Even though all of us are marking this day as the day we declared our Independence from England, I was thinking of another independence day; the day each of us was released from alcohol. I know that day for me is firmly fixed in my mind.
I was thinking about this last night, when I went to bed. I read a couple of pages from the Language of the Heart and saw those words Bill had written, “release from alcohol”, and thought of what he was saying. He was talking about a spiritual awakening. It was true, now that I think about it. That moment for me was a spiritual experience or awakening, though at the time I didn’t recognize it.
I remember that I prayed a prayer of desperation to be released from the bondage of alcohol and fell asleep. I awoke the next day and it was answered, though I was completely unaware of it at the moment. Later in that day I suddenly recognized that throughout that day I was free from the mental obsession for alcohol and I was free from the compulsion and craving to take a drink. It was absolutely amazing. For the first time in over twenty years I didn’t want to drink. Except for one insane moment, I have been free of the thought of a drink throughout all these years.
That’s the “c” in the “a,b,c’s” in the BB. God could and would if he was sought. That’s why I often bring up the second step as a subject in meetings. That true independence Bill talks about in the BB, when he talked about men of faith. I know, like he said, that a dependence on a Higher Power frees us to be independent in the truest sense.
Anyway, I was thinking about this this morning and thought I’d pass it along.