If I accept the circumstances I am in, I am given the opportunity to learn and serve.

To learn and serve is the agreement I made when I entered the Twelve Step program: Accept—Learn—Serve.

When I came to understand I had a disorder that made me different from many other people, and when I came to accept I would have to accommodate this inherent weakness in my system for the rest of my life, then I could choose to follow a philosophy of life that rests on the commitment to learn and serve.

I cannot prescribe any other formula to guide my life. The only formula that will sustain me and my weakness in health and happiness is one of service. I cannot be profit based. I cannot be ego-based. I cannot be talent-based. I can only be service-based. All other approaches will quickly come to a dead end.

Basing my choices on a foundation of learning and serving starts with a dependency on God and a faith and appreciation of all experiences, both painful and joyous, as the pathway to health and happiness. This is the agreement, the contract I made with OA when I first began the journey.

Accept—Learn—Serve. May I continue to live up to that commitment.

— Ron S.

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