is easy to gloss over the wrong that I have done. because I can easily see it as a question of getting even for a wrong done to me. If I continue to relive my old hurt, it is a resentment and a resentment bars the sunlight from my soul. If I continue to relive hurts and hates, I will hurt and hate myself. After years in the dark of resentments, I have found the sunlight. I must let go of resentments. I cannot afford them. Today's reading from 24 Hours, April 14, AA Thought for the Day. A police captain once told me about certain cases he had come across in his police work. The cause of the tragedy in each case was drunkenness. He told his audience about a man who got into an argument with his wife while he was drunk and beat her to death. Then he went out and drank some more. The police captain also told about a man who got too near the edge of an old quarry hole when he was drunk and fell 150 feet to his death. So ask yourself, when I read or hear these stories, do I think about our motto, but for the grace of God? The Meditation for the Day. I must keep balance by keeping spiritual things at the center of my life. God will give me this poise and balance if I pray for it. This poise will give me power in dealing with the lives of others. This balance will manifest itself more and more in my own life. I should keep material things in their proper place and keep spiritual things at the center of my life. Then I will be at peace amid the distractions of everyday living. Today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may dwell with God at the center of my life. I pray that I may keep that inner peace at the center of my being. In today's final reading, we're going to, as Bill sees it, page 272. troubles of our own making. selfishness, self-centeredness, that we think is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self, which later placed us in a position to be hurt. So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us. That is also from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, page 62. And before I close today, I'd like to go back to the AA Thought for the Day from the 24 Hours book. And that last question that I posed, when I read or hear these stories, do I think about our motto? And the motto says, but for the grace of God. And there's a second part of that. But for the grace of God, there go I. And I didn't know what that meant for a long time. And what it means is that could be me. So when I... think about someone getting arrested or someone, you know, some act that they've done during their drunkenness and I think, ⁓ I've never done that. I should put the word yet at the end of that sentence. I haven't done that yet. ⁓ And that's where that model comes in. But for the grace of God, there go I. That could be me. If I were to go back to drinking and drugging, I absolutely could do any of those things that we talk about and read about in these readings. So I'd love to hear your thoughts and your comments on that motto. But for the grace of God, there go I. So that's it for today's episode of Sober Readings. If you enjoyed the show, please do me a huge favor and hit that like button and share this episode with someone you think might need it. Drop a comment, let me know what you thought. And like I said, you can send your thoughts and your comments to me at soberreadingswithscottatgmail.com. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that motto. And if you're someone who loves to read sober literature and you would like to be a guest reader on my show, I would love to have you. Again, shoot me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com and we can certainly make that happen. And if you'd like to a dollar in the donation basket for today's readings, just go to my website soberreadings.com and click the donate button. So thank you so much for listening, everyone. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll see you in the next episode. So 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.