Resting Under My Laurels

 And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol.  For by this time sanity will have returned.  That is how we react as long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.

 It is easy to let up on the spiritual program and rest on our laurels.  We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe.  We are not cured of alcoholism.  What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.

'Thy will (not mine) be done.'  We can exercise our willpower along this line all we wish.  It is the proper use of the will.

All of this can be found on pages 84 - 85 of the Big Book.  I totally agree with all of it.  Except maybe for the "sanity will have returned" phrase.  I think my sanity is lurking in the neighborhood - "returned" may be pushing it a bit.  I'm also intrigued by the phrase "resting on our laurels."  A laurel is a shrubbery which used to be shaped into a crown and put on someone's head as an award for winning something; maybe a spelling bee or a flyweight bout of Greco-Roman wrestling.  How this got changed to "resting on" is perplexing.  What do you do - take the crown off and then squat on it?  I would change the phrase to "resting under your laurel."  I doubt anyone wore multiple laurels.  One laurel.  That's it.  That's all you get.

I like the references in our books to using willpower properly.  I think some of us believe that we completely lose our will and our willpower is useless.

I heard this referenced this morning: the difference between a "moment of clarity" and a "spiritual experience."  It was a nice turn of a phrase.  The guy speaking believed that the spiritual experience occurs after we've worked The Steps.  Maybe because the 12th Step - our last Step, by the way - says "Having had a spiritual experience as THE result of these Steps . . . "  Realizing that I was a drunken souse was no experience - it was an awakening.

I know this: no one argued with me when I starting admitting that I was an alcoholic.

During our last blow-out business meeting we had a brand new woman sit in.  She's still coming to meetings.  If you can survive an A.A. business meeting then you're officially IN.