A few of us today had to stop and talk about the importance of the spiritual way of life. I know this was emphasized by those old timers back when I came in. I learned how the only way we can really stay sober is to practice this. I have seen too many, who didn’t, who went back out and some of whom died.
The one thing I know, which we all had to learn, was to not try to drive alcoholics, who want to stay sober, into what we ourselves might believe. Their choice of who and what they believe is up to them, not any of us. Too often, at times, I have heard those, who might even be agnostics, going into details, trying to get some of us to change our beliefs.
I was reading a book, which I think was published, not long before he died, by Sandy Beach, which once again stressed the need for spirituality. And he went back to Chapter 5, which told us that we are powerless over alcohol, and no human power can relieve us of our alcoholism, but God could and would, if sought. And, as the AA literature points out to us, who and what we believe is up to us individually and not anyone in here but us.
I know that, when I was so desperate to stop drinking that I was willing to commit suicide, when I was suddenly given hope, I went home and prayed for the first time in years. Without stopping to choose a God, I prayed to God and offered up my alcoholic drinking. I surrendered totally. And I was willing to turn my will and my life over to him. And I was freed. I have never forgotten that.
Five days later I was taken to my first AA meeting. When I began I was thinking and trying to stay sober on my own. And after a while I became willing to listen to my old sponsor, who told me that I needed to wake up and begin to listen and learn. He knew I had done the First Step and helped me to open the BB and start on the Second, and that opened the door for me. It told me that I had to begin to live a spiritual life, and explained what I needed to know and do. Time took time, but overtime it has worked for me.
I have learned not to go off on my own, but to become part of this program. To go to meetings, to talk to others in here, especially those old timers, to stay sober a day at a time, to freely give to others, what was freely given to me, to pray and meditate, to continue to learn, and to be grateful for all I have been given.