Nothing changes, yet everything changes. There’s a lot of truth in that and it’s no more evident than in an AA meeting. That’s the way it was today.
There the group was, sitting in the room today, discussing the importance of meetings and the words that God could do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. How many times we have done this before, yet is was different, as it always is.
What’s changed? Everyone sitting in the room. Whatever we were like yesterday, we have all changed. For the better or for the worse. Today it was evident that everyone was better. And if they felt worse off before the meeting, they all felt better after the meeting and that was so evident.
It reminded me of how obvious, no matter what our thinking was before, that our minds changed as we listened and talked about these subjects. I know that my mind changed rapidly, as I listened to each person, who spoke on these subjects. I was in a pretty good frame of mind to begin with, but, as the meeting went on my thoughts and my feelings were at another level.
I can think back to other times and other meetings, when I would come into a meeting, carrying a host of problems on my shoulders, which were weighing me down. As those meetings went on I could feel myself relaxing more and more. Then, when the meeting would end, I would stand up and find that the weight of the world I had been carrying around had been lifted from my shoulders. I was free again.
That I think is what meetings do for us. The spiritual solution we so often seek is right there in the room with us. That spiritual presence, which so many attending carry with them is there. I know many, who sit in those rooms, who pray and meditate in meetings. When we’re not talking about the problem(s), we talk about what we need to concentrate on; the solution, which is always spiritual. It’s in the Steps, the Traditions. It’s in each of us.
I’m always reminded of the man in the BB, who went to sleep in a desperate, almost hopeless state. He said a prayer just before he did and, when he awoke, he said, everything had changed and yet nothing had changed. I know that has happened to me and I’m sure many others. The spiritual awakening.
Anyway, I was thinking about the meeting and all my friends, who were there today. Everything had changed and yet nothing had changed.