One thing for sure was talked about today and that was the Twelfth Step, as part of this program. That was because someone felt stepping out and taking care of the ill was part of what we needed to be doing.
What he brought up was what might be considered meeting our personal obligations, but not what that Step is about. I know from personal experience there is a big difference in my dealing with sick and suffering alcoholics, who might be interested in what we have for them to stop drinking and living a sober life, a spiritual life, and anything else. Anything else is my personal choice. The Twelfth Step is part of how I can live this spiritual way of life in here. I do that by going to any lengths to freely giving away what was so freely given to me.
One of the things I know, which is really important, is that by giving away this program is how I keep it for myself. In fact I learned in here that, if I don’t do this, I just might lose this program. At the very least miss the happiness given to someone like me, which is the result of going to any lengths to do this. Doesn’t matter whether someone accepts it or not. The fact of the matter is that I be willing to go to any lengths to stay sober and the Twelfth Step is part of that.
I know that helping others in visiting or caring is part of the personal love I am supposed to be practicing in here. But the truth is that I’m not a physician or a nurse. I’m just another person in this life and nothing more, when it comes to life outside of this program. I may or may not be able to do what I can for others. But when it comes to the possibility of life and death of an alcoholic like myself it’s totally different.
I know what it is I’m supposed to do. Not just in the Twelfth Step either, the personal service. I often go to that Fifth Tradition and see what that says about what the group is supposed to be doing to help the suffering alcoholic. Unfortunately at times I often think groups get tripped up when it comes to doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Something I sometimes stop and think about. Carrying the AA message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
Talk about the spiritual life, the long form of that Tradition spells it out. It says that the group ought to be a spiritual entity and do the rest of that Tradition in carrying that message.
Anyway I listened to what others had to say and most of them held the Twelfth Step as a special commitment on the part of the individual alcoholic. I couldn’t agree more. Nor did my sponsor and those old timers. Nor, for that matter, does the literature. However it did give all of us an opportunity to talk about the Twelfth Step and what it means to each and everyone of us in here.
I know for myself how much this Step has done in my own life. The gifts I have received as a result of practicing this Step have been wonderful. I have found peace and happiness as a result of doing this Step. I have often walked away from carrying this message to another alcoholic and knew that I had touched something very spiritual in my life and that of the other person. And since I have rarely done this on my own I know that I have shared that with whoever that was went with me, regardless of the outcome.
Often that would come to me as those first two promises in the Ninth Step: a new freedom and a new happiness. Just thinking about this made me grateful to be part of this program today. I mean here we were sitting there and sharing what has often fulfilled my life. How close it made me aware of the gratitude I owe my Higher Power for the strength and power supplied to us. Also the hope and the faith provided. And, like I was thinking, it doesn’t matter what the response of the individual is at that moment. That’s out of my control, like the Serenity Prayer reminds me.
Anyway I just had to stop and think about this and what it has done in my own life and that of those around me. Like I was thinking, how grateful I am for my fellow alcoholics who have given to me the gift of helping me grow along spiritual lines in here through this Twelfth Step.