Close Encounters of the Coffee Shop Kind

By the grace of a very loving God, I've been a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous since January 18, 1988. I say "by the grace of God" because I'm one of those people who truly believe I've lost the power of choice when it comes to drink. I could not will myself into sobriety (believe me, I tried) nor can I maintain my sobriety on my own willpower (I attempted that as well). I do believe I have one choice when it comes to my sobriety and it certainly isn't the choice of whether to drink or not. My choice is this: I can improve my relationship with my Higher Power by working the Twelve Steps daily (for all I have is a daily reprieve) or being alcoholic, I can drink. The interesting part is that if I'm improving my relationship with my Higher Power on a daily basis I can't drink, no matter how badly I may want to. So if I want to stay sober I must focus on improving my conscious contact with God.