TURNING IT OVER

  

March 8, 2023

 

TURNING IT OVER

 

Every man and woman who has joined A.A.

and intends to stick

has, without realizing it,

made a beginning on Step Three.

Isn't it true,

that in all matters touching upon alcohol,

each of them has decided

to turn his or her life

over to the care, protection, and guidance

of Alcoholics Anonymous? . . .

Any willing newcomer feels sure

A.A. is the only safe harbor

for the foundering vessel he has become.

Now if this is not turning one’s will and life over

to a new-found Providence,

then what is it?

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 35

 

Submission to God was the first step to my recovery.

I believe our Fellowship seeks a spirituality

open to a new kinship with God.

As I exert myself to follow the path of the Steps,

I sense a freedom that gives me the ability to think for myself.

My addiction confined me without any release

and hindered my ability to be released from my self-confinement,

but A.A. assures me of a way to go forward.

Mutual sharing, concern and caring

for others is our natural gift to each other

and mine is strengthened

as my attitude toward God changes.

I learn to submit to God’s will in my life,

to have self-respect,

and to keep both of these attitudes

by giving away what I receive.

 

**********************************************

Search for Motives

 

Some of us clung to the claim that when drinking

we never hurt anybody but ourselves.

Our families didn't suffer, because we always paid the bills

and seldom drank at home.

Our business associates didn't suffer,

because we were usually on the job.

Our reputations didn't suffer,

because we were certain few knew of our drinking.

Those who did would sometimes assure us that, after all,

a lively bender was only a good man’s fault.

What real harm, therefore, had we done?

No more, surely, than we could easily mend

with a few casual apologies.

This attitude, of course, is the end result

of purposeful forgetting.

It is an attitude which can be changed

only by a deep and honest search

of our motives and actions.

12 & 12, p. 79

 

*****

Heard at AA Meetings

 

"I had a layover in Omaha...

which led to a hangover in Des Moines."