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05/01/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

The Big Book

Last night my sponsor and I shared our impressions of the last two stories in the AA Big Book. We started this months ago – reading two stories from this book that is the backbone of the 12 Step movement and talking once a week about the readings. It was my second time through this valuable resource. This time it was an exercise in close study of its wisdom and in sharing with another person just exactly what reading the pages called forth from each of us. 

Now, my sponsor is a Big Book devotee. She goes to Big Book study meetings and has made her way through the pages a number of times. I don’t know who’s idea it was to do such an in-depth examination but I am so glad we did. Even with her years of recovery, she found a wealth of material to support her daily search for the spiritual peace that the 12 Step program has to offer.

The book was written for alcoholics. It was first published in 1939 and has been updated several times over the years. Because it was initially written with male alcoholics in mind, new chapters written by women have been added. The latest version of the book is more contemporary. My copy is now colorful as I have used various colored felt tips to highlight words and phrases that are meaningful to me.

My substance of choice is not alcohol. But because I am an addict, the same principles that apply to an alcoholic apply to me. That is why the Big Book is such a valuable resource. Regardless of what substance is misused, the message of recovery applies across the board. 

Nowhere in the book does it imply that there is anything easy about recovery. Everywhere in the book is the message that the most important work is spiritual. Many of the stories tell about a person’s struggle with their personal definition of a Higher Power. What is wonderful about the book is this particular passage: “To us the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek.” For me, this message of acceptance of my definition of a Higher Power is reassuring.

Some of us grew up with a frightening or negative view of God. Some never developed any kind of relationship with something bigger than themselves. All through the Big Book are stories about finding a connection with a power that can accomplish what we cannot do alone. For some, their higher power is their recovery group. Some have different names for their HP. One man I know calls God, “Howard” as a play on words from the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be thy name”. The first time he heard the prayer, he heard Howard, and it stuck. I have always appreciated his personal connection to Howard.

All through the book are references to the absolute necessity for “HOW” – Honesty, Openness, and Willingness. This time through the book this message of acceptance of life on life’s terms spoke loudly to me. Change is necessary. Not easy, but absolutely essential. One woman told me one time that when you are committed to changing your use of a substance, you also have to change the playpen in which you consumed the substance.

I have many friends who are in recovery. Over the years they have been an inspiration to me. Some of them have over 40 years of abstinence from their drugs of choice. All of them work their program one day at a time, which for me is the only way to approach my disease. I have learned that I can do anything for a day. I don’t have to wonder about a future without my substance of choice. 

A sentence from the very last story is this: “It’s no great trick to stop drinking; the trick is to stay stopped.” So that is the underlying goal. My Higher Power that I call God, is with me every day helping me to keep working for recovery.