Always I’m compelled to look back at that moment in Bill’s kitchen, when Ebby T. came to Bill and presented him with the proposition, which became the solution to Bill’s alcoholic problem. And, indeed, the solution for all of us, who were to follow in his footsteps.”Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?”
Those simple words freed Bill of all the misconceptions he had. They freed a lot of us. Ebby opened the door for millions to achieve sobriety, though he himself was to slip and slide in and out of sobriety until the day he died. He was kind of like Moses. He took the lead to Bill but couldn’t enter the Promised Land himself.
Bill, on the other hand, grabbed onto these words and eventually was able to put this message in it’s simplest of terms. ABC. Couldn’t get any simpler.
The key to all of this was what Ebby said. I was going to have to seek this God. And I did, like all of us. But I didn’t have to strain to do this. I only had to work the steps and they would lead me to finding the God of my understanding. It was all so simple. The tools to do this were already in place when I came in. All I had to do was to pick them up and apply them to my life, or, if you would, our life. I can’t do this alone. Never could. Still can’t. Neither could Bill or any of us.
I thought I was intellectually superior to anyone and everyone. Fortunately my sponsor and a whole lot of the old timers I met smashed that idea for me. In truth, I did it to myself. I was frustrated at every turn until I surrendered and did what all those before me had done. Only when I accepted this program in all ways did my life turn around. I was not looking for a spiritual way of life when I came here, and it was only after I accepted that did I discover that in spiritual matters it’s dangerous to go it alone.
I talk to others and go to meetings, because I have to reminded of how simple this program is. I also believe that it’s dangerous to go into my own head without adult supervision.
Anyway, I was thinking about this today.