These Are My People

I just came from an awesome Big Book meeting where we listen to a chapter and then discuss it. We were on Chapter 11: A Vision for You. One of the lines in the chapter we talked about is on Page 161: "life among AA is more that attending gatherings and visiting hospitals..." and here is the part that really resonated with me this morning: "being restored and united under one God, with hearts and minds attuned the welfare of others....." That to me is what this program is all about. Now. After you get past the physical aspects of sobriety. For me AA has brought me to God who has been there whether I knew it or not. Some people who are not alcoholics find their own way but AA has been the vessel for me. And there are many different religions, practices, ways of expressing faith but the fact remains we are "restored and united" under One God.

This chapter also brings about an amazement at how far we have come from 2 fellows in Akron, Ohio. A friend of mine who is not an alcoholic asked me if I was making new friends in AA. It is so much more than friendship, the connections I am making with the people from my meetings, the people in my online group, the people in this sober blogging community I've become a part of. It is beyond friendship. It reaches to Ohio, California, the South, the North, the UK, South Africa, Australia and beyond I am sure. It is deep and profound how I feel about these people. How much they mean to me and I will probably never meet them. And then the people I do meet and see every day or week in my meetings. That I talk to on the phone now, that I have tea with. Or just a brief hug in the parking lot. That I care about. It is just so much more than friendship. These are my people.