At the end of the 9th Step in the Big Book is a passage describing what we can expect when we’ve completed the Step. This meeting is about what the Promises mean to you personally.
When I returned to AA after a 5-year relapse, I was a broken woman. I was hopeless and didn’t think the program would work for me. I cried in every meeting for the first couple of years, full of regret, feeling sorry for myself for the problems I’d created while I was an active alcoholic. I heard what people said, but I wasn’t listening with my heart.
There was an old man in my Virginia meeting who was a great story-teller that had memorized every promise in the Big Book, not just those in the 9th Step chapter. I can’t tell you how many times I asked him to “tell us the promises.” While he spoke, I listened with my heart. I couldn’t imagine that the promises would ever come true for me, but hearing them the way Mike told them made them real. Somewhere between finishing Step 9 and beginning to work Step 10, I realized that every single promise had come true.
Please share with us what the Promises mean to you whether you are at day one or day 1000. Do you have a “favorite” promise?
As always, you can also share anything you need to share.