We often speak of service and its value in recovery. We learn from the earliest 12 step co-founder Dr Bob, that only in reaching out in a wounded state could an addicted person truly gain fast and complete recovery. Personally I find this true for all 12 step recovery and when it is my turn to report and I am able to comply, the rewards are immeasurable.Another 12 stepper and I went into a detention centre a couple hours ago as part of our service commitment to a particular fellowship we both belong to. Our job as usual was to solicit inmates at their ranges to come out into an inactive larger cell with us and have a 12 step meeting. Tonight 4 fellows from 2 different ranges joined us for a meeting. All 6 of us, I believe anyway, felt a little sluggish and not particularly motivated for this meeting of folks from a variety of backgrounds, a couple of whom indicated they would be inside very likely for a longtime.
Well we did our usual intro to our specific 12 step program, shared on some common slogans and went onto a topic that in reality amounted to "where am I in life and how did I get here; and there is hope" One can imagine how it could have gone!
My point is simple-50 minutes later there were 6 lifted people who had shared intimately and were united on a Spiritual level that could only have come about so quickly within the confines of the 12 step philosophy. We truly shared our burdens from the heart and we left changed people with hope for whatever was to come. The privilege to serve pays dividends beyond words and material and I thank my God for the honour of my small part!
A special thank you to my partner tonight. You know who you are-Thanks F!
Scott@SharingTheBurden.ca
http://sharingtheburden.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/sharingburden
www.SharingTheBurden.ca
No comments:
Post a Comment