A friend of mine sent me a note about Dr. Bob’s story where he talks about the solution to sobriety. That reminded me of one of the stories going back to the Second Edition entitled The Professor and the Paradox. In it he describes statements, which might appear to be false, but which are true.
The first of these is one of the most amazing to me: We Surrender to Win. I don’t think I had ever thought about that kind of thing before, until I came into this program. Surrender to me always meant, as I’m sure most people would think, complete defeat. A loss for sure. But just going back and looking at what happened when I surrendered in that first Step, admitting that I was powerless over alcohol, it turned out that it was the beginning of freedom from the bondage of alcohol. For me it meant that instead of killing myself in order to stop drinking alcohol, which I had intended to do, all I had to do was to go to my Higher Power, God, as I understood Him, and ask him to stop me from drinking. I promised Him if He would do that I would do whatever He wanted me to do. And that I think was coming into this program and changing my life from what it was out there drinking. At least a beginning.
I was that desperate and I was willing to surrender. In the end I didn’t lose. I was freed of the slavery alcohol in which alcohol was holding me. The disease of alcoholism. The Promises in the Ninth Step tells us that we will know a new freedom and happiness. That has come true.
The restoration to sanity and the spiritual awakening are given to us, if we surrender and begin to change through these Steps in the program. Worked for all those old timers and the rest of us who have followed their examples in here.
His next Paradox was We Give Away to Keep. That too was a remarkable truth I found in here. I learned from my sponsor and those old timers that if I truly practice what I have been so freely given in this program, I must be willing to give it away to those who want it. In doing so I secure my program for each and everyday I stay sober. If I back off and am unwilling to do this, the Twelfth Step, I put myself at risk of losing what I have been so freely given. Just the fact that I have been able to follow their directions I know that I’m still here and have come to live beyond my wildest dreams. As Dr. Bob stated that this was the first reason for doing this. A sense of duty. For me a commitment I knew I needed to follow. For me, if I wanted to stay sober a day at a time.
Anyway I went back and looked these stories up to remind myself of why I have come here. It truly makes me grateful for all I have been given. Freed from the bondage of alcohol. Amazing for this chronic alcoholic. I owe my Higher Power and the members of this fellowship so much. I need to say thanks over and over, again and again.