Step 11 Is a Growth Step You Work for the Rest of Your Life – Joe M.

I get in trouble. I say, well, God ain't going to turn you over this one. This stamp isn't proven. I'm going to do it anyway. Just hit this and pass. I'll do it. And I'll get in trouble. And maybe it's for somebody else. It's got a noble end. But it's still a self-decision. And so we have to be very careful in this place to really take self out of it. And he says, this goes on to tell us we don't pray selfish prayers anymore. We don't waste this very valuable thing, listening like I did, instead of using it as a source of knowledge in my life and direction, which I have learned in this program. And I see how many times I wasted it on junk, you know. And I wasted on people in my wife. God, I would like to have this person. God,I'd like tohave this car. God, i'd liketo have that job. You know, it's a very misuse of a very valuable precious thing. And I don't have to list my petty needs because I have turned my will and my life over the care of God, and God is directing my life. I know my needs better than I do. There's a lot of things that I have or listed in my petty need that I won't get. So I'm going to just turn all of my needs over to him, and I think if he would answer every one, even as I lay down, some of them might cause me problems. and if even that they didn't if they hadn't have caused me problems I still would be coming up short because his needs for me are better than my needs for me so I don't have to ask God for all these different things and it seems like things are coming out better you know, my needs are met and they were met a lot better when I was running on self when I Was running on self because some day I didn't have cigarettes That's a pretty tough thing. But now that my needs are being met, I don't waste this thing listing my petty needs and trying to sway his will. Okay. And so here I think that we are blessed people that for one time in our lives, you know, we can, you Know, God become real to us. He become a working tool in our life. And I can receive this thing in my life. I can receive these directions in my life, and I can act on these directions. And I can realize the great value of these two instruments of prior meditation in our lives. And as we begin to practice this over a period of time, you know, it goes on to tell us what happens. We begin to experiment with this thing. We begin To fight ourselves. And then the directions become clearer and clearer and clear. And we lose this fear, and we begin To rely on ourselves a little better. As we go through the day, we pause. We're agitated or doubtful. We ask for the right thought of action. And that's what I had to do a lot of times. You know, I found out that through the days, you know, I would have to stop and pause, particularly when I got into problems. And I found that, you now, why take off like I usually do, like a chicken, you kno? When something happens, you kow, the best weapon, when you got a problem, the best weapons you got is your head. You kno, if you ain't got that on straight, you know you really can't have nothing so i have to stop and get my head on straight we constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show humbly asking to ourselves many times a day thy will be done we are then in much less danger of excitement fear anger word and foolish decision we become more and more efficient that's what i like we become more and more efficient we can do more living um we do not tire so easily boy that's great for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to raise life to suit ourselves you know i just wonder you know that that's why we can get more living done we can be more efficient at living we can mean though we won't burn up a lot of time running around in circles like we used to we're going to get more life moving and live more in one day than not only that we used doing the past but then most people who don't have these tubes this is why you know that that i think that we can live better than most people because having taken these these steps we have found that we have we have took a course in living and the ultimate course in living now we can leave better than those people you know you see people out there that have some degree of maybe a comfortable life they get it through trial and error maybe they get into I like to always look at somebody older people who have in the twilight of their years they have serenity they have a certain quietness they never have a good pace nothing ever seems the bottom through a period of the sheer experience of living in a twilight their lives they have developed they have learned how to live but here is it's a fascinating thing that see the young people like some of the people here tonight that can develop these same qualities through a program you know they're probably 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous give to these individuals in the earlier years of their lives the ability to live like this for quite a few years look at all the living they can do you can quit burning up all this energy and running around like a chicken like I used to do but if you the better that you make use of these two valuable things the prayer meditation of the quality of life comes and we find out as we begin to practice we get close to the God we can have all kinds of problems we can do more living in one day we can quit for five procrastinate or run for problems anymore when with prayer meditation you have the the tools the solve problems and I tell people no I don't have all the answers to all the problems I'm going to face but I have the tools as long as I can keep self out of my life I had the tools to receive knowledge to solve any problem I have only thing I have to do is constantly say not my will but thou will be done um step 11 is is time consuming because it will take you many months if you're new in the program i really to me i think it would take you a minute more to perfect this thing where you can as you be become more and more secure in your life but it's something that you're going to have to work on for the rest of your life and it's nothing that you don't have to constantly overcome self because self will carry us to our grace i am going to help self for the the rest of my life if i have one prayer that i wish could be answered it was divorce me from self-will but then that would be there would be that wouldn't be no contest then would how could i if i could just get rid of self-willed and about time that i think that you know if i've got this thing into some kind of pleasant uh area where i can have a comfortable life again you know it raises ugly head and it takes over but i think dat we are we are in a battle and the battle of self all problems are going to rise out of self and this is where to begin and all of our problems in the past and the thing that's going to keep us from perfection itself and it's our ability to work and that's why we're talking about this is a positive problem because immediately as we begin to quit working self is going to creep back in and we're going to find ourselves back with sick thinking again and the sick attitude will start affecting other people and what is going to happen then at this point uh maybe it will bring on drinking again maybe it won't even if it don't it makes you it messes up your life and i'd agree a happiness of the quality of life is going come through through step 11 a step 11 is a growth step and we're going to grow forever as soon as we cease prayer meditation we're going to have to go back on some directions and all that we ever known in the past our self direction the sum up the first 11 steps as I usually do on the 11th step I think that this is say it is not new and I think at the level of steps of the program of alcoholics anonymous or where the job is really done 12 is carrying the message as a results of the 12 steps and i always like to go back as we do to uh the 12 steps and as we associate them with the lord's prayer we know that the first step is a was a we mentioned with parts of our lives are becoming manageable and that is a statement of the problem and this is one thing that man has to do he has to find himself This is a very lonely step, and it's not a spiritual step. It's the only step in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous that is non-spiritual. So it is not included in that prayer, but we can see it in the second step, came to believe that our power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. And he recognized the existence of a God, of a guy, when we say, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. and so step three is very plain there where we make the decision it says, thou kingdom come thou will be done we turn over our will to God four, five, six, and seven is where we go to work on ourselves take care of clean up our lives take care for our needs go to walk on us and of course this is obviously mentioned give us this day our daily bread give me today and the needs for this day Eight and nine, our relationship with other people. Forgive us our temptations as we forgive others. This is forgiveness. We can see that. And then ten, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Eleven, for thine is the king. We talked about that tonight. The power and the glory. Very plainly, we can see step eleven. So we can see that the program of living is not new, as old as mankind itself. It's said in many ways in many different places. So step 11 is the step that we're going to constantly work and constantly fight ourselves. And then after receiving these directions, we're even going to ask for strength to carry on our lives. We'll be there no matter what the problem is. we're going to have a lot of problems I have to face if I look down down the road I say well I don't really know how I'm going to face that problem boy that's going to be tough but when the time comes it'll be there the strength or the power that we need will be there because we are self-centered people we say well give it to me now so I won't worry about it when I get down there but I think you know God works very in my life When the time comes, anything that I need to do, it will be there. I need not worry about and anticipate problems in my life. I only try to handle them one day at a time. I have no problem that I don't think I can get an answer for through prayer and meditation. We're talking about the 12th step tonight, and I think the 12th Step is a, we say, a vital part of the program. It's part of our recovery. So many, many times we look at the 12-step as something for other people, helping others, but it's a part of The Recovery Program of Alcoholics Anonymous. And I think a lot of times we don't discuss the 12 steps in fairness because it's always being life. It's always kind of on the end. It's kind of like we say they got married and lived happily ever after. you know, we kind of run out down into the end. But it is a vital part because each and every one of us here tonight is a result of a 12-step call. And the 12 steps as having had a spiritual awakening as a result to this, of these steps, we try to carry this message to other alcoholics and practice these principles in all our prayers. And it is vital part, I know tonight that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a 12 step call somebody made, unsolicited by the way, an unsolicitated 12-step call. You know I hear a lot of people say let him call for help. Well you know where I was the telephone wasn't available. I was in one of those places. The twelfth and final step and it's really a promise. No we have promises throughout these steps. Our results, I like to call them results of working the step. We get some results of step three even though it is the beginning. We get Some results after working step five. You know, it says we have a beginning of a spiritual experience. It talks about we will feel the nearness of our creator. So these results are given even all through before we get to step nine. There are many other promises fulfilled throughout each step. This is what motivates us to keep on going through these steps. After we finish step nine, then we have all the promises quite naturally. A lot of promises there because we have cleaned up the three general areas, our spiritual foundation, our relationship with God, our relationship mit ourselves, and our relationship wit other people. And so this is where some of the major promises lie after step nine. But it says we have to go farther. After we work step 10 for a while, we've got other promises. The obsession to drink is removed. And then we go on to step 11. Then we get down to 12. It says, having had a spiritual awakening, the combination of all these things. And we talked about this spiritual awakening being a gradual thing in most cases. It wasn't going to be all of us are looking for some big bang. But if we're working, we've had each of these little realizations or promises, the total of all of them, we would have begin to realize and it says having had a spiritual awakening and you know somewhere along after all these promises once they are met you should become aware actually a spiritual awakening is just a personal awareness that this program has worked for you and if you don't get that personal awareness within your life then something is wrong you need to go back and work on these steps because you haven't got the product that is supposed to be produced And it was just a simple thing. It's not a flash in the light or nothing like that, not hearing any voices. But one day I was standing at work, and after working these steps, I was sitting at work and I was out all along. You know, first I just didn't doubt it, I didn't think it was going to work. I thought it was wasting my time. I didn'T have any time to waste because it wasn't going anywhere. But, you know, well, you Know, I'll go along with this. It seemed kind of dumb and everybody seemed to be doing it. So, you know, you can do dumb things and everybody else is doing it, you know? And, you know, everybody's dumb, but if you'd be out in the general public, they're all dumb in there anyway. And they all seemed like they would have them for it. They said, it's good. And I said, yeah, it' s good, you know? And you got to act out, you know? I couldn't let them know what the hell, you know? So, like, I liked by all the time a friend of mine used have bird dogs, and I used to love to watch those bird dogs. You know, bird dogs are a pretty thing. They would point these birds in the yard. And he had one dog that wasn't a bird dog, you know. It was just a dog dog, you know? But this dog dog had been raised with the bird dogs and when all the other bird dogs would point the birds this dog-dog, he would try to point too and his tail, he would have his head out there but his tail would be wagging you know and he would do it for a few minutes and then he'd just say well now what the hell are we doing you know and that was the cutest thing to watch him try to be a bird dog but you know I think this is what we're talking about you know we've become a part of and without the other people we wouldn't be able to do this in Alcoholics Anonymous. So these are the things, this is why we have to go to meetings. We have to, you know, we learn through experience, which I didn't learn, or we learn from watching others do. And finally one day it came to a point in my life where I became aware of the spiritual awakening. It wasn't, it didn't have anything to do with God being in my presence. It was me becoming aware. you know I could comprehend the word serenity and I knew peace for the first time in my I became aware of I said well how long what is this going on how long has this been going but first time I remember experiencing this thing called serenety and at that point you know at step two I believed at step three I made a decision based on what I believed And four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine, I acted on what I decided to do. And then down at the bottom, you know, I got some results. And once I got Some Results, at that moment, I began to know. I became aware of it. I began To Know this program had worked for me. And it says, you Know, having had this awareness, if you know this program has worked for you, then you have a message and the first eleven steps are steps in which we take and the twelfth step says having taken these steps and having let them work for you at that point you switch, you become a giver you become a giVER so we grow through the eleven steps we grow to receiving and the twelfth step, we grow through giving. And it might be one of the greatest growth steps in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. It's very strange, you know, if I was able to look through all these eleven steps and think about even the third step, the power of the third steps. But still, if at this point in my life today as a person in the Alcoholics Enormous, if I could really evaluate the growth of my life, that the majority of the growth in my life has come through the twelfth step of the program of our conscience. That sounds strange. Because, you know, and I think it is what the Master was talking about many years ago and a lot of people didn't understand it, but he said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. You know, there is more blessings in the twelved step than all the first eleven. And we grow then through carrying this message to other people. Now, he said, you know, if you haven't had the spiritual awakening and gotten the results, then you don't have a message. And you have to be very careful. It tells you who's supposed to carry this message. Believers don'thave a message You know,if a man is in trouble and he comes up talking about Well, I believe that where I heard a bunch of that You know when a man's in trouble he wants something that he knows about He don't want no believing thing. You know, it's a lot like the guy that said that he was falling off the mountain. And this guy saw a friend. He really was in trouble. He was hanging around to a little limb. And this voice came down and said, I am God. And he agreed. Oh, yeah, yeah. And he said, do you want me to help you? And he says, yeah! Yeah, yeah? He was about to fall over. And he say, well, let go. and this guy said is anybody else up there you know but you know we have and i think that our book says that we as alcoholics the 12th step that we can win the entire confidence of an alcoholic in a few minutes it's very strange you know that you know our book talks about this that we couldn't do this and it's something about you know having had the experience of alcoholism in our lives that we have, we are very blessed people that we have an opportunity to play a unique role on the face of this earth. Or the millions of people who suffer from alcoholism and probably these people suffer and they they have a problem only that they can only find the answer for much. They only could find their answer for much and I now maybe it's an explanation for the whole thing, maybe it is an explanation, it must be some reasons, but I was hunting for all the reasons. Why me? Why did all these things happen to me? And today after many years now I can realize why, why, why. All these things happened to me in my life because they bring me a point in the day and on the face of this earth where I had something to offer another human being. You know everybody here is on the face this earth for a purpose. We all have a purpose for being here. And the happiest we ever going to be on the face of this earth is when we find what we're supposed to be here for. You know, I didn't know that. My book says the main purpose of this program is to fit ourselves in the maximum service of God and people around us. I didn't know that I thought I was going to face this earth for me really you know and we're going to be talking in this twelfth and final step it talks a lot about principles there's a word in there called principles and we'll be talking about you know what is it talks about what life is all about we are here for a purpose And our purpose is, having had this vital spiritual experience as a result of these steps, is to carry this message to other alcoholics. And that is the message that we carry. Come here. I have had a vital spiritual experiment as a results of these tips. That's the message I carry to other alcoholic. It's just that point. I was just like you. I can do that. I can prove to him I was just like him. And as a result of these 11 steps, I'm not like you anymore. And he'll probably say, Asked you. Our book says it. Let him ask you. How did you do it? And that's what the guy did to me. He did a great job. Probably one of the greatest 12-step calls ever made was the guy who made on me. I think it was. And this guy came to the old state hospital one Wednesday night, and I'm here as a result of 12-step cough. And because a little guy gave me cigarettes one night, when I walked in that house and I didn't have no money, that's where I always ended up. And this guys had some cigarettes, and I had no money. And he, I always talk about Oral, because Paul says God's grace is sufficient. And Orr had just enough, just enough. And it wasn't much either. Orr was a man of his word. Orr and I had a carton of cigarettes and a big book. And I didn't have no cigarettes. And I had 50 cents when I hit them doors and I was broke and they had bars on the windows and you couldn't go nowhere. And here's a guy that sat down beside me with a big book, alcoholics and alums big book and a pack of carton of caramel cigarettes. Now a carton was a premium in this joint. Didn't nobody have a pack? And this guy has got a whole carton of caramel cigarette. They give me some of that roll-your-own-top tobacco and I go to the penitentiary all the time and they still buy that same brand. They must be having some kind of deal with it. It does me good to watch them prisoners pull out them top packages and roll it because I remember that's what I had in the state hospital. And here's this guy sitting there with a whole carton of camels, and I didn't have any trouble talking about your life is unmanageable. I didn'T have no problem with that. Maybe some people say, I don't think my life was unmanagable, but I can identify that scene because I am 32 years old. I could find the nut house out here old Arkansas insane as hell and they I never did learn to roll cigarettes they gave me the makings but I would try and the thing would fall up and when I'd put it up here it would burn and get big you know the problem talking about your life is unmanageable because all I could smoke was take my tobacco and paper and give it to one of them nuts and let him roll it up and give back to him That's pretty unimagined. And a guy, this little guy told me, you know, he's so nice to me. That's about the only way you get an alcoholic. You know, an alcoholic is a sucker for love. You now, that's all you need. If you can't, just show some concern for his welfare. Of course we as alcoholics can do that. See, I have natural concern for an alcoholic because I have been in the position he's been in. I might not like him, I might not know him. I might have never seen him before. But I've got a natural concern for that individual that suffers from what I suffered from. And that's what that guy got me with at night. He gave me cigarettes. Nothing in return. And that bug's an alky. He didn't ask for nothing. He just lent me cigarettes and said, you want to borrow a pack? Here. And when you show alky a concern he can't handle it. He's always got to pay you back. And that's the way you get it. I didn't have nothing to pay him back with, so I decided to go out here and just dumb meet him with it. Now I met three guys from Alcoholics Anonymous who gave up their time and effort. I did not send for these people. I didn't need them. And they gave up their Saturday night to TV or whatever they was doing and they came there. And I walked out in the old dining room to satisfy this little guy, and God you know I went for this but he told me that they would bring some coffee and cigarettes and I went out there for a cup of coffee and a cigarette. And God gave me a brand new life. My book said he gave me a way of living that I didn't know existed, and tonight I know a little bit about heaven. A gift unwarranted through one alcoholic, through a chain of, through God works through love. And he says now, you know, if you have gotten the results to the first 11 steps, then you see now, if this works, you know that I love you. That I have given you this gift. He wants you to see the proof. And if you see the truth and you have been given this gift, then he says give it to someone else. You know, he said if you love me, then feed my sheep. You can't repay it to God. He don't need it. He gave it to you. We repay God by giving it to other people. So the twelfth step is, and we grow through giving. We grow through give. Because I realize the more interested I am in other people, other alcoholics, then really the more interest God takes in my life. That's the only way to enhance myself in the eyes of God is through service to other peoples. I thought maybe the first year that I could enhance myself with God by buying ten new suits you know what I mean but, you know, I had to finally begin to put something back into this world put something Back give back to God the things that he has freely given to me I hadn't earned anything and I used to say God is not fair and I'm glad he's not fair. Well if he was fair I'd be in a hell of a shape if he gave me what I earned. So the 12th step says having had this we carry this message to another alcoholic. I didn't say we had to go out and be sober up alcoholics I finally made this mistake and we all make mistakes with these things. It was my responsibility to sober up all these drunks and oh man And I may, ooh, I think about how the drugs I must have killed. I didn't tell the drugs, you know, if I had a violent spiritual result. I said the 12th step is so much about, we study our big book, it says there's so much I like the first step. We begin tonight at the first steps. Now at the 12ths step, it says we carry this message back to the new person. and the twelfth step is about the only thing that I can do for another alcoholic is to help him see the first step that's about all I can give through me you know I can let him see through me I can tell him my story which is step one I can telling him how powerless over alcohol I was how my life was unmanageable and that's what the book stresses when we go to the new man and we go to him with step one. We try to let him mirror himself, to find himself through us. And we can do this, our book says, when no one else can. He can find himself within us, somewhere within our story. This is our Reed Bill story. I can find, and through another human being. And then if he sees himself in me and in my situation, Then I can avail him to the other parts of this. Then these other steps will work for him. And this is my job on a 12-step car. And I didn't do that too well because I was practicing the steps the best of my ability as we do all the steps. And I did not start drunks out on the first step. I started them out, most of them, on the third step. I didn' t allow them the privilege of working the first two. I was in a hurry. and I would go in and say here's a poor guy laying there shaking and I said man you need God you really need God and he said God you know he said man this guy is crazy and some of them I started out on the inventory I just got past that and started on this but the first step is to help them and we can do this You know, this is the gift that's about all we have to offer. This is about all we have they offer. See, our book says we're beyond human aid. The second step says come to believe in a power greater than ourselves. The rest of these steps are spiritual. This is our job. The recovery lies within the power of God and with the power of the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. This is not our responsibility. And this is why our book says, you know, suppose you fail. I said, leave the man alone. You know, we get self back into this. This guy got drunk and I gotta get him sober so he'll look good and all this. All we gotta do is carry the message. This is our responsibility as having had this vital spiritualist to tell other people about it. I talked to many, a lot of drunks. Some of them got sober. I don't take the responsibility for the ones who got sobered. If I did, I'd take responsibility the ones got drunk. Probably got more in the graveyard than got some. I wouldn't, I wouldn''t go into that. But here this is what we do and as we get to practice this then we found our life begins to grow. This is our growth step. And it says we carry this message and I only ever talk about this stuff and I think about Paul Revere he was a messenger and Paul Reveer was asked to go out that night and carried the message that the British were coming. And he did one hell of a job of it that night. We all know the job that Paul did. Boy, he ran from village to village and he shouted, The British are coming, the British are come. He did just great, just right on. Now, the message was effective. The people acted on the message. Paul didn't do nothing else. Paul never got off his horse and philosophized or made speeches you know what I mean he just said the British are coming now if he stopped at one place and made a speech he wouldn't have got to the other place and Paul Revere was not he was not an intellectual they didn't send Ben Franklin he was an intellectual he'd been making speeches all over the damn place and we'd been British citizens but Paul was a silversmith he was the guy that worked with his hands so he did what he was told and this is our job, not to philosophize but to carry this message of the vital spiritual experience through the 11 steps and the guy told me that night he made a hell of a challenge the guy my sponsor child, he was standing there that night and I walked into my meeting And this guy, this big good-looking guy got up. He was dressed good and, you know, he had that sparkle in his eye and he began to talk about his life. And I was bristled up because I had Alcoholics Anonymous all pegged. And I had alcoholics anonymous pegged as something like the plainclothes salvation army, some damn do-gooders, you knows, that was coming out there whipping the Lord on me and all that old stuff. and I had my resentments up and already predetermined and I was going to tell them off if they got in my business and this idiot got up there and started talking about himself. And he didn't say nothing about me, he didn' t meddle in my business but I could see myself in him and I really liked that guy right as soon as he opened his mouth. And that night I said boy I ain't alone, there's somebody else in this world like me right there. And you know, when the meeting was over, I was full of resentment and I was full of frustrations that he didn't let me vindicate him. I couldn't, I didn't get to say nothing. I didn' t get to He didn't say nothing wrong. I could' n't get mad at him. And so when the meetin' was over I flipped around beside him.I should have left him alone. He was standing over there drinkin' coffee and I slipped around beside him and I said, Charlie, I hear what you said about you. What you did. But he did such a good job, and it worked out just like the book says to it. So he was right that night. He said, let them ask you what you did. And it bugged me so much that I slipped around the wall, and I said, I hear what you said about your situation, but what do you think I should do? And he looked down at me with a big smile, and he said, fella, I don't really give a damn what you do. He said, that's your business. And that's right. That's your business. I can just show you where you're at. You can do what you want to do. So the 12 steps and it says we practice these principles in all our affairs and I think it's very, very important that sometimes we don't discuss this. And there are principles. These principles we're talking about the 12 Steps to the Problem of Alcoholics Anonymous. Those are the principles. Right after he talks about the 12 steps, he says these are these principles. The 12 steps are the principles he's talking about. We practice the 12 Steps in all our prayers. And these are the basic principles of life. You know, we see it all through anything. The third step. You know. They asked a man many years ago, what are the principles of living? He said the third step to deny thyself which is the third step. In 4, 5, 6 and 7 he said pick up your cross. You know these are this is the basic principle it was a principle then and there's the same principles alive within these steps. And of course our forefathers Dr. Bob he said abandon yourself to God clear away the wreckage of the past and join us. So the principles, these are the principles of life. The principles of light is to turn your will and your life in care of God, is to go to work on yourself, clear up your relationships with other people. This is the principle, this is the way a human being should live. You know, and the principles—everything in life has the principles. We formulate a lot of our laws based on principles. We know what goes up is going to come down, And we've got a lot of machinery and a lot of airplanes and things based on that principle. Because that is a fact, and it never changes. And there is a facts in our lives that never change. We might try to live one way or the other, but there's a basic way that we must live. And if we follow this plan, then we will be happy and contented. And you know, man cannot live as he wants to. There's a certain principle to living. There's a principle to everything. There'S a principle TO MY AUTOMOBILE. You know, I got to get in on my side and the steering wheel's on the left. And hell, I can't drive from the back seat. You know it's mine, it's paid for, but I still gotta follow the principle. I can drive that car the way I want to drive it. I gotta drive it the way by the principles. And you know, and the principles of my automobile, I got the book that has a little book of principles in the glove compartment. and they told me if I follow these directions these principles the closer I come to following these principles the better service I'm going to get out of this automobile and you know the principles in this little book was written by Ford Motor Company and they're the ones that made the car and it's the same way with man God created man and he created a set of directions, we got a little book too to go back And the closer we follow our little book, the better lives we're going to have. And this is what the 12 Steps, this is where the Book of Books and all great programs gain the same basic program. The principle, the words might be different, but the principle is the same. And the close that we follow these principles, the better our lives are going to be and the more contented we're gonna be. And we might look at our lives another way. If a person's got to drink booze to live, He really ain't following his little book, is he? Yeah. So what we're talking about regards to where we're in this program, and this is what having had this as a result, we practice these in all our faith. We encompass these principles into our total being. And we can find contentment and happiness. We can find a way of living on the face of this earth that other people may never experience. And we're going to live above many, many things, not only alcoholism. But we have the twos now to be just as happy as we make up our minds to be. And we continue to practice these basic principles in our lives because these are the twas of living, the tws of living. And I used to have a little favorite thing that means so much to me because it's about the way we do this group by talking to people about the program. It says, it closes, it says, both you and a new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist, remarkable things will happen. 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 plan. Follow the dictates of a higher power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world no matter what the present circumstances.