November 24 – To Love
“To love than to be loved. (Today)” — Prayer of St. Francis
Early on in sobriety, I was confused as hell. This AA stuff didn’t come easy for me. People kept calling it a “simple program for complicated people,” and I thought, well… I guess I’m the complicated part.
I remember telling my sponsor, “Look, I’m not drinking. What’s the point of all this other stuff?” He paused — for what felt like way too long — then said, “You’re going to be a blessing for anyone you meet.”
I swear to God, that made zero sense back then. A blessing? Me? I wasn’t even a blessing to myself.
But fast-forward into contented sobriety, and I get it. The whole thing is simple now: we do no harm.
There’s a lady in a meeting who always reminds me, “If I can help you, I will. If I can harm you, I won’t.”
That’s the deal for me today. Everybody needs help. Everybody.
And I’ve got two choices: either be a dick about it… or not.
I’m not trying to be Mother Teresa over here. I’m just trying to participate in a way of living that keeps me away from alcohol and reasonably resentment-free. And when I do that — when I stay in the lane of kindness and usefulness, you know, the way God designed me to be — something wild happens: people are actually attracted to being around me.
Think about it. What does the AA program of action really do?
You get in here and give up the fight—powerlessness turns to power as soon as we do this.
You get some strength in regular meetings with other drunks to stay away from booze.
They help get you hooked up with a Higher Power.
They get you volunteering.
They get you wisdom eventually — the kind that slows you down so you’re not just firing off opinions like they’re facts.
They hand you a purpose: stay sober and helping other drunks stay alive today.
Somewhere in that mix, you become a human being that is loving towards others — others-centered instead of self-centered. And honestly?
That’s irresistible.
What’s one thing you do today that the old you would’ve never believed was part of staying sober?
