We turn everything over to this Higher Power, who can take better care of us than we can by ourselves. What peace follows! We see our God as caring, as loving. This is what turn our will and lives over to care of our Higher Power. Made the decision to turn our will and lives over to God as we understand Him.Ĭare. I am more effective and more in control when I am not being swayed by feverish emotion that distorts my judgment. I do not need to be excited in any way today. In quietness and confidence is our strength. If we earn those pleasures and joys through responsible actions, they will give us far more happiness than momentary feelings of excitement. We are better off with steady growth in the patterns we know best than with seeking excitement that finally leads to destruction.Īt the same time, we should not belittle the pleasures and joys we get through ordinary living. The sober truth is that nobody can live sensibly and sanely by seeking continuous excitement and stimulation. An even more destructive attraction is the belief that a new romance can restore our zest for living and bring new joys and happiness. Some of us have had weird habits of suddenly quitting jobs and pulling up stakes for no reason other than being bored. One lure of excitement comes through the impulsive need for change. This excitement can take many forms, and some of them are dangerous. While we may think of ourselves as sensible, practical people, the hard truth is that many alcoholics have a strong need to feel excited. The lure of excitement is hard to understand. We saw that we had to reconsider or die.” We who had won so handsomely in a walk turned into all-time losers. The god of intellect displaced God of our fathers. Since we were brighter than most folks (so we thought), the spoils of victory would be ours for the thinking. “Scientific progress told us there was nothing man couldn’t do. Secretly, we felt we could float above the rest of the folks on our brain power alone. We used our education to blow ourselves up into prideful balloons, though we were careful to hide this from others. We loved to have people call us precocious. To the intellectually self-sufficient man or woman, many A.A.’s can say, “Yes, we were like you–far too smart for our own good. I pray that God’s spirit may grow within me. I pray that God’s spirit may be everything to my soul. To get close to the spirit of God is to find life and healing and strength. By keeping them, every mountain of difficulty shall be laid low, the rough places of poverty of spirit shall be made smooth, and all who know me shall know that God is the Lord of all my ways. I must keep the spiritual rules persistently, perseveringly, lovingly, patiently, and hopefully. Have I determined not to take the drink problem back to myself?Ĭonstant effort is necessary if I am to grow spiritually and develop my spiritual life. If we let God have it and keep it for good and then cooperate with Him, we’ll stay sober. program is to give our drink problem to God honestly and fully and never to reach out and take the problem back to ourselves. One of the most important parts of the A.A. You’ve given it to God and there’s nothing you can do about it.” So I forget about the drink. “Don’t reach out and take that problem back. When I find myself thinking about taking a drink, I say to myself. Today this faith, plus the honesty, open-mindedness and willingness to work the Steps of the program, gives me the serenity that I seek. In time, I learned that a Higher Power - a faith that works under all conditions - is possible. Out of their sharing came hope that I too would - and could - “get” a Higher Power. This faith came slowly at first, after I began listening to others share at meetings about their experiences - experiences that I had never faced sober, but that they were facing with strength from a Higher Power. Desperation and fear kept me sober (and maybe a caring and/or tough sponsor helped!). When I got sober I initially had faith only in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
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