Being of service

BEING OF SERVICE THE recovery triangle – Recovery / Unity / Service – where each side is of equal size and importance or I’d topple over. Recovery for me is doing my best to live the principles of our Twelve Step Programme in and out of AA, unity is understanding and then implementing our Twelve Traditions and service… where to start? I was hugely blessed to land in AA with a Home Group which was very service minded and that ethos has never left me. The Responsibility Pledge - diamond - “I am responsible…when anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.” Being in service has literally saved my life, when the commitment I had made and the debt of gratitude I owed, kept me coming back when I might otherwise have drifted off. My initial encounter with service was the service of others - the Twelfth-Step call, the greeter at my first meeting, the half cup of tea, the welcome, the love, the hope, identification and the promise of something better via the shares, the phone numbers, the offer of lifts, and, unbeknownst to me at the time, the PI message that had already been carried. Then, more quickly than I was expecting, it was my turn - putting out chairs, cleaning ash trays, tea making, washing up and then, as I grew in recovery, secretary, literature, treasurer, GSR. No role any more or less important than the next - all vital to the well-being of the group and to my own spiritual growth - unless the milk doesn’t arrive then you realise who really has the most important role. Always with the guiding hand of experience - of ones who’d gone before - never alone. They had the knowledge and they were keen and willing to show and nurture and encourage. To ‘Pass it on’. Who knew making a cauldron of tea could be so frightening? How many tea bags? How much milk? When I asked, it was explained. If I wanted what they had then I had to do what they did and that included service. I got involved in group business meetings and in conscience meetings. I had a voice. I was listened to. This was my group as much as the next home group member. I had a say in how ‘my’ meeting was run. I initially struggled with the ‘group conscience’ principle but now it’s paramount to any discussion at any level of the structure and I can take a lot of these principles out there to my volunteer team mates, my choir friends and neighbourhood gatherings. Truly a design for living. Was I sponsored into service? Absolutely, and I do my best to sponsor others that ask for help. As a GSR I got to know so much more about how AA functions and would relay that back to the group. It was through service that I got to know of the less visible roles that I so treasure today - telephone responder, email online responder, helping out at conventions, contributing to SHARE. They said to get in the middle of the lifeboat and I can only do that through service. Do I find AA literature helpful? Yes, vital. SHARE was invaluable when everything else was a foreign language but slowly I became familiar with the other literature and am privileged to be. working through our Big Book and 12&12 with friends. I was told, “You don’t have to understand these Steps to do them - just do them and the understanding will come.” I was more likely to believe the moon was made of cheese but they were right. I did them - falteringly - and now when I revisit the literature time and again, I can see what it was I did. I’ve come to see ‘How it works’, it becomes more meaningful with every read. I did them and the understanding has come. “You walk into sobriety backwards”, was said. What on earth do they mean? Today I know. Thank you, old timers, new comers and in-betweeners - all vital to our life-saving, lifegiving Fellowship. This year’s home group service online is different - no tea making, no chairs to put out, but still that warm welcoming greeting for the new face whether a first meeting or a visitor. Still carrying the message. “Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, A.A.’s speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity.” (BB p.xxiv) LESLEY B