OK, quick quiz:

Question 1)  How many of you went to your first Intergroup meeting, took a service position or started sponsoring because your sponsor said you needed to do some service?

Question 2)  How many of you have asked, suggested, or even required your sponsees to do a similar service?

Do you remember in the Big Book that the program of Alcoholics Anonymous did not start when Bill W. got sober but when he carried the message to another person?  And how did our OA program start? Rosanne got an idea and then got several people together for a meeting. Service is a very necessary part of our Twelve Step program. 

The best way to get people to into service is to ask them to help you on a specific project.   The worst way is to make a general announcement – “We need something done...”  I love that silly story about nothing getting done because every one thought that some one else would do the job, but no one did.  I had a wonderful experience when I asked one fairly new woman to help with something. She said yes, did a great job and then went on over the years to being an Intergroup Representative, a WSBC Delegate, Intergroup Chair, and then the Chair of the Region. 

How many times have we heard the lament -- no one will step up and do service? Or that there are not enough abstinent sponsors.  One of the sayings I used to hear around program was, “You can’t keep it unless you give it away!”  And I noticed that the people who were really recovering did certain things: like share, sponsor, do service, and got involved at Intergroup. 

I get a bit irritated with members who seem to think that they have to be perfect before they can sponsor.  I have watched as people tell fairly new members that they can’t sponsor them.  The newcomer does not understand why they are being told no -- all they hear is the NO!  They feel that they are being rejected. 

The answer to a request for sponsorship should NEVER EVER be NO!  There are so many nicer things to say -- I will be glad to take calls,  let me help you find someone, or here is one of the people I sponsor, she/he is ready to sponsor.  But please do not say NO!   

Tell your sponsees that it is time for them to step up and do service.  They can start by doing something really simple at a meeting like setting up chairs or greeting people at the door, they could be the group representative to Intergroup, they can help on a committee, or be a sponsor. 

I know I made a bunch of mistakes when I was first sponsoring, but remember that you can always say to a newer member, “Gee, I don't know.  Let me check with my sponsor and get back to you.”  It is my own responsibility to work my own program and my program is only as good as I make it.  Sponsors are not perfect and do not need to be.  Simply be willing to try to give away what you have been given. 

Go forth and do service!

Margie G. - Region One

“Hope” is the thing with feathers --
​That perches in the soul --
And sings the tune without the words --
And never stops -- at all --

Emily Dickinson, as quoted in For Today, page 106.

The Spiritual Principle of Step 2 is HOPE.  "Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."  
 
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, hope is “a desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment."  Or as a verb it is “to desire with expectation of obtainment.”    
 
I attended meetings of another fellowship before I came into OA, and one thing I really learned in that fellowship was that this program works.   I was given “hope.”  Thus, when I came into OA I was prepared to stay here until I got it.  It took me almost eight years to become consistently abstinent, but I never considered leaving OA. 
 
The definition of hope is interesting to me because it includes the expectation of fulfillment.  Not only does someone want something but hope includes the expectation of obtaining whatever is hoped for. 
 
I have heard that people will do lots of things if they have hope, but if they don’t have hope that things will get better many people will despair.   
 
I am grateful that I tend to be optimistic in my general outlook, and I do have hope that things will get better if I work this Twelve Step program.  That is my experience--if I am willing to do the work I will receive the benefits.  It is a simple program but it is NOT easy and there is much emotional pain while I become better at turning away from the food to other tools for living.  

Margie G. - Region One

​When I read the August 23rd meditation in For Today, the words: "put my life in the sunlight of the spirit and live" jumped out at me.

Program has gifted me with a life to live. I can appreciate that gift by seeking that sunny place, knowing that the sunlight of the spirit is always available.  My intention this year was the saying "lightness in my heart."  These words remind me not to take life or myself so seriously.  This can be a tough challenge.

I have felt incredible relief from depression and anxiety by using the spiritual practices of the OA program.  Because of this, I have a gratitude and an increasing "lightness in my heart" knowing that I am living in the sunlight of the spirit.

When I was growing up my brothers and I all had stories about a place where the sun shone.  We grew up in a rainforest and had a bit of a tough childhood with an abusive father.  We would explore the woods above our home.  I remember a special adventure when we had struck out into the woods where no trails existed. We were stumbling through rough undergrowth and then a small meadow appeared.  The sun broke through, and we felt such joy! It was beautiful.  We took our little hatchet on the way out and marked the trees, but we couldn’t find it again. I remember that sunny place and how it lifted me up out of my troubles.

There were many troubles in my life until I found program.  My first Twelve Step meeting was like that sunny meadow.  My spirits were lifted, and a path appeared.  I knew that I had found out how to live, truly live. The difference between that lost meadow and program is that the Twelve Step path is always here for me.  It doesn’t just lead to one sunny place but many.   

Lesley K. - Region One