This past weekend, I had the honor of attending the 77th Texas State A.A. Convention in Irving, TX and it was amazing. We heard a lot of great speakers and I wanted to share one thing I heard from one of them in particular.

Erin B., Cleveland OH gave an outstanding A.A. talk on Saturday morning and she said many things that had me pulling out my phone to jot them down. In part of her talk she was sharing about how ours is an action-based program and how sometimes, our actions mean more than our words. She said this…

“Preach the good news and use words if you must.”

That hit me straight up and it reminded me of a tag line members of my home group (Get In The Car Group, Grapevine, TX – https://getinthecar.org) use all the time (which we lovingly “lifted” from Al-Anon), “When We Got Busy – We Got Better.” She was talking about how important it is to carry the message to the still suffering alcoholic but sometimes, our actions speak louder than our words. I had a sponsor once see me at a meeting when I was in a particularly dark place and he said to me, “Are you happy to be sober?” I said, “Of course I am.” He replied with, “Well, then tell your face – newcomers are watching!!!” BAM!! #micdrop

Erin’s comment hit me much in the same way. It called me into inventory…

1. How often am I spewing forth and my actions don’t support whatever’s coming out of my mouth?
2. What are newcomers SEEING me do instead of HEARING me say?
3. Am I defaulting to action before defaulting to words?

It was a great reminder for me that I have a responsibility to carry the message (“When anyone, anywhere reaches out…”) to the still suffering alcoholic and that people are ALWAYS watching.

In love & service,