July 22, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Saturday, July 22, 2023

“The words of Dr. Bob and Bill are with me all the time. Dr. Bob said, ‘Love and service keep us dry,’  and Bill said, ‘Always we must remember that our first duty is face-to-face help for the alcoholic who still suffers.’  Dr. Bob tells about keeping it simple and not to louse it up. …(T)here are some of us who, at times, try to read extra messages and complexities into the Steps. …AA is within the reach of every alcoholic, because it can be achieved in any walk of life and because the achievement is not ours but God’s. …(T)here is no situation too difficult, none too desperate, no unhappiness too great to be overcome in this great fellowship …” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Part II (“They Stopped in Time”), Ch 11 (“A Flower of the South”), p 395.

Today, remembering when life without drinking was unthinkable much less a dream beyond dreaming, can any problem in a sober life be any worse or beyond resolution or reconciliation? While AA is a lifeline, we had to muster more strength and courage than we thought we had to grab and hold on by admitting we are powerless, by coming to believe and by going to any lengths. Nor does the Program come without responsibility as suggested in Step 12 — to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers, and to keep the Program simple without inserting “extra messages and complexities.” Today, if I think something in my life is hopeless, I need only to remember so it was as a drinking alcoholic, to realize that nothing now is beyond hope. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023