READINESS TO SERVE OTHERS

 READINESS TO SERVE OTHERS

 

. . . our Society has concluded

that it has but one high mission —

to carry the A.A. message to those

who don’t know there’s a way out.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 151

 

The “Light” to freedom shines bright

 on my fellow alcoholics

as each one of us challenges the other to grow.

The “Steps” to self-improvement

have small beginnings,

but each Step builds the “ladder”

out of the pit of despair to new hope.

Honesty becomes my “tool”

to unfurl the “chains” which bound me.

A sponsor, who is a caring listener,

can help me to truly hear the message

 guiding me to freedom.

I ask God for the courage to live in such a way

that the Fellowship may be a testimony to His favor.

This mission frees me to share my gifts of wellness

through a spirit of readiness to serve others.

 

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Built by the One and the Many

 

We give thanks to our Heavenly Father,

who, through so many friends

and through so many means and channels,

has allowed us to construct this wonderful edifice

of the spirit in which we are now dwelling --

this cathedral whose foundations already rest

upon the corners of the earth.

On its great floor we have inscribed

 our Twelve Steps of recovery.

On the side walls,

the buttresses of the AA Traditions

have been set in place to contain us in unity

for as long as God may will it so.

Eager hearts and hands have lifted

the spire of our cathedral into its place.

That spire bears the name of Service.

May it ever point straight upward toward God.

"It's not only to the few that we owe

the remarkable developments

in our unity and in our ability

to carry A.A.'s message everywhere.

It is to the many; indeed,

it is to the labors of all of us

that we owe these prime blessings."

1. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 234

2. TALK, 1959

 

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It is extraordinary

how extraordinary the ordinary person is.

—George F. Will

 

At our meetings, we often hear stories of the courage

of ordinary people and their triumph against great odds.

When we hear of a person's life being restored,

we are witnesses to miracles.

Our friends are heroes and so are we.

As a man describes his passage

from insanity to recovery, we are moved.

Whenever we are truly open

 to knowing the people around us,

whether at a meeting or in getting to know a neighbor,

we will see heroism.

It is amazing that when we get to know most people,

and hear what their lives have been like,

we find so much to admire and respect.

It is a privilege to have such friends.

It is amazing that they are so abundant

when we open ourselves to them.

God truly does speak to us through others.

 

I am grateful when I think about

the extraordinary people around me

and the courage in each of them.

I am grateful to be among them.