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The struggle of today, is not altogether for today -- it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence, all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us.
--Abraham Lincoln,1861 Message to Congress
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Can we now, with the help of God as we understand Him, handle (our difficulties as ) bravely as our nonalcoholic friends often do? Can we transform these calamities into assets, sources of growth and comfort to ourselves and those about us?
--Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (127)
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When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances!
--Alcoholics Anonymous (100:1)
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18-Aug-15: When I first got sober my sponsor suggested I write down where I wanted to be in five years. That was easy; homeless, unemployed, barely 30 days sober and still shaking my scrawny pencil spilled out my esteemed list of demands...I wanted: 1) a good bar-tending job, 2) a second pair of pants, and 3) a furnished room in a nice neighborhood.
That's it. That's all I could come up with.
The truth is this and nothing less: 1) I didn't feel worthy of anything more in my life, and 2) I secretly suspected while AA might help me stop drinking, it certainly wouldn't - couldn't! help me w/anything more. 'How dark it is before the dawn'. How do you know what you don't know? I just knew I would never be one of those happy, fresh skinned glowing AA giants that I looked up to when I got sober.
Twenty one years later my list of wants, which for years was groaning with the weight of untreated alcoholism, is thanks to God, our steps and our Book, short again. It is: 1) I want ease suffering and the causes of suffering.
That's it. That's all I need! This thing is so simple it escaped me for years. Being pulled, pushed prodded and shoved to the light through work and self-sacrifice in and out of AA - all w/a gun to my head, mind you - I have gotten to the other side, is spite of the fact that I did most of it to save my own ass.
Today as a direct result of trying to put spiritual principles into my life, I stand before the world a recovered alcoholic, fresh-skinned and glowing, for every time I put a nickel in the meter of sobriety I get back a hundred dollars. Every time Every time. Every time. 'I got nothing I had asked for, but everything I'd hope for. I am amongst all men most richly blessed.'
I love each and every one of you. Thank you for my life.
--Yours in love and service,
COG, 1st. Class.
The struggle of today, is not altogether for today -- it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence, all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us.
--Abraham Lincoln,1861 Message to Congress
************************************************************
Can we now, with the help of God as we understand Him, handle (our difficulties as ) bravely as our nonalcoholic friends often do? Can we transform these calamities into assets, sources of growth and comfort to ourselves and those about us?
--Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (127)
************************************************************
When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances!
--Alcoholics Anonymous (100:1)
************************************************************
18-Aug-15: When I first got sober my sponsor suggested I write down where I wanted to be in five years. That was easy; homeless, unemployed, barely 30 days sober and still shaking my scrawny pencil spilled out my esteemed list of demands...I wanted: 1) a good bar-tending job, 2) a second pair of pants, and 3) a furnished room in a nice neighborhood.
That's it. That's all I could come up with.
The truth is this and nothing less: 1) I didn't feel worthy of anything more in my life, and 2) I secretly suspected while AA might help me stop drinking, it certainly wouldn't - couldn't! help me w/anything more. 'How dark it is before the dawn'. How do you know what you don't know? I just knew I would never be one of those happy, fresh skinned glowing AA giants that I looked up to when I got sober.
Twenty one years later my list of wants, which for years was groaning with the weight of untreated alcoholism, is thanks to God, our steps and our Book, short again. It is: 1) I want ease suffering and the causes of suffering.
That's it. That's all I need! This thing is so simple it escaped me for years. Being pulled, pushed prodded and shoved to the light through work and self-sacrifice in and out of AA - all w/a gun to my head, mind you - I have gotten to the other side, is spite of the fact that I did most of it to save my own ass.
Today as a direct result of trying to put spiritual principles into my life, I stand before the world a recovered alcoholic, fresh-skinned and glowing, for every time I put a nickel in the meter of sobriety I get back a hundred dollars. Every time Every time. Every time. 'I got nothing I had asked for, but everything I'd hope for. I am amongst all men most richly blessed.'
I love each and every one of you. Thank you for my life.
--Yours in love and service,
COG, 1st. Class.
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Welcome as a witness to a fools journey out of the darkness. I welcome all tidings - you are all my teachers on this path toward a meaningful and purposeful sobriety.
COG, 1st Cl.