What does it mean to me, what Bill W. said in the BB, that we are reborn? It means that through the solution to my alcoholism, which starts with that 2nd Step, that I’m not the same man, who came through these doors, when I finally got sober.
Today at our meeting, these were the subjects. A man asked what the solution was and another brought up our being reborn.
I always love it, when a meeting actually meets the standard set forth in the 5th Tradition. That the group’s primary purpose is to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. And what’s the message? That there is a solution.
Working these Steps in our lives is what brings about the solution. A spiritual solution. A solution, which not only solved the problem of my inability to stop drinking, but actually changed me. The answer to both questions today.
Almost everyone in the room, who spoke today, kept referring to the 12 Steps. Reminding us that half measures avail us nothing. If we want to get sober, we have to apply all these Steps to our lives. “Cafeteria style” taking of these Steps rarely works. And even though we may not drink, I’ve witnessed those in here, who picked and chose what they would or would not do, and failed to get the rewards this program offers us. “White knuckled” sobriety goes just so far.
All we have to do is to read the warning in the 5th Step in the BB, where they talk about those, who held back end up accusing others of the very things they have hidden. Freedom from the desire to drink again comes at the price of being open. Humility comes from our willingness to put our egos aside in favor of following this pathway to spirituality and thus a new life. Not the old one.
Most everyone was reminded of what their former life was like and then the reward. The change from the spiritual awakening.
A whole new way of thinking and acting. A profound personality change.
What they only alluded to and didn’t say is that deep down under all of this change the old alcoholic is still sitting there waiting to seduce us back into not just that old life, but that next drink. But they did say what was the solution that keeps us sober. Work the 12 Steps. And we come to learn and realize that nothing is worth a drink today.
Anyway, I was sitting here, thinking about these things this evening. What a wonderful way to live is what I am thinking. I’m so happy that I found this solution. I’m sober and I have found comfort and peace.