Oct. 5, 2014 - After the Tears

The Serenity Prayer
After the Tears
Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014

"My story has a happy ending, but not of the conventional kind. I had a lot more hell to go through. But what a difference there is between going through hell without a power greater than one's self, and with it! ...(M)y teetering tower of worldly success collapsed. My alcoholic associates fired me, took control and ran the enterprise into bankruptcy. My alcoholic wife took up someone else, divorced me and took with her all my remaining property. The most terrible blow of my life befell me after I'd found sobriety through AA. ...One night my son, when he was only 16, was suddenly and tragically killed. The Higher Power was on deck to see me through, sober. I think He's on hand to see my son through, too. I think He's on hand to see all of us through whatever may come to us." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, "They Stopped in Time," Ch 16 ("Me an Alcoholic?"), p 437.

Today, grant me foresight to know and be prepared for the day when my AA Program is called upon to see me sober through the bad and not only the good. I must accept that bad things are going to happen in my life sober and that AA is not a promise that the bad will not happen. But AA is a promise that I can get through the bad sober if I not only adhere to the Twelve Steps but also trust a Higher Power that is stronger than me. I absolutely must be willing to be open to the idea of a Higher Power, however, even if that Power is the Program itself. On good days, it's easy to talk the talk of AA; on bad ones, it's another to walk the walk. Disappointments and even tragedy can be expected to hit me, just as they do the non-alcoholic and non-addicted person. Let me begin today to invest in a Program strong enough that I can draw upon when the good days aren't so good. And our common journey continues. After the tears. - Chris M., 2014

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