Today was a meeting, which got everyone’s attention. It was on the Second Step. Interesting. Everyone seemed to be totally involved. And, like for me, it was the Step which opened the door to the program itself.
Almost everyone talked about their involvement with spirituality and finding their concept of a Higher Power. What it was like before and then after. How they changed. Amazing to listen and to understand what they were all going through in this Step.
I know for myself that this has always been a special Step for me, because, like I said, it was this which changed my life. My sponsor was the one who told me I had to read, study, and then change. And that’s what I did. I definitely wanted to stay sober no matter what. I never ever wanted to drink alcohol again. And it was this which changed me.
Getting ready to live a spiritual way of life was a shock for me. I had done this before. I spent a few years in the seminary studying to be a priest. And yet I stopped and came out and unfortunately drank. Got drunk and didn’t stop until years later, when I had lost control. And here I was where I had been before. While I was studying back then, I didn’t really drink. I had to go back and see what it was. What was it? Obviously the spiritual way of life.
Of course I had no idea concerning alcoholism. It really wasn’t until I came into this program that I was educated in terms of being an alcoholic and the effect it had on me and my life out there. But I was grateful to discover this Second Step, which was to change my life.
The BB tells me it’s importance. The spiritual life is not a theory, it states. We have to live it. And that’s what I found out in here. How to live it.
I learned that I had to find hope, faith, and, eventually, love. I had to begin to have friends. And, in spite of myself, I have. I began to change. I had to learn how to have some sort of humility. I had to begin to care about others. To learn to be grateful for all I have been given in here. Gratitude to my Higher Power and all those, beginning with my old sponsor, who have helped me through the time in here.
Anyway it definitely got me focused on what it is I am supposed to be doing. And the essential part of that is to focus on why I am here. To stay sober a day at a time. To practice prayer and meditation. And then to bring what I have learned in here to others like myself. The Twelfth Step. To freely give what was freely given to me.
Just had to stop and think about all of this. Makes me grateful.