Servants Don’t Give Orders, They Serve

Member Opinion

Thoughts on 36 Spiritual Principles

My name is ….. and I am an alcoholic.   My Home Group is the Brisbane Traditions Group.   I would like to share something that I have heard over the last twenty years.   “Just go to meetings and don’t drink.” 

Whilst meetings are vital, I would like to suggest Alcoholics Anonymous is much more than a collection of “rooms” where people meet together to share their drinking stories.    If meetings were made up without the 12 Steps, 12 Traditions and a commitment to serve, I honestly believe that many of us would not remain sober.    I know I would not have.   

I first heard the hope in someone else’s voice when I first attended a Steps Meeting where I saw people who had what I wanted, and I then realized I was not alone.    However, the meetings themselves did not change me.    Instead, they confronted me but did not transform me.    I could leave the meeting feeling better but still wanting to drink because I had not been working the Steps in my life.   

Steps: The Heart of Recovery

The 12 Steps are the heart of our Recovery.  They gave me a way out of my own thinking which was resentment, guilt and shame.   The 12 Steps gave me the ability to have a relationship with my Higher Power.    Without the Steps I would not have experienced the Spiritual Awakening, I would just be a dry drunk full of anger, selfishness and in a lost state of being.   

Traditions: Bind Us Together

Now imagine if every meeting did its own thing without the guiding Principles of the 12 Traditions, we would have no unity of purpose.    The Traditions protect our Unity.    They keep our groups focused on carrying the message of Recovery from alcoholism, and not on outside issues.   If we don’t observe the Traditions, AA would split into factions, each with its own agenda.     As our growth in Recovery depends on our unity of purpose, we have to be vigilant in rendering service to our Fellowship.

Concepts: Keep The Doors Open

“Service” being the Third Legacy of our Triangle starts at the group level.    Someone had to open up the meeting, someone brought the tea and coffee, and someone answered the telephone when I rang for help. This resulted in someone visiting my home to Carry the Message to me.   This basic service applies Worldwide.  Meetings are the doorway; however, the Steps are the pathway.    The 12 Traditions are the walls that hold us together and Service (12 Concepts) are how we keep the lights on for the next suffering alcoholic who walks through the door.

What happens when a District is active, informed and Spiritually Awake? 

We reach more alcoholics and grow as trusted servants individually.   

We also ensure that AA will still be here tomorrow for the generations of alcoholics to come. 

 AA is not just a set of “rooms”, it is a Worldwide Fellowship with a common purpose to Carry the Message to the Alcoholic who still suffers. 

Our District structure is essential to that purpose.   Districts don’t exist to run groups – they exist to serve them. 

Meetings are where Recovery begins but the full experience of the freedom of Unity and the joy of giving back comes when we step into the full triangle of Recovery, Unity and Service.

My first service sponsor told me to remember that servants don’t give orders, they serve.

AA Member. Brisbane Traditions Group