Concept 8

Reads:

“The trustees are the principal planners and administrators of over-all policy and finance. They have custodial oversight of the separately incorporated and constantly active services, exercising this through their ability to elect all the directors of these entities.”

This concept means simply that the trustees are ones responsible for the oversight of the AAWS and the Grapevine and how contributions can be applied.  For example, the Grapevine has been operating at a loss for several years now.  In order to “keep their doors open”, the trustees have excersized their power to take money received by group and individual contributions to cover the expenses of the Grapevine.

I’m hoping to get some comments on this one…

Celebration of AA Birthdays

I belong to a rather small group, about 14 regular members.  We always celebrate varying years of sobriety on the last Sunday of the month.  During the summer months, some of our members prepare food and we invite friends, spouses and loved ones to come along, eat, then listen to a speaker.  We always ask someone from outside our group to come and tell their story, and afterwards we recognize the birthdays for that month.

On the first of each month, we get the phone list and write the members names’ and sobriety birthday for each member having a birthday that month, along with how many years of sobriety they have.  When I saw this month’s tally in years of sobriety my jaw dropped and I was almost overwhelmed with gratitude to be a part of something so wonderful.

The magic number was 54!

We have a list of all persons …

The time I finally worked through steps 4 through 9, my sponsor had me follow a “5th step guide” that had been put together by a sober priest that had heard many, many 5th steps.  I wouldn’t recommend everyone taking the path I took, because the outline of how to do your 4th and 5th step is much simpler in the Big Book.  Working my 4th step from a “guide” wasn’t the only thing I did differently either.  After I finished my 5th step with my sponsor, I threw the thing away!

Looking back, I realize this doesn’t exactly fall into the instructions laid out in the big book, but something must have happened because I’ve managed to stay sober all this time.  It just took some extra work to get that 8th step list re-created.  My sponser at the time told me this: “There are always some people on your 4th step list that don’t need to be on your 8th.  And there are people that NEED to be on your 8th that never showed up on your 4th.  So take the time and search your heart and past once more to create this list.  It’s going to be an inevitable experience that you will run into someone later on that you will need to make amends to that you haven’t thought of at all.”

He believed the most important part of all this was to teach me the process.  Once you recognize your wrong, ask god for the strength and the opportunity to make it right.  Because I’m human, I’m going to continue to make mistakes that will require action on my part to try and set them straight.  The process outlined in the book is very much the same way.  We don’t drag our feet and we keep an open mind.  If you use the list you made during the 4th step, it makes the process a little faster and will cover most all of the amends you need to make.

“If we havent’ the will to do this, we ask until it comes.  Remember it was agreed at the beginning we would go to any lengths for victory over alcohol.”  -Alcoholics Anonymous Pg 76 

Heard in a meeting…

After reading a post by Mark W on his blog A Dozen Steps, I decided to rekindle this blog site and create this “Heard in a Meeting” as a topic all it’s own.  Mark has been a really great inspiration and really instrumental in taking a closer look at the program that’s been saving lives for over 70 years now.

To kick off this new topic, I’ll start with something I heard last night that was put so simply and so right on, it deserves to the be first installment.

Gratitude

There is almost nothing that gives as much gratitude than feeling the trembling hand of the new man through the Lords Prayer at the close of a meeting…

I often get caught up in my daily routines, I forget where I came from, I forget that where I’m at doesn’t look a THING like where I was.  Everything I have today I owe to Alcoholics Anonymous.

AA member vs. Employee

Often when people get sober, they are unemployed or unemployable.  Then after they get sober and the obsession to drink has been removed for a while and are truly grateful for gaining a new lease on life.  I’ve heard many newly sober A.A.s mention “The only thing I’ve ever done that was worth anything, was work the program of Alcoholics Anonymous”.  Once the wolves are at bay and they begin to try and begin a ‘career’, many are tempted to try and utilize this new-found expertise into their ability to earn a living.  My first sponsor warned me of this and suggested very strongly that I avoid that situation until I had at least 10 years!  Not really knowing what kind of work I could find, I reluctantly followed his suggestion.  After all, I was unemployable, I had no skills and I was irresponsible and undisciplined.

Over the years I’ve seen many others who have chosen that alternate path, and I’ve seen many of them change the way they live and even drop off the radar screen.  I’m not about to suggest that Alcoholics can’t be tremendously valuable to treatment centers, hospitals or drying out places.  I believe there are times when only an alcoholic can help.  That was certainly the case with me.  But what I see is a very challenging situation for the newly sober AA.

My first sponsor went on to tell me that often times, people get their ‘job’ confused with their own personal recovery.  I’ve actually seen it.  People spend 8 to 10 hours a day, talking about their experience, what they’ve learned about AA and how they worked through the steps.  Often times, it’s easy to confuse that with their own recovery program and let their homegroup committments slide and they may even quit attending their regular meetings altogether.  The lines between being a member of AA and being an employee become blurred.  This is a dangerous place for the newly sober AA.  It takes discipline and a lot of commitment to keep the job and the personal recovery seperate.

I believe this is one of the reasons we have Tradition 8.  Because once we begin to get paid for our services, and money is introduced into the experience, people have expectations… the boss expects a certain performance level, and the employee expects to get paid.  I believe I’m at my most helpful with another alcoholic, when I’m working for fun and for free.  I will always be able to find a ‘trade’ which will allow me to earn a living, practice the principals of the AA program, stay away from the dangers of blurring the lines between employee/AA member and Still be quite helpful to the professional community.

Tradition 8

“Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.”

In my experience, I’ve learned that business and AA just don’t mix. I have a new employer. So long as I stick close to Him and perform his work well all my needs are met. My job now is fit myself to be of maximum service to god and those about me.

It’s really hard for me to be an employee, living by a set of spiritual principles (Giving) and at the same time, run a company who’s company vision is profit (Taking). I’ve found that the most important thing for me today is make decisions based on the ability to follow those spiritual principles or else life becomes unbearable real quick. Business and profit just aren’t for me, when it stands in my way of usefullness to others.

John

Gratitude

Gosh has it ever been a while since I’ve posted. Life has really come at me fast and I’ve been really busy living it.

My wife and I had a beautiful baby girl on January 16 of 2007 and she’s been the absolute joyous gift from God. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that she’s finally arrived. She’s growing up so fast. I’m grateful to be able to be a part of it. To witness it. To actually be aware of it.

Thanks God!