Mikel, You brought up the topic of Step 3 in your reply to Buckeye Bear, that's a whole different topic, I think it's a great one.
I have been in AA and Al-Anon for almost 15 years and no one has ever tried to force there belief of their Higher Power on me and I certainly would not force my belief in my God on anyone else. When I was first looking for a sponsor, I prayed that God would sent me the one that I needed at that time. He did, she believed in the same God, and even helped me expand on my veiw, she was a blessing, she helped me work on the steps, she allowed me some room to do them my way, in my time, but I also respected her input, because she had been down the road before me. After her husband died she left the program after awhile. Well when I prayed for God to send me another Sponsor, he sent one with a totally different Higher Power, and this allowed me to grow in a different direction, gave me a greater tolerance for other veiw points and she also grew to a understanding of my God, so we learned from one another.Being openminded has helped me in the program of AA, once I begin to close my mind, I fall back into that old stinkin' thinkin' mode, and it doesn't take long for me to get on a dry drunk, wanting everything and everybody to see it and do it my way.
Thanks for the topic. Would love to hear you play the gazoo or your arm pit sometime!
Couldn't agree with you more. No one has even remotely tried to "force feed" their concept of a Higher Power on anyone else since I crawled into the program. As a matter of fact, my own concept continues to change and evolve somewhat, as I glean from the ES&H of other AA'ers over many meetings. The one commonality is this: everyone acknowledges there IS a power greater than themselves--what it is, exactly, is subject to varied interpretation and belief. I would love to have a one-on-one encounter with a Buddhist or a Hindu AA member; imagine a concept of a Higher Power from the point of view of a completely different religion!
Ditto that to stay open-minded is to bask in the warmth of continued recovery. I will play my arm pit for you. . .and yes, I take requests.
