It is always amazing for me to sit in a meeting, where someone is either coming back or is new. In any event once again I get to sit in a meeting, where others are trying to help save them. That was today again.
Every time we have these meetings, I’m sure that others like myself are swept up with thinking how it was for each one of us in the beginning. I definitely know as I sit there, what it was like for me. I know, just before I came in, I was crushed in despair. I couldn’t go on. I knew nothing about alcoholism, at the time. I also knew nothing about AA. But I was saved by a friend, who had heard about AA, and he gave me hope.
Hope was the first thing I was given. It saved my life and helped get me sober. Because I had hope, I prayed to the God of my understanding and begged Him to remove the alcohol, and I would do whatever he wanted me to do. The alcohol was taken away and I entered the program.
I wish I could get others to do the same. Not only give up and come in, but to do what we all needed to do. To get a sponsor, who could direct us and show us what we had to step up and do what is required of us. To learn to shut up and listen. At least that’s what I was told to do in the beginning. And I stayed and did just that.
I looked at the person today and really didn’t know if they were following us. So, I told them what I had learned over time in here. How many alcoholics I know, who went back out and drank and died. Quite a lot over the time in here. I just hoped it would open their eyes and their thinking. To show them what awaits them, if they go back out again. But who knows. I know I don’t.
I’m just so glad that I have been given sobriety. I know, as I sit here, that I’m going to think about staying sober a day at a time. Hopefully I am grateful for all I have been given and want to thank my Higher Power, my old sponsor, and all those who have helped me through my time in here. Thanks.