Once An Alcoholic...

This case contains a powerful lesson.  Most of us have believed that if we remained sober for a long stretch, we could thereafter drink normally.  But here is a man who at fifty-five years found he was just where he had left off at thirty.  We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again:  "Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic."  Big Book, p33

I am grateful for Step One.  It reminds me over and over where my stinking thinking and drinking took me.  I don't want to shut the door on the past because remembering it is a tool that may prevent me from my next drink.  It doesn't mean I wallow in self-pity or that I berate myself for my behavior.  It simply means, "I remember" and that I still have the lesson close at hand.  I am alcoholic.  I have attempted to control my alcoholism.  Nothing I have tried on my own works.  Being a part of the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, working the Steps with my sponsor and a little H.O.W. seem to be maintaining my spiritual fitness enough to not need another drink today.  And for that, I am grateful.

Thank You Higher Power.  Thank You for the gifts of honesty, open-mindedness and willingness.   Thank You for the courage and the strength to not have to test this powerful lesson.  Thank You for the willingness to accept this as a fact for me today.  I am alcoholic.  Thank You.