Latest / Sober Readings / Trusted Servants
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- Scott Hayes: Welcome to Sober Readings, today is 29 March, Sunday. Today's reading from Daily Reflections. Trusted Servants. They are servants. Theirs is the sometimes thankless privilege of doing the group's chores. That's from 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, page 134. In Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis describes an encounter between his principal character and an old man busily at work planting a tree. What is it you are doing? Zorba asks. The old man replies. You can see very well what I'm doing, my son. I'm planting a tree. But why plant a tree? Zorba asks. If you won't be able to see it bear fruit. And the old man answers. I, my son, live as though I were never going to die. The response brings a faint smile to Zorba's lips, and as he walks away, he exclaims with a note of irony, How strange. I live as though I were going to die tomorrow. As a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have found that the third legacy is a fertile soil in which to plant the tree of my sobriety. The fruits I harvest are wonderful. Peace, security, understanding, and 24 hours of eternal fulfillment. And with the soundness of mine to listen to the voice of my conscience when, in silence, it gently speaks to me, saying, you must let go in service. There are others who must plant and harvest. Today's reading from 24 Hours. March 29, AA Thought for the Day. Before I met AA, I was very dishonest. I lied to my wife constantly about where I had been and what I'd been doing. I took time off from the office and pretended I'd been sick or gave some other dishonest excuse. I was dishonest with myself as well as with other people. I would never face myself as I really was or admit when I was wrong. I pretended to myself that I was as good as the next fellow. Although, I suspect that I wasn't. So ask yourself, am I now really honest? Today's meditation for the day. I must live in the world and yet live apart with God. I can go forth from my secret times of communion with God to the work of the world. To get the spiritual strength I need, my inner life must be lived apart from the world. I must wear the world as a loosed garment. Nothing in the world should seriously upset me as long as my inner life is lived with God. All successful living arises from this inner life. and today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may live my inner life with God. I pray that nothing shall invade or destroy that secret place of peace. And for today's final reading, I chose a piece from The Grapevine dated October 2024. This one is titled, One Drop of Beer. The insanity of drinking returned to me today. I was at the golf course and we had just completed our round. My wife asked me to bring home supper from the dining room, so I told my playing partner that I would join him and the other golfing buddies in the lounge as soon as I put my clubs away. Upon arrival, the men were sitting at a very small table already downing their first beers. They asked me to join them and it surely would have been a knee knocker if my partner and I had done so. I glanced around the room, spotted a larger table with four chairs, and informed them that I preferred sitting there as my wife was extremely high risk for COVID. I sensed their dejection by their mannerisms, but both respected my request, picked up their beers, and followed me to the table. My playing partner arrived, and one of the men asked what we would like to drink. My partner said beer, and I replied lemon soda. The server was summoned. The order placed, and moments later three beers and a soda arrived. We raised our glasses to perform a toast, and all four glasses clanked, spilling one drop of beer from my partner's glass into my glass of lemon soda. I froze. My mind started churning a hundred miles an hour, and I instantly questioned myself. What do I do? Let it go and drink the drink as if nothing happened, or possibly embarrass myself and order another soda. I chose the latter. and 37 years of continuous sobriety was kept in check. ⁓ they mocked me and harassed me for being a wuss, and I did not care. My sobriety was intact, as was my sanity. I say that because if I had sipped that drink knowing it contained beer, I wouldn't have been able to live it down, even though I and only I would have been the wiser. It would have destroyed me. Thank God for AA. ⁓ for the steps that have taught me wisdom and for my higher power who continues to keep me safe every day. And that was written by Ken H. in York, Maine. You know, that reading right there brings up a couple things for me. The first one being what I put myself in situations like that where I know that alcohol is going to be served and I could be pressured to drink. There's a saying in Alcoholics Anonymous, if you spend enough time in the barber shop, you're going to end up with a haircut. So maybe it's wise not to put myself in those positions very often. And the other thought comes from page 84 of the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous where it describes us recoiling from alcohol as if it were a hot flame. And I have a short story about that. When I was early in sobriety, I was at a wedding and I was holding a glass of cranberry juice and someone walked up and jokingly tried to pour their wine into my cranberry juice and my arm yanked back very quickly, unconsciously, ⁓ as if it were a hot flame. And I can't tell you if that's a fear of drinking or if that's just a natural reaction now, being repelled by the idea of drinking. But either way, I can tell you that the things that I've heard and the things that I've learned in the program kept me sober in situations like that. And I love how Ken in this story talks about It would have been on his conscience had he drank that drink with one drop of beer in it. It might not have made any difference at all physically to him, but it would have been on his conscience that he drank that drink with one drop of beer. And so, much safer just to get a new drink that you know there's no alcohol in it. And that also reminds me that what other people think of me is none of my business. So, when Ken was thinking... you know, are my friends gonna think of me if I turn this down and have to get a new drink? Well, his friends don't have to deal with his sobriety. He and his higher power do. So I'd love to hear your thoughts and your comments on this. You can send me an email at soberreadingswithscott at gmail.com or you can go to the website soberreadings.com and fill out that short form. And if you'd like to drop a dollar in the donation basket for today's reading, just click the donate button at the website. So thanks for listening everybody, 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.