Latest / Sober Readings / We Stand - Or Fall - Together
Transcript
- Scott Hayes: Hey everybody, welcome back to Sober Readings. Today's Wednesday, September 16th. My name is Scott, and I am glad you're here with me for today's readings. Let's get started today 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 We stand or fall together. No society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone. And that's on page five six one of Alcoholics Anonymous. Just as the twelve steps of AA are written in a specific sequence for a reason, so it is with the twelve traditions. The first step and the first tradition attempt to instill in me enough humility to allow me a chance at survival. Together they are the basic foundation upon which the steps and traditions that follow are built. It is a process of ego deflation which allows me to grow as an individual through the steps, and as a contributing member. Of a group through the traditions. Full acceptance of the first tradition allows me to set aside personal ambitions, fears, and anger when they are in conflict with the common good, thus permitting me to work with others for our mutual survival. Without tradition one, I stand little chance of maintaining the unity required to work with others effectively, and I also stand to lose the remaining traditions, the fellowship, and my life. Today's reading from 24 Hours a Day. September 16, AA Thought for the Day. Today, let us begin a short study of the 12 suggested steps of AA. These 12 suggested steps seem to embody five principles. The first step is the membership requirement step. The second, third, and eleventh steps are the spiritual steps of the program. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and tenth steps are the Are the personal inventory steps. The eighth and ninth steps are the restitution steps. The twelfth step is the passing on of the program or helping others step. So the five principles are membership requirement, spiritual basis, personal inventory, restitution, and helping others. Have I made all these steps a part of me? Meditation for the day. We seem to live not only in time but also in eternity. If we abide with God and He abides with us, we may bring forth spiritual fruit which will last for eternity. If we live with God, our lives can flow as some calm river through the dry land of earth. This can cause the trees and flowers of the spiritual life, love and service, to spring forth and yield abundantly. Spiritual work may be done for eternity, not just for now. Even here on earth we can live as though our real lives were eternal. Prayer for the day. I pray that I may try to make my life like a cool river in a thirsty land. I pray that I may give freely to all who ask my help. And for today's final reading, let's go to Living Sober, Chapter 3. It's titled Using the 24-Hour Plan. In our drinking days, we often had such bad times that we swore never again. We took pledges for as long as a year, or promised someone we would not touch the stuff for three weeks or three months. And of course, we tried going on the wagon for various periods of time. We were absolutely sincere when we voiced these declarations through gritted teeth. With all our hearts we wanted never to be drunk again. We were determined. We swore off drinking altogether, intending to stay off alcohol well into some indefinite future. Yet, in spite of our intentions, the outcome was almost inevitably the same. Eventually, the memory of the vows and of the suffering that led to them faded. We drank again, and we wound up in more trouble. Our dry forever had not lasted very long. Some of us who took such pledges had a private reservation. We told ourselves that the promise not to drink applied only to hard stuff, not to beer or wine. In that way we learned, if we did not already know it, that beer and wine could get us drunk too. We just had to drink more of them to get the same effects we got on distilled spirits. We wound up as drunk on beer or wine as we had been before on the hard stuff. Yes, others of us did give up alcohol completely and did keep our pledges exactly as promised. Until the time was up. Then we ended the drought by drinking again and were soon right back in trouble with an additional load of new guilt and remorse. With such struggles behind us now, in AA, we try to avoid the expressions on the wagon and taking the pledge. They remind us of our failures. Although we realize that alcoholism is a permanent, irreversible condition, our experience has taught us to make no long-term promises about staying sober. We have found it more realistic and more successful to say, I'm not taking a drink just for today. Even if we drank yesterday, we could plan not to drink today. We may drink tomorrow, who knows whether we'll even be alive then. But for this twenty-four hours, we decide not to drink. No matter what the temptation or provocation, we determine to go to any extremes necessary to avoid a drink today. Our friends and families are understandably weary of hearing us vow this time I really mean it, only to see us lurch home loaded. So we do not promise them, or even each other, not to drink. Each of us promises only herself or himself. It is, after all, our own health and life at stake. We, not our families or friends, have to take the necessary steps to stay well. If the desire to drink is really strong, many of us chop the 24 hours down into smaller parts. We decide not to drink for, say, at least one hour. We can endure the temporary discomfort of not drinking for just one more hour, then one more, and so on. Many of us began our recovery in just this way. In fact, every recovery from alcohol began with one sober hour. One version of this is simply postponing the next drink. How about it? Still sipping soda? Have you ever really postponed that drink we mentioned back on page one? If so, this can be the beginning of your recovery. The next drink will be available later, but right now we postpone taking it at least for the present day or moment. Say for the rest of this page. The twenty four hour plan is very flexible. We can start it afresh at any time, wherever we are. At home, at work, in a bar, or in a hospital room. At 4 p.m. or at 3 AM, we can decide right then not to take a drink during the forthcoming 24 hours or 5 minutes. Continually renewed, this plan avoids the weakness of such methods as going on the wagon or taking a pledge. A period on the wagon and a pledge both eventually came, as planned, to an end. So we felt free to drink again. But today is always here. Life is daily. Today is all we have, and anybody can go one day without drinking. First, we try living in the now just in order to stay sober, and it works. Once the idea has become a part of our thinking, we find that living life in twenty four hour segments is Is an effective and satisfying way to handle many other matters as well. And that was chapter three out of Living Sober titled Using the Twenty-Four Hour Plan. And this book, Living Sober, is one of my favorite sober literatures that we have. I find it very straightforward, common sense, and easy to follow. And that's it for today's readings. I'd like to go back to daily reflections real quick and talk about Tradition 1 since it is mentioned in the reading today. Tradition one says our common welfare should come first. Personal recovery depends upon AA unity. I tend to think of the traditions as guidelines for keeping AA groups healthy, but Tradition 1 reminds me that the health of the fellowship and my own sobriety are connected. I may have to do the work of recovery myself, but I don't have to, and probably shouldn't. Try to do it alone. The meetings, conversations, shared experiences, sponsorship, and simple presence of other alcoholics gives me something I cannot create alone. For my personal sobriety, Tradition 1 is also a warning against isolation and believing that I no longer need other people. When I start pulling away, making meetings optional, or thinking I can handle everything on my own. I separate myself from one of the things that helped me get sober in the first place. Unity doesn't mean I have to agree with everyone at AA or even like everyone. It means remembering that we share a common purpose that is more important than our differences. Sometimes protecting my sobriety means showing up, listening to someone I disagree with, helping another alcoholic, and allowing other people to help me. My recovery is personal, but it was never meant to be solitary. So thanks for listening today. That's all for today's episode of Sober Readings. I hope you heard something that you can carry with you for the rest of the day today. If you'd like to be a guest on the show and share your experience, strength, and hope, you can just send me an email, and that email address is in the notes below. Also in the notes below, you'll find a link that says donate. And if you'd like to drop a dollar in today's donation basket, just click that link. So again, thank you so much for listening today. As always, 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.