Meeting Readings & Others

Fredrick AA 6:45am Meeting

Meeting Readings

Click the links below to view and download the meeting secretary scripts.

  • Click HERE to download the Sunday to Thursday script (Closed Meetings)
  • Click HERE to download the Friday script (Open Meeting)
  • Click HERE to download the Saturday script (Open Meeting)
  •  

Click HERE to view the current days Daily Reflection.

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

(From pages 58-60 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it- then you are ready to take certain steps.

At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.

Remember that we deal with alcohol- cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power- that one is God. May you find Him Now!

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

Here are the steps we took, which are suggestions as program of recovery:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a fearless and thorough moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people, wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Many of us exclaimed, “What an order I can’t go through with it.” Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and out personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:

(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.

(From pages 83-84 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous)

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

Contact Us

Experience, Strength & Hope Stories

Experience, Strength & Hope:  Links to the stories found in Silkworth.net

Part One

  1. The Unbeliever https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/2-the-unbeliever/
  2. A Feminine Victory https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/4-a-feminine-victory/
  3. A Business Man’s Recovery https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/6-a-business-mans-recovery/
  4. A Different Slant https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/7-a-different-slant/
  5. The Back-Slider https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/9-the-back-slider/
  6. The Seven Month Slip https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/11-the-seventh-month-slip/
  7. My Wife and I https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/12-my-wife-and-i/
  8. A Ward of the Probate Court https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/13-a-ward-of-the-probate-court/
  9. Ridings the Rods https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/14-riding-the-rods/
  10. The Salesman https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/15-the-salesman/
  11. Fired Again https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/16-fired-again/
  12. Truth Freed Me! https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/18-truth-freed-me/
  13. Smile With Me, at Me https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/19-smile-with-me-at-me/
  14. A Close Shave https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/20-a-close-shave/
  15. Educated Agnostic https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/21-educated-agnostic/
  16. Another Prodigal Story https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/22-another-prodigal-story/
  17. The Car Smasher https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/23-the-car-smasher/
  18. Hindsight https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/24-hindsight/
  19. On His Way https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/25-on-his-way/
  20. An Alcoholic’s Wife https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/26-an-alcoholics-wife/
  21. An Artist’s Concept https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/27-an-artists-concept/
  22. The Rolling Stone https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/28-the-rolling-stone/
  23. Lone Endeavor https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/lone-endeavor/

 

 

 

 

Part Two:

  1. The Professor and the Paradox https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/18-the-professor-and-the-paradox/
  2. His Conscience https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/21-his-conscience/
  3. New Vision For a Sculptor https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/27-new-vision-for-a-sculptor/
  4. There’s Nothing the Matter With Me https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/34-theres-nothing-the-matter-with-me/
  5. Annie the Cop Fighter https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/36-annie-the-cop-fighter/
  6. The Independent Blonde https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/38-the-independent-blonde/

 

Part Three:

  1. He Had to be Shown https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/4-he-had-to-be-shown/
  2. He thought He Could Drink Like a Gentleman https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/5-he-thought-he-could-drink/
  3. The European Drinker https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/3-the-european-drinker/
  4. The Vicious Cycle https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/8-the-vicious-cycle/
  5. The News Hawk https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/9-the-news-hawk/
  6. From Farm to City https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/10-from-farm-city/
  7. Home Brewmeister https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/10-home-brewmeister/
  8. Too Young             Not found
  9. Those Golden Years             Not found
  10. Life Saving Words             Not found
  11. A Teen-ager’s Decision ( Not found
  12. Rum, Radio and Rebellion https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/16-rum-radio-and-rebellion/
  13. A Flower of the South https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/19-a-flower-of-the-south/
  14. Calculating the Costs             Not found
  15. Stars Don’t Fall https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/25-stars-dont-fall/
  16. Growing Up All Over Again        Not found
  17. Unto the Second Generation https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/20-unto-the-second-generation/
  18. A Five-Time Loser Wins Not found
  19. Promoted to Chronic https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/32-promoted-to-chronic/
  20. Join the Tribe!                         Not found
  21. Belle of the Bar Not found
  22. The Prisoner Freed https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/33-the-prisoner-freed/
  23. Desperation Drinking https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/33-the-prisoner-freed/
  24. The Career Officer https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/37-the-career-officer/
  25. He Who Loves His Life https://silkworth.net/alcoholics-anonymous/39-he-who-loses-his-life/

Hazelden's Thoughts for the Day

Click HERE to view the current day’s “24 Hours a Day” reading.

Click HERE to view the current day’s “Language of Letting Go” reading.

Click HERE to view the current day’s “Touch Stones” reading.

Click HERE to view the current day’s “Food for Thought” reading.

I hate meetings.
I hate your higher power.
I hate anyone who has a program.

To all who come in contact with me,
I wish you suffering and death.

Allow me to introduce myself…
I am the disease of addiction.

Alcoholism, drugs and eating disorders.
I am cunning, baffling and powerful. Thats me!

I’ve killed millions and enjoyed doing it.
I love to catch you by surprise.
I love pretending I’m your friend and lover.
I’ve given you comfort.
Wasn’t I there when you were lonely?

When you wanted to die, didn’t you call on me?

I love to make you hurt.
I love to make you cry. Better yet…
I love it when I make you so numb,
You can’t hurt and you can’t cry.
You feel nothing at all.

I give you instant gratification.
All I ask for in return is long term suffering.
I’ve always been there for you.

When things were going right, you invited me back.
You said you didn’t deserve to be happy.
I agreed with you.
Together we were able to destroy your life.

People don’t take me seriously.
They take strokes seriously.
They take heart attacks seriously.
Even diabetes, they take seriously.
Yet, without my help, these things wouldn’t be possible.

I’m such a hated disease, yet I don’t come uninvited.
You choose to have me.
Many have chosen me, instead of love and peace.

I hate all of you who work a 12step program.
Your program, your meetings, and your higher power weaken me.
I can’t function in the manner I am accustomed to.

I am your disease.
For now I must lie here quietly.
You don’t see me, but I’m growing more powerful everyday.

When you settle for mere existence, I thrive.
When you feel fully alive, I weaken.
But I’m always here waiting for you.

Until we meet again,
I wish you continued suffering and death.

-Author Unknown

12 & 12 Readings

In simplest form, the A.A. program operates when a recovered alcoholic passes along the story of his or her own problem drinking, describes the sobriety he or she has found in A.A., and invites the newcomer to join the informal Fellowship.

The heart of the suggested program of personal recovery is contained in Twelve Steps describing the experience of the earliest members of the Society:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Newcomers are not asked to accept or follow these Twelve Steps in their entirety if they feel unwilling or unable to do so.

They will usually be asked to keep an open mind, to attend meetings at which recovered alcoholics describe their personal experiences in achieving sobriety, and to read A.A. literature describing and interpreting the A.A. program.

A.A. members will usually emphasize to newcomers that only problem drinkers themselves, individually, can determine whether or not they are in fact alcoholics.

At the same time, it will be pointed out that all available medical testimony indicates that alcoholism is a progressive illness, that it cannot be cured in the ordinary sense of the term, but that it can be arrested through total abstinence from alcohol in any form.

The 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous are, we A.A.’s believe, the best answers that our experience has yet given to those ever-urgent questions, “How can A.A. best function?” and, “How can A.A. best stay whole and so survive?”

1.  Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.

2.  For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

3.  The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.

4.  Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.

5.  Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

6.  An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A.name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money,property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

7.  Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

8.  Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional,but our service centers may employ special workers.

9.  A.A. as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

10.  Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

11.  Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press,radio and films.

12.  Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions,ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.