Quote for the Quarter
“When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did.”
-Big Book Page 52
My Will
If you want it, go and get it. If it belongs to someone else, take it away. If there are obstacles in your way, knock them down. What ever you do, do it by your own strength!
Attitudes such as these have put most of the population of this planet into some form of ‘self bondage’ at one time or another, not the least of which are we alcoholics. My every attempt to organize, run, steer, and power my own life my own way eventually met with disaster…with a few very brief tidbits of success mixed in. I nearly killed myself with the idea that I was not an alcoholic. I drank because I wanted to, and I could quit when I wanted to, that was my idea. And when I tried to quit with all my will power, I found that my idea did not work.
I came to AA and found a new, simple, but not easy idea of turning myself and my will over to the care of God. An idea of having faith and letting Him control my thinking and my actions using His power, while putting my own power to work doing what I believe to be His will for me. That idea is the essence of the AA 12 step program.
My ides about the power of my own will, and the perfection of my own ‘knowledge’, did not work. But the God idea did. God’s strength has allowed me to stay sober one day at a time for several years now. I am thankful for the grace and love that He continues to show me to this day, and for AA!
-Caruth
God is or He is not
It took a long time for me to come to believe in this higher power, the one that is God. Fear is what kept me from it. There was no reason for me to fear God the way that I did, and the big book told me that I had too have some concept of God in my life. So that put me to seeking this power that was so great in the lives of others.
Reading Bill’s story and Dr. Bob’s story helped a lot, but getting a God in my life still was not easy. I talk to a lot of people about this, trying to understand this power. What’s wrong with me? Is it just my fear that is over powering me? And just how do I get rid of this fear?
The answer was by praying about it. So I started to pray. I have been sober for a long time. Is God in my life now? Yes, God is my life today.
If you’re having a problem in this area, don’t give up. Keep seeking that higher power and He will come to you just as He did to me when I looked for Him. My God is awesome. He does for me what I can’t do for myself, He allows me to stay sober!
-John
Unity
Among them you will
make lifelong friends. You will be bound
to them with new and wonderful ties, for you will escape disaster together and
you will commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey. Then you will know what it means to give of
yourself that others may survive and rediscover life. You will learn the full meaning of “Love thy
neighbor as thyself.” (A Vision for You, Alcoholics Anonymous p152)
I look at my sobriety coin, and across the sides of the triangle it says three things: Unity, Service, and Recovery. My recovery began six and some change years ago when I took the chance to get and stay sober. At my home group they taught me the basics about being part of the fellowship and what it means to belong to a home group. What a weird experience for someone who thought he was self-sufficient his whole life. I knew very little about how to be part of anything but trouble, let alone part of a fellowship. First was the coffee. Make a pot, walk around and fill group members’ cups. “Knowing how your friends like their coffee lets you know something about someone other than yourself,” they told me. This immersion in the AA way of life was new and exciting, and I enjoyed learning how to be a friend and how to stay sober day by day. What I miss about my first home group is the unity. Upon reflection I would be drunk today if it were not for the people around me, loving me and just plain tolerating me until the lights came on. Some of them are still waiting I’m sure J. Just what do I mean by group unity?
My home group was a motley collection of alkies young and old meeting in a large AA hall at the late hour of ten pm. At twenty-three years old, not knowing how on earth I was ever going to have fun again, I found out that I wasn’t alone with that feeling. Every night we had our meeting, every night we sat for about an hour after the meeting just talking, playing cards, shooting the bull or deeply involved in trying to help someone. After that of course we were all hungry, so we’d go to the local late night restaurant and take over the smoking section. Regulars with regular waiters and waitresses, something wonderful was happening. A bond was forming. Money was no issue, length of sobriety no worry, we had unity. I can’t count the number of times we could turn someone early in sobriety’s bad day into laughter and smiles with the firm assurance that tomorrow was a new day. We took it one day at a time till the wee hours of the night, learning to love each other. Jokes and hugs, separate checks, singleness of purpose - these were my first two years of sobriety. I got angry the day I heard they tore down that restaurant to build a parking lot for a hospital. It may not be there anymore, but a lot of us still are. Names like Asian Rob and Crazy Katie take me back to a time of nights where I thought how on earth I would make it through another day to end up laughing so hard with a group of friends. Me, the guy who didn’t know how to do anything other than keep people around for liquor.
We had our share of tragedy too, including the time we tried our best to sober a guy up, but sadly helped bury him less than a week later. These moments we had each other to lean on. People went into the hospital, and we were there. A new meeting started, and we went. Someone wanted to hear a band in a bar, so we went. Someone needed someone to speak, ask them over dinner. The loud group of sober drunks, young and old, together learning how to have unity; I love them and miss them so much. They’re always in my heart and sometimes on my phone. Many have fallen, but the few that have held on and kept coming back still remember fondly. Some are still there every night at that home group years later helping new drunks learn how to have unity. Thank God for unshakable singleness of purpose, thank God for my home group, thank God for the Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous.
My home
group here in
-Anonymous
Upcoming
Events
32nd Annual Springtime in the Ozarks Convention
April 17-20 at the Inn of the Ozarks in
Beavers
April
25-27 at
Serenity Under the Sky
June 6-8
Tent and RV sights available. Fellowship, Speakers, Camp Fire Meetings, Plenty of Free Time for fishing and swimming, Free BBQ will be provided, please bring a covered dish and your own refreshments. Contact Helen at 479-452-0354
Book Drive for the Intergroup !
There will be a book drive to raise money for the Intergroup and the Activities Committee at a date to be announced. We are currently trying to get the books collected. They can be any type of book, not just recovery related. Please drop off you’re your book donations at the intergroup office. Thanks!
Intergroup Report for the Quarter
Area Group
Contributions
( * - indicates the number of contributions made by each group for the quarter)
Grateful Group New Life Group ** Greenwood Group
Turning Point First Amendment
Courage To Change * Wed. Night Women’s Ozark Group
Northside B.B.S. * One Day At A time Paris Group
A Vision For You Thur. Night Men’s ** Serenity Group Sallisaw
Monday Night Men’s * Winners Group * Rip Cord *
Primary Purpose * Pioneer Groups *** Spiro Group
Faithful Fivers
Faithful Fivers has picked up greatly for 2008, we have had many pay their contribution for the entire year or for the first half of the year. So far we only have a few members who are donating by the month.
Birthday Club
So far we have eight people taking part in the Birthday Club. Hope that the word gets out about this, it is a very good thing for the Intergroup and for the people taking part in it. Please spread the word about this…one dollar per year sober paid to the Intergroup office on your sobriety birthday!
12 Steps calls for this Quarter
The Intergroup had five 12 steps calls for this quarter. Fours of them were taken care of by phone. Some of these wanted to go into treatment.
-John