Yesterday, I spoke to a man who had six months of renewed sobriety. He was many years sober before his relapse. He expressed frustration with God, his spirituality and religion.
I asked him a leading question to find out if it was appropriate to talk to him about the "Set Aside Prayer". It was a simple "Yes" or "No" question, but he took the next ten minutes answering it, apparently stalled on step two.
He then asked me my sobriety date and proceeded to tell me that when he had the time I have he thought he knew everything "too". Without becoming defensive, I answered, "All I have today is this: I have conceded to my innermost self that I am, indeed, powerless; I don't believe everything I find in our books, but I know that this program of action has worked for me; through step three I am able to submit to this program in its entirety, including those things I don't agree with; that enables me to practice all these principles in all my affairs; I do what's in front of me and God takes care of the rest." (or something like that).
There's a lot I don't know.
Yes, I can quote the books to some degree. Yes, I can tell you what page this or that is on. That just means I've read the literature. I've had to replace my books several times because I've lived in them so much.
Still, all I have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of my spiritual experience, letting the Spiritual Physician worry about my condition, pointing out where I need work. I am thoroughly dependent upon God, not my knowledge of the program.
To maintain my spiritual experience, one of the most important things I do is work with others. This is of the utmost importance. I can't keep what I don't give away.
Instead of letting the man's comment get to me, I used it as an opportunity to share the message with those who were sitting with us.
I haven't given up on sharing the "Set Aside Prayer" with him at some point in the future.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
