June 22, 1996
Big Book Page 103-Working with Others
After all, our problems were of our own making. Bottles were only a symbol. Besides, we have stopped fighting anybody or anything. We have to!
I Stopped Fighting
I learned a lesson this morning concerning embracing the 12 Steps into everyday living. A lesson so simple and yet so valuable. For so many years I have been petrified of bees. I swat, run, squash, and cuss at them. I have a good reason. A bad allergic reaction makes me very ill. Why wouldn't I avoid anything that makes me very sick? Like alcohol. Anyway, this morning I was in my newly planted garden. The first one I've had in sobriety. In the past I've always enjoyed herbs and this year planted some lavender. It just finished blooming and I was cutting the stems to take inside to dry. A big bumble bee landed on the flowers I was cutting. For some reason this morning, I didn't swat, run, squash, or cuss, I just kept on cutting and he kept jumping from flower to flower as I cut. He didn't bother me and I didn't bother him.


Later, as I sat reflecting on what had happened, so many things from The Big Book came to mind.

1. I didn't step on his toes and he didn't retaliate.
2. I accepted him and he accepted me.
3. It was fear that kept me from accepting him in the first place.
4. I had finally quit fighting him.
He was doing his job of pollinating the plant, I was doing mine by helping it grow more flowers. Together we were doing a job.
Such an easy lesson to translate into everyday living. I just read a wonderful line from another AA friend. I'm moving past the Recovery only stage into the Discovery stage.
I know how not to drink , One Day At A Time, and now I'm discovering how to live,

One Day At A Time.
Mike B.

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