Sussex SDIAA Newsletter March 2025

Third Step Thoughts

“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him”

Smack dab in the middle of the last month of winter is an active alcoholics dream holiday….St. Patrick’s Day!  Regardless of nationality of origin, drinkers far and wide exuberantly celebrate this day that is ranked third in the most popular drinking days of the year.  A recent study revealed that over 150% more alcohol is consumed on this day than any “regular” drinking day and Americans alone spend over five billion dollars imbibing.  Ironically, until the 1970’s, St. Patrick’s Day was considered a religious holiday and all the pubs in Ireland were closed. Then a member of Irish parliament realized they could attract A LOT of tourists for the occasion….and so it goes.

The shamrock (clover), the iconic symbol of all things Irish, was reportedly used by St. Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity.  Later interpretations also said the three leaves are meant to symbolize hope, love, and faith (and a 4^th leaf luck).

Hope, love, and faith…all necessary elements of “turning over our will to the care of God…”  Allowing ourselves to be loved by our fellows until we can love ourselves, while having blind faith in the process, instills hope that we can overcome this deadly obsession….one day at a time.

No one walking into their first AA meeting would ever consider themselves lucky…but surely will soon realize the gift of desperation most certainly added the 4^th leaf to their shamrock.

Keep coming back!

With Love, Beth S.

TRADITION III

“The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.” This tradition is packed with meaning. For A.A. is really saying to every serious drinker, “You are an A.A. member if you say so. You can declare yourself in; nobody can keep you out. No matter who you are, no matter how low you’ve gone, no matter how grave your emotional complications—even your crimes—we still can’t deny you A.A. We don’t want to keep you out. We are not a bit afraid you’ll harm us, never mind how twisted or violent you may be. We just want to be sure that you get the same great chance for sobriety that we’ve had. So, you’re an A.A. member the minute you declare yourself.” Reprinted from The Twelve and Twelve – page 139, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.

CONCEPT III

“To ensure effective leadership, we should endow each element of A.A.— the Conference, the General Service Board and its service corporations, staffs, committees, and executives—with a traditional “Right of Decision.” Reprinted from A.A. Service Manual/Twelve Concepts for World Services (with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.

“MARCH” YOUR CALENDARS!!

https://sussexaa.org/events/

Southern Delaware Intergroup Monthly Meeting — Join us on Thursday, March 6^th at 6 pm via Zoom. Meeting ID: 987-8810-5001, Passcode: 914711. Our intergroup is a resource for 12-Step work and Alcoholics Anonymous information in Southern Delaware. Please consider volunteering for a service opportunity, which includes most Intergroup committees. For more information about what each Committee does, see our Service Committees page and plan to attend our next intergroup meeting.

What each attendee can expect to do:

• Take part in the Thursday night party, flag ceremony, stadium meetings and the Saturday night Old-Timers Meeting.
• Over 20+ hospitality suites, collecting pins and how some people bring to share and trade
• More than 250 meetings to choose from, including clergy panels, international and, of course, A.A. topic related.

And there is much more! For more information about the Convention, please visit: https://www.aa.org/international-convention

 Rule 62

Don’t Take Yourself Too Darn Seriously:  Rules are intended to set standards for behavior.  “Rule 62” is intended to encourage having fun and enjoying sober living.  Have a fun story or joke related to your sober life?  Please share it with us!  support@sussexaa.org

Want to be part of this newsletter? We would love to hear from you! We’re always interested in receiving short articles and experiences written by our A.A. members for possible publication. All submissions are subject to review and editing. Send submissions to support@sussexaa.org.

• How you worked a specific step.
• A favorite A.A. slogan and how it has helped you.
• How you got your first service position.
• Something your sponsor said that impacted you.