[One SA group’s guidelines for staying sober today; submitted at the January 1994 Rochester conference.]

Are you willing to admit you are powerless over lust? Do you desire sobriety (freedom from the obsessions and actions of lust) for the next 24 hours? Are you willing to do whatever is necessary to protect this desire for the next 24 hours, such as setting boundaries, prayer, reading, physical care of your body, reaching out and calling others? Do you understand that at the end of this 24 hours you are free to choose this sobriety for another day or go another way? Just for today, are you willing, with me, to hand over your will and your life to the care of the One who kept you sober yesterday and protected you from the full consequences of your disease in the past?

Keep it simple and brief. Use your own words. In the beginning perhaps the first three questions are enough. Depending on the struggle of the day, some like to include freedom from fear, resentment or shame. Desire for sobriety (to stop lusting) is the only requirement for membership in this fellowship. The willingness to claim that desire, share it daily in relationships, protect and nurture it, will assure sobriety. “Where two or three gather…,” a WE-God, rather than a ME-God.

God is not present in the shame of the past; God is not present in the fear of the future. God is present in our desire for sobriety at this moment. This is conscious contact with the God of our understanding. Good desires shared grow stronger. Conscious contact increases. Yesterday’s spirituality will not keep us sober today. We need a fresh injection of Spirit each new day.

DESIRE: Name it, claim it, share it, live in it. The God of my understanding becomes the God of my good desires. The god of my shame, of my fear, of my resentment, withers. Because this is a program of choice. We can choose sobriety even when we are out of touch with the desire for sobriety. Each new day we renew that choice with others as often as needed. Desire will return and bear fruit, and multiply strength with each sharing. It works.