The Promises
The Promises, that are read in many A.A. Meetings can be found on page 83-84, of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.THE A.A. PROMISES
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 selfpity 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. There are many promises throughout the Big Book. Here are some more.
Big Book page #47: • As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. • In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them. Big Book page #55: • Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. Big Book page #57: • Even so has God restored us all to our right minds. PROMISES OF STEP THREE Big Book page #63. • More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. Big Book page #68. • At once, we commence to outgrow fear. Big Book page #70. • We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on the them as sick people. PROMISES OF STEP FIVE Big Book page #75: • Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. PROMISES OF STEP EIGHT Big Book page #78: • If our manner is calm, frank, and open, we will be gratified with the result. PROMISES OF STEP NINE Big Book page #83-84: • If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. PROMISES OF STEP TEN Big Book page #84 • And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone -even alcohol. Big Book page #84-85 • We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. Big Book page #85 • We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. PROMISES OF STEP ELEVEN Big Book page #86: • we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Big Book page #87: • What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Big Book page #87-88: • We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day “Thy will be done.” We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. PROMISES OF STEP TWELVE Big Book page #89: • You can help when no one else can. Big Book page #100: • When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned. Big Book page #102: • God will keep you unharmed.
|