From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
1.
... circumstance, no
heap of material possessions, could ...
12&12 p.124,
Step Twelve
Service, gladly rendered, obligations
squarely met, troubles well accepted or solved with God's help, the knowledge that at home or in
the world outside we are
partners in a common effort, the well-understood fact that in God's sight all human beings are important, the proof that
love freely given surely brings a full return, the certainty that
we are no longer isolated and alone in self-constructed prisons, the surety that we
need no longer be square pegs in round holes but can fit and belong in God's scheme of things -- these are
the permanent and legitimate satisfactions of right
living for which no amount of pomp and circumstance, no heap of material possessions, could possibly be substitutes.
2.
... circumstance rather
than by any virtue that ...
12&12 p.38,
Step Three
So it is by circumstance rather than by any virtue that we have been driven to A.A., have admitted defeat, have acquired the rudiments
of faith, and now want to make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to a Higher Power.
Passages from the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous
and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
are reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
The A.A. Preamble, copyright ©
The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., is reprinted with permission.
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