'God came to meet me, though you, but
you knew me, because I was an alcoholic, and it didn't make any difference.' (A New Pair Of Glasses, Chuck
Chamberlain)
'We found that God does not make too
hard terms with those who seek Him.' (Alcoholics
Anonymous, 46:2)
'When we drew near to Him He disclosed
Himself to us!' (Alcoholics Anonymous,
57:2)
'Draw nigh to God, and he will draw
nigh to you.' (James 4:8)
'God will constantly disclose more to
you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for
the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in
order.' (Alcoholics Anonymous,
164:2')
A lot of people worry about how to establish a relationship
with God. They worry that they do not 'feel' a relationship with God.
My experience has been that the quickest way to establish a relationship
with God is to establish a relationship with other alcoholics, based on me
being honest with them, and them being honest with me back. We may not realise
that this is establishing a relationship with God, but it is, as, if we are all
children of a living Creator (28:2), we are establishing a relationship with the
very substance of God by connecting with others.
To establish an ongoing, permanent relationship with God
that will sustain me through thick and thin, however, I need to meet the terms
described in Alcoholics Anonymous for
God to reach me.
There are seven 'death threats' in Alcoholics Anonymous. If we see to it that these seven areas of
relationship with others are resolved, (a)
we will stay sober and (b) we will
invariably find some sense of a power greater than ourselves operating in our
lives. If we have unfinished or unattended-to business in these areas, we will
eventually drink and God will remain an abstract idea.
(1) Resentment
'But with the alcoholic, whose
hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of
resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harbouring
such
feeling we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of
alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.
If we were to live, we had to
be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be
the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison.'
(p. 66)
(2) Harmful conduct
'If we are sorry for what we
have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we
believe we will be forgiven and will have learned our lesson. If we are not
sorry, and our conduct continues to harm others, we are quite sure to drink. We
are not theorizing. These are facts out of our experience.'
(p. 70)
(3) Secrets
'The best reason first: If we skip
this vital step, we may not overcome drinking. Time after time newcomers have
tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid
this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably
they got drunk. Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered
why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their
housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst
items in stock.' (pp. 71, 72)
(4) Unmade amends
'we will never get over drinking until
we have done our utmost to straighten out the past. We are there to sweep off
our side of the street, realizing that nothing worthwhile can be accomplished
until we do so' (pp. 77, 78)
(5) Unfaced creditors
'We must lose our fear of creditors no
matter how far we have to go, for we are liable to drink if we are afraid to
face them.' (p. 78)
(6) Complacency
'It is easy to let up on the spiritual
program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do,
for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really
have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual
condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into
all of our activities.' (p. 85)
(7) Working with others
'For if an alcoholic failed to perfect
and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he
could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work,
he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die.' (pp. 14,
15)