Where we grew up

Among the benefits someone like me obtains, as a result of attending meetings, I am given so much help that it sometimes overflows. That was close to what I was thinking today. I was sitting in a meeting, where the discussion was about the importance of going to meetings. And the fact that the Third Step was included as part of this turned out to be a bonus.

I know what it’s like to be at meetings on a regular basis. In fact I was reminded of what one old timer said to us many years ago. He was often sent overseas by the government. And when he got back the first thing he did was to go to a meeting, because back in those days the world spread of this program was limited and he had missed meetings. What he said was that returning to meetings after being absent for a time caused him problems. And the problem he was talking about was the language. He said that he had to learn the program language all over again each time he came back.

Funny thing was that a young man, who had missed over a week, came back and said the very same thing. He was beginning to learn the language of this program all over again. It’s not that we have a foreign language, but the way we say things and what we mean is different. We become used to it. Newcomers and people, like the two above, have to start all over again. In here we take for granted what we are saying and listening to. We’re used to it, because we “grew up” in here.

Almost everyone in here today said that they really could not afford to stay away from meetings. They almost all admitted that their disease of alcoholism needed a one day at a time treatment in meetings from those like themselves who attended meetings. But then the Third Step was brought in at the same time. The power of the God of our understanding, his grace, was addressed as being what was present in these rooms.

I sometimes have to go back and remember what it was like for me, when I would be overwhelmed with problems. I would walk into meetings with all the weight of the world on my shoulders. I would sit down and feel all this heaviness. And, as the meeting went on, I would begin to experience relief as the weight would begin to be lifted off of me. I have always thought about that as being part of what this program offered me, when I would come to meetings.

In other words it is pretty much what that Fifth Chapter in the BB talked about in the Third Step. All my self centered faults being taken care of by my Higher Power. My ego centered self not getting what I wanted, but by coming into the meetings I would once again be taking that Third Step. Turning my life and my will over to the God of my understanding. The result of which would be the beginning once more of starting to be restored to sanity. Not a sudden fact. At some point I would have to begin to become aware of what I was doing. And that often was exactly what I would end up doing because others would begin to make me aware.

That old statement I was given by my sponsor and old timers certainly became part of the meeting. That I cannot stay sober by myself. I need the help of others like myself and that’s where I get it when I go to meetings.

I know that I often have a desperate need to be reminded of what it is that I forget. I have to come and be reminded. And how often that happens while I’m sitting in these meetings. For instance sometimes I will get busy, when I get up in the morning, and the result is that I will forget to say my prayers. Not that often, but sometime during the meetings someone will say something which will open the door up within me and there it is. How often I have made a pause within myself to do what I should be doing each and everyday.

At the same time, before or after a meeting someone will come up and tell me that they need to talk. And then I will be given moments of sharing. Compassion. Being given the gift of being able to give to someone what was given to me by my sponsor or others. And sometimes I will find just the opposite. I will be able to share with another what it is that is bothering me at the time. And I will often find the answer.

And again I think this is part of that Third Step. At least for me.

Once again I have been reminded to sit and think about staying sober. Grateful.