OKaysez

 

Made A Decision 

(48)

  Taking Our Show on the Road

The first thing we learn in AA is how to behave in a meeting. 

We quickly are taught not to interrupt others when they are speaking (cross talk), but when it's our turn we can - and do - reference their stated problems, by offering program answers that have worked for us (cross sharing). 

(Cross talk - bad. Cross sharing - good).

We learn in meetings and from our sponsors how to love one another, how to look out for one another, how to first care for our group members and then for AA members everywhere. 

It soon becomes very easy to look out for one another inside the rooms of AA, but eventually we have to take some of that recovery into our homes and society.

 Many of us talk a good talk "around the tables" of AA, but then go home and shout ugly things at our partners and children. 

That has to stop and, as we work our program to the best of our ability, it eventually will.

When we smile at our AA group members, leave the meeting and within minutes are unkind to a fellow shopper or clerk, we still have some growing up to do.

Because no one is in our life by accident. Everyone we meet - from the postman delivering our mail, to the local butcher, baker and all those candlestick makers - are all there to teach us something about ourselves. 

The world doesn't need any more  of our anger. It needs love if there is going to be any kind of healing for our species and for our planet. Taking what we learn in AA out into the world is important, especially in these times of escalating strife and political upheaval. 

We must practice "the discipline of kindness" to feel our best about ourselves. 

It can help to see our world as our Father's house and to think of all the people we meet as guests in that house, people to be treated with respect. 

The same is true of our world. It, too, is our Father's house. And just as we wouldn't throw garbage around our Father's living room, we should perhaps not contribute to others having to walk knee deep in plastic wrappers (or dog crap) in our streets. 

When we want to be of service, both inside and beyond AA, we contribute to making our program, and our world, a better place. 

The first part of the word "civilization" is "civil."  Our fellowship, even our civilization, can end if we all think only of ourselves. 

We in recovery have a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the well-being of the world. We have found the answer to our own greatest problem and know it is not found in buying more stuff, shaming people on social media, or becoming more and more cynical through non-stop watching of the 24/7 news cycle. 

The answer we have found in AA is all about love - self-love and love of others. 

And it's also about service.

In recovery we learn to love ourselves enough to stay sober.  We learn to love our fellow AA members and want them to succeed in staying sober. We learn to pray for those we find it hard to like. We learn to love AA and to want to contribute to it through our service for its continuance. 

As our hearts expand in love we continue to send it outward, from AA to our families, our neighbors, our community, our world.  

And "Boy Howdy," (Southern USA expression) does the world ever need some of it right now!

Do we appreciate our unique opportunity to be of service? Or are we always focused on staying busy with our own concerns? 

Do any of the following sound familiar?"

"I'd do more service work in AA, but I don't have the time."

"I'd take the kids to the beach (park/woods/movies) more, but I have to work."

"I wish I could join and contribute to Earth Extinction (World Wildlife Fund/my Political Party/Cancer Society/homeless relief project/local women's shelter, the Humane Society/the National Trust, etc. etc.), but I'm too busy."

Here's the thing about making time:

If you heard your name announced on your local radio station as the winner of a fat cash prize - as long as you showed up to collect it at the station by 5 p.m. on that day - you'd find the time to get there!

 Or if one of your family members were suddenly injured, you'd "find the time" to get them the medical attention they needed.

Or if you smelled smoke in the house you'd quickly find the time to tear yourself away from that computer solitaire game to find the cause.

We can always "make time" for things we feel are important. 

And, as part of that effort, there is always something we can do for others; and in that doing we increase the value of our own life. 

Also, helping others in any capacity helps keep us sober. 

It's the melding of our physical and spiritual sobriety that provides the substance for a more positive and fulfilling recovery journey.  I'd love to live high and saintly on pink clouds all the time, but my Higher Power has convinced me I need to have my feet firmly planted on earth. Because that's where my fellow travelers are and that's where HP's work needs to be done. 

If I don't do it - if WE don't do it - who will?

AA has given me a full and satisfying life, and the Big Book makes it clear it would be wrong for me to limit all my interests and activities only to AA. What we learn in AA is needed in the outer world, and we are all charged with taking it out there. 

But we must also stay aware that AA needs to remain our number one priority activity.

Or, as I heard it once perfectly said in a meeting:

"Don't let the life AA gave you take you away from your life in AA."

I have come to believe there's only one way for me to have a fully satisfying life, and that's by living the way God wants me to live. 

My HP and I meet up in that secret place of spirit on a daily basis. That's where I get my marching orders and special treats. That connection has given my life meaning and a task of work to do that matters. 

When I act under God's direction My life runs smoothly and, best of all, I am deeply content.  

(When I am not content I have misread my directions and must  take a step back to see where I've gone off track - then fix it). 

"And greater works than this shall ye do," it says in the Bible. 

Other religious texts say the same. 

We can do greater works when we have some experience of the new way of life we're given in AA. Opportunities for a better world are all around us. But we do not work alone. Our Higher Power is there to guide us into all good works. 

The following quotes say it all: 

 (1. GRAPEVINE, JANUARY 1958

2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, pp. 232-233) 

"Let A.A. never be a closed corporation; let us never deny our experience, for whatever it may be worth, to the world around us. Let our individual members heed the call to every field of human endeavor. Let them carry the experience and spirit of A.A. into all these affairs, for whatever good they may accomplish." 

"For not only has God saved us from alcoholism; the world has received us back into its citizenship."