I am responsible....

"When anyone, anywhere reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA to be there"

I seem to spend a great deal of time attacking the cliches that many in AA cling to as if they were the life lines from which they dangled above a sea of liquor.  This one, is quite the opposite. I hold steadfast to the idea that our common calling, our primary purpose and for some the only reason our lives were spared, is to bear witness and testament to the power of God and of Our Program of Recovery.

In order for us to be witnesses we must, we absolutely must, remain on the firing lines, we have to get in the trenches, we can't spend our days lounging in the meetings with the fancy coffee, the expensive chairs and valet parking, hoping that the newcomer will take a taxi to the suburbs to have the message delivered to them. 

The problem in our fellowship today stems from the fact that too many of us, and yes I said us, because I include myself in this group occasionally, are convinced that someone else must be going to do it, and if they are going to do it, then I don't have to bother with it. After all I come to meetings to make sure that I get "my" problems resolved so that I can stay sober today! Please note the very thick sarcasm here.

Folks, the Big Book is very clear on this subject. 

“Selfishness, self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles."

Alcoholics Anonymous pg 62

How then am I too be rid of this most horrible defect? The answer is right here, around us in this world are all manner of people in need, some are sick and dying, some hungry, some poor, and then there are those to whom we are particularly well equipped to help....the alcoholic. They, like us, will come desperate and dying and seeking the solution, and if we are to stay sober ourselves we must be willing, able, ready, and available to carry our message to them. We have to be where they are, when they show...that means the detox centers, the half-way houses, the recovery homes, the shelters and jails, that means the club with the smoke stains yesterday's coffee still cooking in the pot...we all have one...It means that when the phone rings, and it's late in the fourth quarter, we answer it and leave the room. It means that sometimes we are a taxi, and sometimes we are a warm meal, a bed, a shower and shave. It means that sometime, to someone other than ourselves we have to be home....

 For that I am Responsible...are you?

Please take a moment to visit our sponsor: The Token Shop 

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Posted in AA, meetings, message, Recovery, sober

Meeting makers don't make it...

The central fact in our fellowship today is a generalized yet profound reliance on our fellowship to preserve our sobriety. The idea that meeting makers make it is outlandish at best. In order to clarify this  point I must fist make it clear what it takes to make it.

If one wishes to define "making it" as long-term continuous sobriety, then certain things have to change and others must become present for this to happen. There must come first a lasting lifestyle change which is all encompassing. This can and usually begins with a plethora of AA meetings where a new person is exposed to the solution we have avaiable. That person then engages the solution, embraces the lasting lifestyle changes and sets forth on a new path, one which places God in the center of our universe. In a God centered life we learn to be of maximum service to others, as well as a reliance upon his divine guidance during the certain low points to come.

It is common place in our fellowship today to use the meetings as a source of guidance in dealing with our everyday problems, problems which in context are meant to strengthen our relationship and reliance upon God
Once this relationship has matured we no longer need to rely on meetings to support us through our days, in fact it becomes detrimental to lasting sobriety to do this.

It is a paradox that we must give away what we have in order to keep what we have. What we have is a simple, perpetual solution to alcoholism, and while we have problems and the such, it is our solution we wish to keep and our solution we must give to others. We are provided a forum by which to do this in meetings and other twelve step work, however I must reiterate that without a mature relationship with God we will not have the strength or grace we need to properly supply this solution.

Meeting makers don't make it, and dispensing this advice, is akin to telling someone to go into a room but not allowing them to turn on the light. After standing in darkness for long enough they will ultimately desire to leave.

Those who "make it", rely only meetings for the  prospect of finding new members with which to share the solution, thus securing their own lasting sobriety.

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Posted in AA, fellowship, meetings, solution