Honesty Around the Tables

AROUND THE TABLES, sooner or later, we each are faced with a decision of honesty. Either we get honest or we get and/or remain unhappy. If we do not get honest, we face the terrifying prospect of drinking again. That’s obvious–to me, at least. But here, I am concerned with the miserable state that can continue for years without a drink or a drunk happening.

I was forcefully struck by the statement of an AA veteran that he had not taken a written inventory, nor could he see, “since this is not a program of musts,” why he should. Yet after long-sustained dryness, he is an extremely unhappy person, wondering why things are always going wrong.

For years, I was extremely unhappy, wondering why things were always going wrong. And then, lo and behold, the Twelve Steps came into my life. After the chemical fog lifted and I got into the AA program, honesty compelled me to look at Steps Six and Seven. They made no sense unless I did something about Four and Five. As a result of going through the Steps, around and around, One through Twelve, forward, backward, sideways, upside down, my life changed and is changing.

Honesty in our practice of the AA program leads to serenity, and that leads to unexcelled happiness. It is a very small price, indeed, to pay for contentment and joy. And honesty requires me to say that the only way I know to get honest is to ask God’s help each day, just as I do with my drinking problem.