From twenty-four hours to forty four years, and a lot of people in between celebrated their anniversaries today. This was our monthly chip day. Couldn’t help but be impressed and inspired by these people and their sobriety.
Then the leader of the meeting said, after we heard the celebrants speak, that the rest of the meeting should be about the importance of meetings. And that was indeed perfect in light of what had just occurred. Most of those celebrating had brought up how much meetings had helped them to acquire their sobriety. I know it worked the same for me.
A lot of things ran through my mind, as all of this was going on. I could look around the room and see so many receiving their chips, whom I have known over the years in here. And they were right, when they pointed out how going to meetings on a regular basis had provided them with the support they needed and had broken open their closed minds.
In fact one man told my story, when he related what a child he was at around forty years of age when he came in. That sure was me. The combination of alcohol and my self centered ego had kept me near my infancy, at least emotionally. And my fear of discovery, mainly self discovery, fixed in place. And it was the examples of those around me, which slowly began to break down the walls I had built around me to protect me from others finding out who and what I was. And it could only have happened as a result of going to meetings regularly.
I heard others talking about how their alcoholism and immaturity had kept them in isolation and how the people in the room reached out to them and how they slowly, just like me, began to become open and part of this program. Lets us all know how much we owe to those around us. And to come to the realization that we are part of what is working in the new person’s life. Part of that Twelfth Step we’re supposed to be practicing on a regular basis.
That and not taking a drink a day at a time. The exact example I and others saw being practiced by those in these meetings. The encouragement and support we were given. But there was more to all of this in these meetings, which not only supported what we were beginning to do. And that was the spiritual foundation to this program. One of our members brought that up, when he emphasized the Second Step, while he was relating his experiences in the group and the meetings.
That, of course, is what often strikes me about this program and the meetings. How I can often sense the influence of my Higher Power in these rooms and be reminded of how much I depend on my Higher Power. Like I am told how this is where my sobriety is held in place by my hopes, my faith, and my reliance on my Higher Power. And the reminders I am given by my fellow alcoholics in the room about this and so many other things I need.
One of the women in the room reminded me of what is often a stumbling point in my program. My failure to remember what it is I need to put into action on a daily basis. And how she is given a fresh reminder of what it is we need in these meetings by so many others like ourselves. One of the rewards for my attendance at meetings on a regular basis.
Anyway I was definitely affected by the examples of sobriety today and how important it is that I stay in the regular habit of attending meetings. It makes me grateful that I have the opportunity I do to be able to come to meetings and be part of what this program is all about. Always brings my mind to the place it should be, thinking about sobriety each and everyday.