wednesdayness

Went to my favorite meeting tonight ... and I finally shared in a meeting.

Geez. By the way I dragged my heels about this, you would have thought it was skydiving or Xtreme nude swimming with sharks. (And poisonous stingrays too, crikey!)

The topic revolved around some life issues that reminded me of a few passages in the Big Book that I've been trying to memorize:

"Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt." (p. 62)

"We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick. Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, 'This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.'

"We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn't treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful. We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each and every one." (p. 66-67)

"At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not an end in itself. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us." (p. 77)

I'm too tired to type more tonight. I must be getting OLD! Either that, or I haven't been getting enough sleep lately ... go figure :)


Today, I'm especially grateful for ...

• being 195 days sober
• going to my favorite meeting today! Woohoo!
• my supportive and wonderful family
• the nice people who read my blog
• my nice warm bed ... which is looking more comfortable by the second ...
• God, because He has blessed me with desperation to stay sober, and I hope it never leaves