Something which attracts the attention of so many alcoholics in meetings and ties in with the Fifth Tradition is the subject of staying sober accompanied by the thoughts on gratitude. And that’s exactly what went on in the meeting today.
I know for myself that is exactly why I go to meetings. To do what I feel I need to a day at a time. To spend some time thinking about staying sober. That’s exactly what number of individuals pretty much said today. And just how much a big part gratitude plays in all of this.
I guess that’s what all of us, who are sober probably think about on a regular basis. The need we all have of concentrating at some time each and everyday on the importance of thinking about staying sober. It’s exactly why I came into this program. I needed to stay sober.
In fact it’s what I always needed. I never wanted to take a drink of alcohol ever again. I knew exactly where alcohol had taken me. In order to stop drinking I was ready to commit suicide rather than go on drinking anymore. I often think about that last day drinking and how I was saved from that act by a bartender and a friend who drank with me. This last man was the one who introduced me to hope. He had told me that there was a place where men and women met and stayed sober together. That turned a bright light on inside of me, where it was totally black within from the despair I was suffering from because I couldn’t stop drinking on my own.
I also think about that night, when I got home and prayed for the first time in years. I begged God, as I understood him, to stop me from drinking and I would do anything he wanted me to do. And the miracle was that I did stop. I’ve never had a drink ever since then. The next thing was that my friend took me to my first meeting a few days later.
Then on that night an old timer in here read from the January 6 page of the Twenty-Four Hour a Day book. It talked about how important my keeping sober is. It points out how my stopping drinking saved my life. Also that I cannot afford to forget this even for a minute. Of course I do, but I try to make up for that by doing just what I’m doing at the moment. Thinking about staying sober.
And I know that I can add to all of this what the second subject of the day was. My gratitude.