I was given my first Sponsor, and every one since. I have never picked one. If you look at the oldest meeting schedule in AA, that would be the Cleveland one, On the last page, under CLEVELAND DISTRICT OFFICE, in the first paragraph, it states: The District Office is the hub of all AA groups in Northeastern Ohio. The primary purpose of the District Office is to answer the call for help from the still suffering alcoholic. It is our duty then to relay the call for help to the secretary of the nearest group or individuals who have placed their names on file. The secretary in turn finds a SPONSOR. This was written in the first meeting schedule, put into use in 1941. Not one word has changed. I think over the years, we started taking an easier way, by telling that new person to look around and find someone you can relate to. If I would have been told that, I would have gone back to the bar. I sit on a stool and tell the guy next to me a couple of lies and buy him a drink. Then he tells me a couple of lies and buys me a drink. At that time I could relate to that! My first Sponsor was assigned by the Secretary. When he retired and went south, he assigned my next sponsor, when that Sponsor got very ill, he assigned my next Sponsor, when that Sponsor was in Hospice, he interviewed several men and assigned my next Sponsor. That seems to have worked for me, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it! I believe with all my heart, that a Sponsor relationship is a two way street. I get as much help from him as he also gets from me. Hence, this program is one drunk helping another! Time for some coffee, catch ya all later.
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That is great advice Bob. I agree that the meeting schedule is an important tool for the new-comer. I know that it was my life line when I was new. I still carry the meeting schedule today and it is the first thing I will give up to the new-comer.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the sponsor...for me I needed to pick my own. And granted I did not find the best one until the third swing, but looking back on it I wouldn't have stayed if I had done it any other way. It was a progression for me, this AA way of life. I was going to do it, but I was doing it my way. That was until I found myself stumbling around in the darkness of the hallway, not being a part of this unity, you know that WE thing, did I find my lifeline.
My point is that I needed to get to that point of surrender to really give myself to this way of life. In the beginning I would have copped an attitude and left, because I wasn't completely convinced I was an Alcoholic of the AA variety. I needed that long progression, that series of surrenders to find my bottom in sobriety that would allow me the ability and willingness to listen to a sponsor and do what I was told.
God Bless those Sponsors!