A Fresh Start

  
   About a week ago I shared about a guy ( C. ) and his girlfriend ( S. ) who were told to leave a meeting because they were being disruptive. The police were called, lots of yelling, it was ugly. I’ve seen C. and S. at several meetings since that day and everything has been just fine as far as I could tell. Last night while waiting for the meeting to start C. came to me and said he wanted to talk about what was happening. He told me about being at the same morning meeting and again was asked to leave based solely on what happened last week. I don’t know, I wasn’t there yesterday morning but I told him if you’re minding your own and being respectful of others in the meeting there’s no reason you and S. have to leave. He shared with me that he and S. both suffer from emotional and mental problems which they take medications for and I thought…well you’ve just described a good portion of us in this fellowship. The guy who “runs” that morning meeting is a bit “my way or the highway” but that shouldn’t keep C. and S. from being at that or any other meeting. I got a 12 & 12 for C. and had him read tradition three, pg. 139

  "No matter who you are, no matter how low you've gone, no matter how grave your emotional complications - even your crimes - we still can't deny you A.A. We don't want to keep you out. We aren't a bit afraid of you'll harm us, never mind how twisted or violent you may be. We just want to be sure that you get the same great chance for sobriety that we've had."

   The other option is to skip that meeting. There are more meetings available to them but they should feel free to attend any meeting they wish. Enough of that.

   Two ladies from a local women’s rehab had a great story to share with us last night. They have been coming to our meeting for several months now. Most of the ladies are there just to get out of the house or to get a court card signed but these two actually decided to give our way of life a shot. They are moving into a house that was originally up for sale but the owner now wants to rent it to these ladies. They have been given a house full of furniture, I believe jobs have been offered…it’s a life they couldn’t imagine not even one year ago. I love the comeback stories, the stories of redemption. I love the story of the guy who after several D.U.I.’s, lost his license, lost his car, wouldn’t be able get insurance if his life depended on it…Then one day he comes into a meeting carrying a couple of envelopes and a license plate. He shows the meeting an envelope that contains his new driver’s license. Another envelope has the insurance policy for his new car and he has brought the license plate off his car into the meeting to show everyone that it has a tag on it for the current year.

   There was a speaker I saw a couple of weeks ago that ended his sharing with this… A couple of years ago on a cold fall evening he and his wife were sitting in their easy chairs reading. The fireplace was going, the dogs were laying at their feet, the cats were laying around wherever cats lay around. He said he looked up from his book, looked around at the scene and with tears in his eyes he asked God what had he done to deserve all this. It was powerful.


　If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down… Mary Pickford
　
I hope you all have a wonderful day….