A friend of mine sent me an email and a quote from Bill W. Bill talks about the debt we owe for our rescue from insanity and death from our drinking. He talks about how the most effective help for other alcoholics comes from the sober alcoholic. He says that we have an obligation to pass the message along to others. An obligation none of us can ignore.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics…
In the 12&12, Bill opens the Twelfth Step, stating that the joy of living is the theme of this step. Joy. When I finally reached this step, I had already been exposed to opportunity to go out and assist in carrying this message to others. But early on that element of joy hadn’t yet entered into my life. It only came with that psychic change Doctor Silkworth spoke of in the opening chapter of the BB. It came when I began to enjoy being sober.
One of the paradoxes of this program is that in order to keep sobriety we have to give it away. Life seems to go out of our sobriety if we selfishly hold it to ourselves. That’s been my experience. It seems to be like water in a pond, which has no outlet. It begins to stagnate and grow stale. I stop learning and what knowledge I have begins to pile up and there is no room for more. Boredom begins to set in and the words “is this all there is” becomes a constant refrain.
Each day I get up and rededicate myself to another day sober, I go to meetings out of gratitude for what I have received. That gratitude comes out in my willingness to share this program with others. To talk to others and listen. My higher power, I believe, the God of my understanding, provides the grace for this gift and that flows through me and others. I become the recipient of this grace, provided through others, and have to let it go. I can’t keep it. It’s not mine to keep. It’s ours.
…and to practice these principles in all our affairs. I was thinking about this today.