Endigar 520 ~ We Just Try
From Daily Reflections of 21 August;
My stability came out of trying to give, not out of demanding that I receive. (The Best of Bill, page 46-47)
As long as I try, with all my heart and soul, to pass along to others what has been passed along to me, and do not demand anything in return, life is good to me. Before entering this program of Alcoholics Anonymous I was never able to give without demanding something in return. Little did I know that, once I began to give freely of myself, I would begin to receive, without ever expecting or demanding anything at all. What I receive today is the gift of “stability,” as Bill did: stability in my A.A. program; within myself; but most of all, in my relationship with my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God.
END OF QUOTE
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If Bill Wilson had not been thinking about his own self interests when he went on that business trip to Akron, a critical moment in A.A.’s history would not have occurred. When he felt his own sobriety threatened after the failed business venture and available bar room, he was filled with a powerful sense of self-preservation and this motivated him to find someone to help. It was then that he met Dr. Bob. The martyr’s religion, which teaches to give to the point of self-death, had failed to keep Dr. Bob sober. It was the paradoxical mystery of selfishly helping others that Bill shared with Bob saving them both from alcoholic tragedy, and laying the foundation for A.A. meetings that have saved my life.
When we talk about giving in recovery, we are not talking about playing a martyred messiah. So come down from the cross, we need the wood to build our meeting place.
“This is the how and why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 62)
Daily Reprieve 
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