I was thinking today about the importance of the spiritual life we have all found in this program. What an immense different it has made in my life and, I know, in the lives of all those around me.
It’s not always up there on the surface of any of us. But, as in the case of my sponsor, it is ever present. I could see it in the example of the life he showed me. He rarely, if ever, talked about it. It was just there. He never talked about God, but I and others knew that God was ever present to him.
He talked about the BB and the steps. He was always referring back to the words in the BB. From him I learned where my focus in this program should be at all times. And because he was always directing me to study the Book, I began to learn what it said and where it said it. I began to become infused with the knowledge within its pages and its wisdom. All I have and convey to others comes from him and what I have learned.
For instance, I have come to learn that the answer to all my problems is spiritual. And that I can find the source of all of this in the 12 Steps, if I will but put them into practice in my life. I have also learned that no one, not me or anyone else, has a direct pipeline to God. What I know of the God of my understanding comes through the people I know in this program. I hear many of the answers I seek in the wisdom of their words. It’s not the words themselves, which are so important, but the ideas they carry to me.
When it comes to the spiritual life, I feel I have no idea of what that is. But from my experience, living this program, I begin to have some idea of what that is. My sobriety and my very existence is directly dependent on this way of life. Any happiness I have, and I have had much of that, is because the spiritual way of life is within me. If I can clear away my vision of all the accidents of the lives of others and I can focus on the substance of their lives, I begin to experience this way of life.
Recently I have been thinking about a relatively young man, whose life is hanging on by a thread, and realize how much of this program is within him and how much of this we all share with him, regardless of the state he’s in. It’s not so much what’s wrong with him, as much as it is what is right with him. His condition draws my attention to him. It urges me to offer up prayers for his return to health, with the words, “not my will, but Thy will be done”.
In turn I’m reminded that the spiritual life is not a theory; it has to be lived.
It’s a fulfillment of the promise that our thoughts will turn to others. A profound change in attitude which I desperately needed, if I wanted to stay sober. A change from self centeredness and selfishness, which had a death grip on me throughout my drinking career.
I was thinking about this tonight, after talking to several recovering alcoholics. I am truly grateful for all these opportunities, which could only happen for me, because I got sober and found this way of life.