Compassion for Alcoholics
November 4 With Gratitude
“But life was not easy for the two friends. Plenty of difficulties presented themselves. Both saw that they must keep spiritually active.”
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 156
All of us are alcoholics. Some of us have more days and years away from our last drink, but we are all one drink away from our next drunk. There is a great deal of humility to be found in this. Perhaps it will help us have more compassion for the relapser who can’t stay sober. Perhaps it will encourage us to put our hand out to the newcomer who walks through the door. Perhaps it will inspire us to go to a meeting when we have been away, so that we too can be of service.
Alcoholism is a patient disease. It does its push-ups, waiting at the edge of a swamp like an alligator: quiet, focused, hungry. We will either feed our recovery or feed our disease.
But there are people in our meetings who don’t ever seem to get this. Either they are constantly getting drunk or just teetering on sort-of sobriety. At their worst, they can raise holy hell at meetings and be a nuisance. The depths of humility regarding our understanding of the disease of alcoholism will be tested with these members. We can really see just how far our compassion will take us. Compassion for alcoholics in our meetings who don’t do the program the way we do is critical for our own level of comfortability in the meetings. It takes acceptance, though. We are all alcoholics, but our recovery is not all the same.
Today’s Prayer
God, I often judge the other alcoholics in my meetings. Please, Higher Power, give me a heart filled with compassion for my sisters and brothers in recovery.