I Asked God.....

I asked God to take

away my habit.

God said, No. 


It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.

God said, No.


 His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary

A Power Greater Then Myself--share

I learned being around the rooms of A.A. for 4 years prior to coming back this time, that I had to find a power greater then myself in order to grow. I never got this when I first entered the rooms and as a result I was domed to repeat.

I thought I could find an easier way on my own, but as always my way got me drunk. Before entering the rooms this time I had what is know as a spiritual awaking.

Acceptance--share

When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.

We don't have to drink to die.

 We buried him yesterday. The County Coroner had published the required notices for next of kin and nobody had claimed the body. It was just myself and his sponsor, no preacher even, the county doesn't pay for those. 

Not much of a send-off, and not the one David had asked for. A cheap coffin, backhoe dug a hole, and that was it - another old AA gone. 

He had been sober over 20 years and in AA over 30, a stern and rigid man who tried to soften his edges and never could. 

He was a loner, a fringe-er, an isolated man at the edge of life's good things. He hung in there... and in the end hung himself. I don't know why; I can't know. 

I know there had been a diagnosis of senile dementia, and I know that the doctor had added cancer to the list. But, I've seen AA’s deal with such things before... I don't know why David decided he couldn't. 

Acceptance

Acceptance 

"And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today.
When I am disturbed, it is because I find
some person, place, thing, or situation
- some fact of my life -
unacceptable to me, and I can find
no serenity until I accept that person,
place, thing, or situation as being exactly
the way it is supposed to be at this moment.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happens
in God's world by mistake.
Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober;
unless I accept life completely on life's terms,
I cannot be happy.
I need to concentrate not so much on what
needs to be changed in the world
as on what needs to be changed
in me and in my attitudes."






Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 417 4th Edition
Note: Dr. Paul O., author of these words, passed away 5.12.00.