Title Page (Part I)

Anytime I sit down with a guy and open up this book, we always begin with what has become known as the "Set Aside Prayer". I have been told by a couple of people in his sponsorship lineage that it was the late Don Pritts who is credited with originally using this prayer with his sponsees. From what I understand though, he didn't like being the name "stuck" behind the prayer. Don is with God now. I hope that he will forgive me for crediting it to him on my blog that currently has zero subscribers. When we meet one day... I'm sure he will. There are many variations on the prayer, but here is the one that I use:

Dear God: Please set aside everything we think we know about ourselves, the Big Book, alcoholism, the steps, and in spiritual terms, especially you God. Father, we ask that we may have a truly open mind, so we might have a new experience with these things. Please help us see the truth. Amen.

Let's open up the book to the Title page:

"Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism"

re⋅cov⋅er (v) [ri-kuhv-er]: to regain health after being sick, wounded, or the like (often fol. by from).

During my first few years in and out of Alcoholics Anonymous, many of the meetings I attended on a regular basis read the 9th Step Promises as part of the opening readings. I remember thinking to myself each time the group replied "We think not," that it would be FOREVER before any of these Promises would come true in my life. The 9th Step seemed as far away as a 401(k) does to a kid dropping a nickel into his first piggy bank. I would later find out that it wasn't.

It wasn't until I got connected to some men that were thumping the Big Book that I learned I had to go no further than the Title page to receive the hope of a Promise. When my sponsor and I sat down for the first time, we opened up the book and I turned to the Doctor's Opinion (I thought it would impress him that I knew not to open right up to Page 1). Much to my surprise, he said, "Let's have a look at the Title page." "How stupid," I thought. "I know what the title of this book is." Then my sponsor pointed out one of the single most important sentences in our entire text, the statement that tells us precisely what the Big Book is, "The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism."

Recovered? If my half dozen trips through treatment and years in and out of AA have taught me anything, it is that I will always be recovering right? Another AA myth busted. On my count, the word "recovered" when referring to our alcoholic malady, is found seventeen times in the first 164 pages of our book. The word "recovering" only appears once, and it is in reference to our relationship with our family. Certainly, with my family, I will ALWAYS be recovering. But as a person who no longer suffers from the physical allergy, mental obsession, nor spiritual malady, I have, by definition, recovered from my illness. I no longer exhibit the symptoms of alcoholism. Sure, from time to time, I fall into resentment, fear, self-pity, selfishness, dishonesty, etc. But my life is no longer unmanageable. I have a God working in my life today that allows me to see the real truth in these things as they crop up, and then take them away, root and branch.

As a perennial newcomer, I was never given as much hope as I was finally given by this Title page. Because of that Promise, I was able to see into the future. It ignited a bonfire of willingness, fueled by one simple sentence that guaranteed me a better life if I would have it.

Of course I would.

(Coming soon: The Circle and Triangle)