discord, I may bring harmony—that where there is an error, I may bring truth—that where there is doubt, I may bring faith—that where there is despair, I may bring hope—that where there are shadows, I may bring light—that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted—to understand than to be understood—to love than to be loved, For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen.
Absolute Love
On a warm day in July 1950, a frail, ailing man found his way to a platform in Cleveland and gave a brief message that included the following: “Our Twelve Steps, when simmered down to the last, resort themselves in the words ‘love’ and ‘service.’ We understand what love is, and we understand what service is. So let’s bear those two things in mind.”
These were some of Dr. Bob’s last words for the Fellowship, delivered at the First International Convention of AA, only four months before his passing. He was a loving man who felt that you could show your love through service in AA. He was also a devotee of Henry Drummond’s The Greatest Thing in the World, a classic 1887 talk about the ingredients of love as described by St. Paul in I Corinthians 13. Still in print, Drummond’s great sermon can be read in twenty minutes. Dr. Bob said that if you would read it every day for thirty days, it would change your life.
I Corinthians 13 is one of the most eloquent passages in the Holy Bible. It begins with these marvelous words: