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October 16
Daily Reflections THROUGHOUT EACH DAY This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84 During my early years in A.A. I saw Step Ten as a suggestion that I periodically look at my behavior and reactions. If there was something wrong, I should admit it; if an apology was necessary, I should give one. After a few years of sobriety I felt I should undertake a self-examination more frequently. Not until several more years of sobriety had elapsed did I realize the full meaning of Step Ten, and the word "continued." "Continued" does not mean occasionally, or frequently. It means throughout each day. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day How seriously do I take my obligations to A.A.? Have I taken all the good I can get out of it and then let my obligations slide? Or do I constantly feel a deep debt of gratitude and a deep sense of loyalty to the whole A.A. movement? Am I not only grateful but also proud to be a part of such a wonderful fellowship, which is doing such marvelous work among alcoholics? Am I glad to be a part of the great work that A.A. is doing and do I feel a deep obligation to carry on that work at every opportunity? Do I feel that I owe A.A. my loyalty and devotion? Meditation For The Day If your heart is right, your world will be right. The beginning of all reform must be in yourself. It's not what happens to you, it's how you take it. However restricted your circumstances, however little you may be able to remedy financial affairs, you can always turn to your inward self and, seeing something not in order there, seek to right it. And as all reform is from within outward, you will always find that the outward is improved as the inward is improved. As you improve yourself, your outward circumstances will change for the better. The power released from within yourself will change your outward life. Prayer For The Day I pray that the hidden power within me may be released. I pray that I may not imprison the spirit that is within me. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It ASPECTS OF SPIRITUALITY, p. 287 "Among A.A.'s there is still a vast amount of mix-up respecting what is material and what is spiritual. I prefer to believe that it is all a matter of motive. If we use our worldly possessions too selfishly, then we are materialists. But if we share these possessions in helpfulness to others, then the material aids the spiritual." ******************************** "The idea keeps persisting that the instincts are primarily bad and are the roadblocks before which all spirituality falters. I believe that the difference between good and evil is not the difference between spiritual and instinctual man; it is the difference between proper and improper use of the instinctual. Recognition and right channeling of the instinctual are the essence of achieving wholeness." 1. LETTER, 1958 2. LETTER, 1954 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Homeless and unemployed Economic Insecurity Alcoholism isn't the sole cause of the homelessness and unemployment that troubles our world. Even in sobriety, people can lose their jobs and homes, through no fault of their own. Recovery makes it less likely that we will cause such conditions in our own lives. Beyond that , by keeping sober, we will be better able to deal with any setbacks that do occur. It is a painful fact that it is almost impossible to help any destitute alcoholic find a home or employment unless he or she stops drinking. We learn that much through our experience. Our true home is with our Higher Power, and our best work bay be in the sharing of our experience and strength with others. Remembering this, we can be sympathetic and understanding about the general problems of homelessness and unemployment. We don't have the complete answer, but we do have answers. I'll be grateful and understanding in any consideration of today's problems of homelessness and unemployment. By staying sober, I am at least helping to alleviate some of the general problems. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple To err is human, but when the eraser wears out ahead of the pencil, you’re overdoing it. --Josh Jenkins It’s okay to make mistakes. But we shouldn’t live a life of excuses. We shouldn’t slide over our mistakes; we should learn from them. Excuses keep us part from ourselves and others. People don’t trust us if we won’t admit and accept our mistakes. Relying on excuses dooms us to repeat the same mistakes. In recovery, we admit and accept our behavior. We do this by continuing to take an inventory of our lives. We do this so we can learn from our mistakes. “Owning” our mistakes helps us grow. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me own my mistakes. Thank-you for Step Ten and the growth it holds for me. Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list my five favorite excuses. I’ll think of the last time I used each of these. What was I trying to avoid. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning History provides abundant examples of . . . women whose greatest gift was in redeeming, inspiring, liberating, and nurturing the gifts of others. --Sonya Rudikoff Part of our calling as members of the human community is to unconditionally love and support the people emotionally close to us. We have been drawn together for purposes wonderful but seldom readily apparent. We need one another's gifts, compassion, and inspiration in order to contribute our individual parts to the whole. Not only do we need to nurture and to inspire others, but also our personal development, emotionally and spiritually, demands that we honor ourselves in like fashion. Self-love, full self-acceptance is necessary before we can give anything of lasting value to someone else. Selflessly must we give to others if, indeed, our love and support are meant to serve, and giving anything selflessly is evidence of healthy self-love. Selfless love liberates the giver and the recipient. Giving selflessly reveals our personal contentment, and it means we are free to nurture our own gifts. It's good and right that I should encourage someone else today. I will pay the same respect to myself, too. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword To Second Edition Figures given in this foreward describe the Fellowship as it was in 1955. At present, our membership is pyramiding at the rate of about twenty per cent a year. So far, upon the total problem of several million actual and potential alcoholics in the world, we have made only a scratch. In all probability, we shall never be able to touch more than a fair fraction of the alcohol problem in all its ramifications. Upon therapy for the alcoholic himself, we surely have no monopoly. Yet it is our great hope that all those who have as yet found no answer may begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us on the high road to a new freedom. pp. xx-xxi ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Gratitude In Action The story of Dave B., one of the founders of A.A. in Canada in 1944. I was all alone in Quebec at the time. The Toronto Group had been in operation since the previous fall, and there was a member in Windsor who attended meetings across the river in Detroit. That was A.A. in its entirety in this country. p. 197 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Eleven - "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." Of course, it is reasonable and understandable that the question is often asked: "Why can't we take a specific and troubling dilemma straight to God, and in prayer secure from Him sure and definite answers to our requests?" This can be done, but it has hazards. We have seen A.A.'s ask with much earnestness and faith for God's explicit guidance on matters ranging all the way from a shattering domestic or financial crisis to correcting a minor personal fault, like tardiness. Quite often, however, the thoughts that seem to come from God are not answers at all. They prove to be well-intentioned unconscious rationalizations. The A.A., or indeed any man, who tries to run his life rigidly by this kind of prayer, by this self-serving demand of God for replies, is a particularly disconcerting individual. To any questioning or criticism of his actions he instantly proffers his reliance upon prayer for guidance in all matters great or small. He may have forgotten the possibility that his own wishful thinking and the human tendency to rationalize have distorted his so-called guidance. With the best of intentions, he tends to force his own will into all sorts of situations and problems with the comfortable assurance that he is acting under God's specific direction. Under such an illusion, he can of course create great havoc without in the least intending it. pp. 103-104 ************************************************** ********* Listen in the silence. Listen and you shall hear God speak. --Frater Achad Life is for living, love is for sharing. Don't let the good things pass you by! --Sue The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. --David Russell What I am is God's gift to me. What I make of myself is my gift to Him. --unknown G I F T = God Is Forever There. --unknown "The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles." --Unknown Happiness is intrinsic, it's an internal thing. When you build it into yourself, no external circumstances can take it away. That kind of happiness is a twenty-four-hour thing. --Leo F. Buscaglia The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it. --John Ruskin *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation CULTURE "The great law of culture: let each become all that he was created capable of being." -- Thomas Carlyle We are capable of great things. This history of man, although surrounded by wars and unspeakable acts of violence, is also the history of art, music, poetry and romance. Each person is capable of great and noble acts --- but do we want to do them? We can be honest, loving and caring people only if we choose to be that. The power of freedom and choice is the determining factor in all our lives. Each culture has imaginative and creative features, but it is the people that make them happen. Nothing will happen unless people decide to make it happen. So it is with the culture of recovery. The people who make up the recovering community in all the addictions are the people who make a decision and acted upon it. Talk is cheap and cruel unless it is followed by an event. Decisions must be made real. We all have the capacity to be honest and kind. May I not only be grateful for my culture but may I live to add something to it. ************************************************** ********* The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love O Lord endures forever. Psalm 138 : 8 "Lead me in your truth, and teach me." Psalm 25:5 "Keep sowing the seed, for you never know which will grow, perhaps it all will." Ecclesiastes 11:6 "He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Many of life's hassles are mere tests of our strength. Lord, help me remember that patience can often diffuse a situation quicker than a snap response. Spend less time trying to change and more time making the best of who you are. Lord, help me daily to put Your words into action. |
October 17
Daily Reflections A DAILY TUNE-UP Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 85 How do I maintain my spiritual condition? For me it's quite simple: on a daily basis I ask my Higher Power to grant me the gift of sobriety for that day! I have talked to many alcoholics who have gone back to drinking and I always ask them: "Did you pray for sobriety the day you took your first drink?" Not one of them said yes. As I practice Step Ten and try to keep my house in order on a daily basis, I have the knowledge that if I ask for a daily reprieve, it will be granted. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day What am I going to do today for A.A.? Is there someone I should call up on the telephone or someone I should go to see? Is there a letter I should write? Is there an opportunity somewhere to advance the work of A.A. which I have been putting off or neglecting? If so, will I do it today? Will I be done with procrastination and do what I have to do today? Tomorrow may be too late. How do I know there will be a tomorrow for me? How about getting out of my easy chair and getting going? Do I feel that A.A. depends partly on me today? Meditation For The Day Today look upward toward God, not downward toward yourself. Look away from unpleasant surroundings, from lack of beauty, from the imperfections in yourself and in those around you. In your unrest, behold God's calmness; in your impatience, God's patience; in your limitations, God's perfection. Looking upward toward God, your spirit will begin to grow. Then others will see something in you that they also want. As you grow in the spiritual life, you will be enabled to do many things that seemed too hard for you before. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may keep my eyes trained above the horizon of myself. I pray that I may see infinite possibilities for spiritual growth. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It EMOTIONAL SOBRIETY, p. 288 If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its consequent unhealthy demand. Let us, with God's help, continually surrender these hobbling liabilities. Then we can be set free to live and love; we may then be able to twelfth-step ourselves, as well as others, into emotional sobriety. GRAPEVINE, JANUARY 1958 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Driven by Fear Finding courage. During any group discussion of fear, someone usually points out that it serves a protective purpose by keeping us out of harm's way. With the type of fear that drove us, however, we more often fled into further harm while trying to avoid the threats at hand. No person whose fear reaches a panic stage can effectively control his or her actions. We cannot expect sobriety alone to make us exempt from fear. What it can do is give us an ability to handle our fear constructively. There are steps to doing this. FIRST, we should not be too prideful to admit that fear can come to us. SECOND, we should admit it when we do feel fear. THIRD, we can discuss our fear with others while turning it over to our Higher Power. It would be wonderful if these steps then lifted us above any sense of fear. Even if this doesn't happen completely, we've succeeded in mastering our problems if we don't let fear drives us to work against ourselves. If I am afraid to give a presentation for work or go for a job interview, for example, I am being driven into inaction. This must no be allowed to happen. I can find courage today in the Twelve Step program. This will enable me to act properly and responsibly, even if I'm a bit queasy with fear. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Every child is an artist. The problem is remain an artist once your grow up.---Pablo Picasso We each have colorful ideas waiting to be shared. We’re alive inside. But do we let this side of us show? Our disease stole much of the child like openness. Many of us were taught that growing up meant denying the child within us. Many of us grew up in homes where it wasn’t safe to act alive and creative. Whatever the reason, it’s time to claim the child, the artist, in each of us. Each of our programs is different, and each has its artistic touch. When we tell our stories, we share our life. And our lives are unique and alive. The more alive we become, the more color we bring to others and ourselves. Let’s not be afraid to add color to our lives. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me claim the child inside of me. Joy is choice. Help me choose it. Action for the Day: Today, I’ll work at not hiding myself from others. I’ll be alive, and I’ll greet everyone I meet with the openness of a child. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning Pride, we are told, my children, "goeth before a fall" and oh, the pride was there, and so the fall was not far away. --Wilhelmina Kemp Johnstone Requesting help. Admitting we are wrong. Owning our mistake in either a big or small matter. Asking for another chance or someone's love. All very difficult to do, and yet necessary if we are to grow. The difficulty is our pride, the big ego. We think, "We need to always be right. If we're wrong, then others may think less of us, look down on us, and question our worth." Perfectionism versus worthlessness. If we are not perfect (and of course we never are), then we must be worthless. In between these two points on the scale is "being human." Our emotional growth, as women, is equal to how readily we accept our humanness, how able we are to be wrong. With humility comes a softness that smoothes our every experience, our every relationship. Pride makes us hard, keeps us hard, keeps others away, and sets us up for the fall. I will let myself be human today. It will soften my vision of life. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword To Third Edition BY March 1976, when this edition went to the printer, the total worldwide membership of Alcoholics Anonymous was conservatively estimated at more than 1,000,000, with almost 28,000 groups meeting in over 90 countries. p. xxii ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Gratitude In Action The story of Dave B., one of the founders of A.A. in Canada in 1944. One day I got a letter from a man in Halifax who wrote, "One of my friends, a drunk, works in Montreal, but he is currently in Chicago, where he went on a major binge. When he returns to Montreal, I'd like you to talk to him. I met this man at his home. His wife was cooking dinner, their young daughter at her side. The man was wearing a velvet jacket and sitting comfortably in his parlor. I hadn't met many people from high society. I immediately thought, "What's going on here? This man isn't an alcoholic!" Jack was a down-to-earth person. He was used to discussions about psychiatry, and the concept of a Higher Power didn't appeal to him very much. But from our meeting, A.A. was born here in Quebec. pp. 197-198 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Eleven - "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." We also fall into another similar temptation. We form ideas as to what we think God's will is for other people. We say to ourselves, "This one ought to be cured of his fatal malady," or "That one ought to be relieved of his emotional pain," and we pray for these specific things. Such prayers, of course, are fundamentally good acts, but often they are based upon a supposition that we know God's will for the person for whom we pray. This means that side by side with an earnest prayer there can be a certain amount of presumption and conceit in us. It is A.A.'s experience that particularly in these cases we ought to pray that God's will, whatever it is, be done for others as well as for ourselves. p. 104 ************************************************** ********* Acceptance does not mean that I have to agree, I don't have to approve, I don't even have to like it. I just have to accept. --unknown "I can forgive, but I can not forget" is only another way of saying, "I will not forgive." Forgiveness ought to be like a cancel note - torn in two and burned up so that it never can be shown against one. --Henry Ward Beecher To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee. --William H. Walton Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it as it is, is the only way of being happy. --Jennie Jerome Churchill Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have. --Doris Mortman Ask not that events should happen as you will, but let your will be that events should happen as they do, and you shall have peace. --Epicetus God's word refreshes our minds; God's spirit renews our strength. --unknown God is all-knowing, righteous, longsuffering, all powerful, and good." --unknown *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation PROGRESS You've got to be a fool to want to stop the march of time." --Pierre Renoir My fear of the future gave me a fear of change. My need to control made me avoid any new or confusing ideas. My alcoholism wanted me to escape and hide in the past--tomorrow was too fearful to be contemplated. At other times--and this is why alcohol is cunning, baffling and powerful--I would want to escape into tomorrow and avoid the reality of today. Time and reality were to be "played with" rather than experienced. But time moves on, it progresses just like the disease, and if I am to be a winner in this world, I need to move with it. God is to be experienced in the march of time and today I want to be in a relationship with God. Teach me to respect time as an opportunity for growth. ************************************************** ********* Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress. Psalm 107:19 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Your principles have been the music of my life throughout the years of my pilgrimage. I reflect at night on who you are, O LORD, and I obey your law because of this. This is my happy way of life: obeying your commandments. Psalm 119:54-56 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Mistakes are often a great source of learning. Lord, may I treat myself kindly when I appear to fall short of my expectations and anticipate the goodness that often is not very obvious. The source of courage is having a deep sense of God's presence and hearing Him say, "I am with you always.". Lord, You are my solution. You are with me always giving me all that I need. |
October 18
Daily Reflections AN OPEN MIND True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith . . . TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 33 My alcoholic thinking led me to believe that I could control my drinking, but I couldn't. When I came to A.A., I realized that God was speaking to me through my group. My mind was open just enough to know that I needed His help. A real, honest acceptance of A.A. took more time, but with it came humility. I know how insane I was, and I am extremely grateful to have my sanity restored to me and to be a sober alcoholic. The new, sober me is a much better person than I ever could have been without A.A. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Have I got over most of my sensitiveness, my feelings which are too easily hurt, and my just plain laziness and self-satisfaction? Am I willing to go all out for A.A. at no matter what cost to my precious self? Is my own comfort more important to me than doing the things that need to be done? Have I got to the point where what happens to me is not so important? Can I face up to things that are embarrassing or uncomfortable if they are the right things to do for the good of A.A.? Have I given A.A. just a small piece of myself? Am I willing to give all of myself whenever necessary? Meditation For The Day Not until you have failed can you learn true humility. Humility arises from a deep sense of gratitude to God for giving you the strength to rise above past failures. Humility is not inconsistent with self-respect. The true person has self-respect and the respect of others and yet is humble. The humble person is tolerant of other's failings, and does not have a critical attitude toward the foibles of others. Humble people are hard on themselves and easy on others. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may be truly humble and yet have self-respect. I pray that I may see the good in myself as well as the bad. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It WHEN CONFLICTS MOUNT, p. 289 Sometimes I would be forced to look at situations where I was doing badly. Right away, the search for excuses would become frantic. "These," I would exclaim, "are really a good man's faults." When that pet gadget broke apart, I would think, "Well, if those people would only treat me right, I wouldn't have to behave the way I do." Next was this: "God well knows that I do have awful compulsions. I just can't get over this one. So He will have to release me." At last came the time when I would shout, "This, I positively will not do! I won't even try." Of course, my conflicts went right on mounting, because I was simply loaded with excuses, refusals, and outright rebellion. ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Those who want it, Not those who need it. Honest Desire In the first bloom of sobriety, many recovering people confront drinking companions who also "need" the program. They're often surprised and disillusion when efforts to help their friends are rejected... sometimes curtly. We're truly limited to helping those who desire recovery, not those who we think need it. Though intervention methods can be effective, we're still largely helpless to assist those who don't desire recovery. We regret that we really have no answers for the millions who perish from alcoholism, unaware of their problem. We also can hold out little hope that any future recovery attempts will succeed without the individual alcoholic's cooperation. Desire..... a personal determination and decision.... is necessary for almost any kind of change. We have the freedom to choose in many areas of our lives, and alcoholics must eventually choose recovery in order to find and maintain it. Though I'd love to see others recover, I must accept the fact that their personal desire and choice is necessary. I'll remember this if any opportunities arise today to carry the message. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple When people bother you in any way, it is because their souls are trying to get your divine attention and your blessing. --Catherine Ponder We are in constant communication with one another and with God in the spiritual realm. No matter how singular our particular course may appear, our path is running parallel to many paths. And all paths will intersect when the need is present. The point of intersection is the moment when another soul seeks our attention. We can be attentive and loving to the people seeking our attention. Their growth and ours is at stake, We can be grateful for our involvement with other lives. We can be mindful that our particular blessing is like no one else's and that we all need input from the many significant persons in our lives. There is no insignificant encounter in our passage through life. Each juncture with someone else is part of the destiny of both participants. I will look carefully and lovingly at the people around me today and bless them, one and all. They are in my life because they need to be. I, likewise, need them. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning Pride, we are told, my children, "goeth before a fall" and oh, the pride was there, and so the fall was not far away. --Wilhelmina Kemp Johnstone Requesting help. Admitting we are wrong. Owning our mistake in either a big or small matter. Asking for another chance or someone's love. All very difficult to do, and yet necessary if we are to grow. The difficulty is our pride, the big ego. We think, "We need to always be right. If we're wrong, then others may think less of us, look down on us, and question our worth." Perfectionism versus worthlessness. If we are not perfect (and of course we never are), then we must be worthless. In between these two points on the scale is "being human." Our emotional growth, as women, is equal to how readily we accept our humanness, how able we are to be wrong. With humility comes a softness that smoothes our every experience, our every relationship. Pride makes us hard, keeps us hard, keeps others away, and sets us up for the fall. I will let myself be human today. It will soften my vision of life. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword To Third Edition Surveys of groups in the United States and Canada indicate that A.A. is reaching out, not only to more and more people, but to a wider and wider range. Women now make up more than one-fourth of the membership; among newer members, the proportion is nearly one-third. Seven percent of the A.A.’s surveyed are less than 30 years of age—among them, many in their teens. p. xxii ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Gratitude In Action The story of Dave B., one of the founders of A.A. in Canada in 1944. The Fellowship started to grow, most particularly following the publicity we got in the Gazette in the spring of 1945. I will never forget the day that Mary came to see me--she was the first woman to join our Fellowship here. She was very shy and reserved, very low-key. She had heard of the Fellowship through the Gazette. p. 198 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Eleven - "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." In A.A. we have found that the actual good results of prayer are beyond question. They are matters of knowledge and experience. All those who have persisted have found strength not ordinarily their own. They have found wisdom beyond their usual capability. And they have increasingly found a peace of mind which can stand firm in the face of difficult circumstances. p. 104 ************************************************** ********* "To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity." --William A. Ward To remain young while growing old is the highest blessing. --German Proverb "Make rest a necessity, not an objective." --Jim Rohn "Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action." --Benjamin Disraeli "The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post." --L. Thomas Holdcroft "Once you say you are going to settle for second, that's what happens to you." --John F. Kennedy Friends are the sunshine of life. --John Hay *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation WORSHIP "Our concern is not how to worship in the catacombs but how to remain human in the skyscrapers." -- Abraham Heschel Worship requires the discovery of "true worth" in my own life. True worship is not only historical and traditional but also contemporary. I need to discover not only the God of yesterday, but also the God of the modern city. My past addiction to fantasy often made me place God in an unreal world. I was happy talking about the Jews, Roman and Philistines but I missed God in Las Vegas, on freeways and in local politics. God is alive in His world, and it is tragic to make Him a prisoner of history. Let me find You in the place where I live. ************************************************** ********* He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm and He guided them to their desired haven. Psalm 107:29-30 "You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday." Psalm 91:5-6 "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is." Romans 12:2 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration It is hard to be upset with yourself when you are being nice to someone else. Lord, bless me with a giving spirit be I know that all I give comes back to shine on me in many different ways. With our blessings come responsibilities. Much is required of those to whom much has been given. Lord, may I use my blessings to be a blessing to others. |
October 19
Daily Reflections A. A.'S "MAIN TAPROOT" The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our whole Society has sprung and flowered. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 21-22 Defeated, and knowing it, I arrived at the doors of A.A., alone and afraid of the unknown. A power outside of myself had picked me up off my bed, guided me to the phone book, then to the bus stop, and through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. Once inside A.A. I experienced a sense of being loved and accepted, something I had not felt since early childhood. May I never lose the sense of wonder I experienced on that first evening with A.A., the greatest event of my entire life. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Do I realize that I do not know how much time I have left? It may be later than I think. Am I going to do the things that I know I should do before my time runs out? By the way, what is my purpose for the rest of my life? Do I realize all I have to make up for in my past wasted life? Do I know that I am living on borrowed time and that I would not have even this much time left without A.A. and the grace of God? Am I going to make what time I have left count for A.A.? Meditation For The Day We can believe that somehow the cry of the human soul is never unheard by God. It may be that God hears the cry, even if we fail to notice God's response to it. The human cry for help must always evoke a response of some sort from God. It may be that our failure to discern properly keeps us unaware of the response. But one thing we can believe is that the grace of God is always available for every human being who sincerely calls for help. Many changed lives are living proofs of this fact. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may trust God to answer my prayer as He sees fit. I pray that I may be content with whatever form that answer may take. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It TIME VERSUS MONEY, p. 290 Our attitude toward the giving of time when compared with our attitude toward giving money presents an interesting contrast. We give a lot of our time to A.A. activities for our own protection and growth, but also for the sake of our groups, our areas, A.A. as a whole, and, above all, the newcomer. Translated into terms of money, these collective sacrifices would add up to a huge sum. But when it comes to the actual spending of cash, particularly for A.A. service overhead, many of us are apt to turn a bit reluctant. We think of the loss of all that earning power in our drinking years, of those sums we might have laid by for emergencies or for education of the kids. In recent years, this attitude is everywhere on the decline; it quickly disappears when the real need for a given A.A. service becomes clear. Donors can seldom see what the exact result has been. They well know, however, that countless thousands of other alcoholics and their families are being helped. TWELVE CONCEPTS, pp. 63-64 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places The same situation... over and over Growth in Maturity. Our drinking experience should have taught us that we'll continue to repeat old destructive behaviors until we change our attitudes. In sobriety, we can take this idea a step further and apply it to other areas. If we have trouble with other people, for example, we should ask what we're doing to bring about unpleasant situations. This is not to say that we're responsible for everything that goes wrong, but we are getting a message ourselves if we continuously meet the same problem in different forms. Some people, for example, repeatedly become involved in bad relationships or find themselves working for abusive bosses. Just as a changed attitude helped us recover from our drinking problem, so can a new attitude keep us from repeating other destructive situations. I'll be on the lookout today for any indications of a tendency to "attract" trouble. It's true that I can have bad luck, but I don't need to bring it on myself. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.---Seventeenth century proverb We addicts used to be stubborn. Once we got an idea in our heads, we wouldn’t change it. We didn’t listen to others ideas. We almost seemed to say, “Don’t tell me the facts. I’ve already made up my mind.” But lately , some new ideas are making sense to us. We are starting to change our minds. Maybe we are good people, after all. Maybe we do deserve to be happy. Maybe other people can help us. Maybe our Higher Power does know best. We’re not acting like fools any longer. We’re learning to change our old ideas. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, when I hear a better idea, help me change my mind. Action for the Day: When I hear or read a new idea today, I’ll really think about it. If it fits, I’ll try it. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning One of the conclusions I have come to in my old age is the importance of living in the ever-present now. In the past, too often I indulged in the belief that somehow or other tomorrow would be brighter or happier or richer. --Ruth Casey How easily our minds jump from the present to the foibles of the past or our fears about the future. How seldom are our minds on this moment, and only this moment. Before we picked up this book, where were our thoughts? We need to practice, with diligence, returning our minds to whatever the experience at hand. A truly creative response to any situation can only be made when we are giving it our undivided attention. And each creative response initiates an even more exciting follow-up experience. All we have of life, all that it can offer us is here, now. If we close our mind to the present, this present, we'll only continue to do so when the tomorrow we dream of now becomes the present. There are no tomorrows. I will let go of the past and the future. My only reality is here, now. God's gifts are here, today, right now. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword To Third Edition The basic principles of the A.A. program, it appears, hold good for individuals with many different lifestyles, just as the program has brought recovery to those of many different nationalities. The Twelve Steps that summarize the program may be called los Doce Pasos in one country, les Douze Etapes in another, but they trace exactly the same path to recovery that was blazed by the earliest members of Alcoholics Anonymous. p. xxii ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Gratitude In Action The story of Dave B., one of the founders of A.A. in Canada in 1944. For the first year, all the meetings were held in my home. There were people all over the house. The wives of members used to come with their husbands, though we didn't allow them in our closed meetings. They used to sit on the bed or in the kitchen, where they would make coffee and snacks. I believe they were wondering what would happen to us. Yet they were as happy as we were. p. 198 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Eleven - "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." We discover that we do receive guidance for our lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on our terms. Almost any experienced A.A. will tell how his affairs have taken remarkable and unexpected turns for the better as he tried to improve his conscious contact with God. He will also report that out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God does "move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform." pp. 104-105 ************************************************** ********* I am never alone never abandoned never deserted never judged never chastised and never without Gods aid. --Shelley "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God." Those who are lifting the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than criticize. --Elizabeth Harrison Correction does much, but encouragement does more. --Goethe Words to live by are just words, unless you live by them. You have to walk the talk. --Cited in BITS & PIECES Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs. --Cited in More of...The Best of BITS & PIECES The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. --unknown We are never so lost that God can't find us. *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation TACT "Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy." -- Howard W. Newton An aspect of my recovery is not hurting people's feelings unnecessarily. I am learning how to say what I have to say without causing offense. Today I am learning to be tactful and respectful. As a drunk I would say the first thing that came into my head without any regard for the feelings of others. I was often violent with words, sarcastic with comments and cruel in dialogue. Tact was a sign of weakness; gentleness and sensitivity were unmanly; my power was seen in forcing people to change their minds! Today I do not wish to be like this. Today I desire to be tactful. Lord, let me always express my opinion respectfully. ************************************************** ********* For great is Your love higher than the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Psalm 108:4 You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my only source of hope. Get out of my life, you evil-minded people, for I intend to obey the commands of my God. LORD, sustain me as you promised, that I may live! Do not let my hope be crushed. Sustain me, and I will be saved; then I will meditate on your principles continually. Psalm 119:114-117 Let not kindness and truth forsake thee: Bind them about thy neck; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart. Proverbs 3:3 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Complaining reinforces your own unhappiness. Lord, when I speak, help to say things that are worth listening to and reinforce a joyful spirit. Life is what our thinking makes it. Lord, help me visualize myself richly living each day, believing, achieving, and then succeeding. |
October 20
Daily Reflections SOLACE FOR CONFUSION Obviously, the dilemma of the wanderer from faith is that of profound confusion. He thinks himself lost to the comfort of any conviction at all. He cannot attain in even a small degree the assurance of the believer, the agnostic, or the atheist. He is the bewildered one. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 28 The concept of God was one that I struggled with during my early years of sobriety. The images that came to me, conjured from my past, were heavy with fear, rejection and condemnation. Then I heard my friend Ed's image of a Higher Power: As a boy he had been allowed a litter of puppies, provided that he assume responsibility for their care. Each morning he would find the unavoidable "byproducts" of the puppies on the kitchen floor. Despite frustration, Ed said he couldn't get angry because "that's the nature of puppies." Ed felt that God viewed our defects and shortcomings with a similar understanding and warmth. I've often found solace from my personal confusion in Ed's calming concept of God. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day For the past few weeks we have been asking ourselves some searching questions. We have not been able to answer them all as we would like. But on the right answers to these questions will depend the usefulness and effectiveness of our lives and to some extent the usefulness and effectiveness of the whole A.A. movement. It all boils down to this: I owe a deep debt to A.A. and to the grace of God. Am I going to do all I can to repay this debt? Let us search our souls, make our own decisions, and act accordingly. Any real success we have in life will depend on that. Now is the time to put our conclusions into effect. What am I going to do about it? Meditation For The Day "Our Lord and our God, be it done unto us according to Thy will." Simple acceptance of God's will in whatever happens is the key to abundant living. We must continue to pray: Not my will but Thy will be done. It may not turn out the way you want it to, but it will be the best way in the long run, because it is God's way. If you decide to accept whatever happens as God's will for yourself, whatever it may be, your burdens will be lighter. Try to see in all things some fulfillment of the Divine Intent. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may see the working out of God's will in my life. I pray that I may be content with whatever He will for me. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It Pain-Killer----or Pain-Healer, p. 291 "I believe that when we were active alcoholics we drank mostly to kill pain of one kind or another--physical or emotional or psychic. Of course, everybody has a cracking point, and I suppose you reached yours--hence, the resort once more to the bottle. "If I were you, I wouldn't heap devastating blame on myself for this; on the other hand, the experience should redouble your conviction that alcohol has no permanent value as a pain-killer." ********************************* In every A.A. story, pain has been the price of admission into a new life. But this admission price purchased more than we expected. It led us to a measure of humility, which we soon discovered to be a healer of pain. We began to fear pain less, and desire humility more than ever. 1. LETTER, 1959 2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 75 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places This too shall pass Acceptance When personal problems are brought up in group discussions, someone usually remembers the saying, "This too shall pass." We use it in reference to unpleasant matters, but it also applies to happier experiences. It is a certainty that nothing will ever stay the same. Our responsibility to ourselves is to see all situations constructively, whether they are seen as good or bad at the time. WHat seems a disappoint today might be seen as a blessing tomorrow. And we can't always be sure that today's wonderful opportunity doesn't have a few hidden nettles in it. The one certainty is that everything will pass. We should extract the good from everything, and let what is unpleasant fade into the past. Whatever I'm facing today will certainly change as I do my best in the 24 hours ahead. None of us is permanently bound to any problem. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.---Eric Hoffer When we’re not honest with others, we’re not being honest with ourselves. In recovery, we’re taught how to heal our hearts. We admit we’re wrong, and we do it quickly. We let our spirit have the loudest voice. This way, lies lose power over us. We find a way to be true to our spirit. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You have a soft, quiet voice inside me. Help me, through meditation, to hear You better. Yours is the voice to follow. Action for the Day: I’ll listen to my Higher Power. I’ll list any lies I’ve been telling myself and others lately. Then I’ll find someone I trust and tell that person what I’ve lied about. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning ...You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now. --Joan Baez How thrilling to contemplate that we can choose every attitude we have and every action we take. We have been gifted with full responsibility for our development. What will we try today? It's our personal choice. How will we decide on a particular issue? Our options are only limited by our vision. Every situation in life offers us a significant opportunity for making a decision that will, of necessity, influence the remaining situations we encounter. Just as we are interdependent, needing and influencing one another in all instances that bring us together, likewise our decisions are never inviolate. Each is singly important; however, its impact is multiplied by the variety of other decisions triggered. The choice is ours for livings fully today, for taking advantage of all the opportunities that present themselves. Our personal growths, our emotional and spiritual development, are in our hands. God will provide us with the guidance, and the program offers us the tools. The decision to act is ours, alone. I will exercise my personal power. My choices determine my development. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword To Third Edition In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this Fellowship, at its core it remains simple and personal. Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope. p. xxii ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Gratitude In Action The story of Dave B., one of the founders of A.A. in Canada in 1944. The first two French Canadians to learn about A.A. did so in the basement of my home. All French-speaking meetings in existence today were born out of those early meetings. p. 198 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Eleven - "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." All this should be very encouraging news for those who recoil from prayer because they don't believe in it, or because they feel themselves cut off from God's help and direction. All of us, without exception, pass through times when we can pray only with the greatest exertion of will. Occasionally we go even further than this. We are seized with a rebellion so sickening that we simply won't pray. When these things happen we should not think too ill of ourselves. We should simply resume prayer as soon as we can, doing what we know to be good for us. p. 105 ************************************************** ********* Faith that the thing can be done is essential to any great achievement. --Thomas N. Carter Knowing Gods gift of inner strength and courage, I move forward with the things that once terrified me. --Shelly You could have everything in life and still have nothing or you could seek the Truth. --unknown The surface holds only illusions. Search deeper for the truth. --unknown Communication is the key to unlocking many doors in life. --unknown Change is hard, explaining why it is easier to stay in a negative frame of mind rather than a positive one. --unknown God is there when we need him the most. When we are afflicted, when trials are facing us, he is there for us. But what we need to understand is that God is there for us even when there are no trials, or when we are not afflicted. In knowing this truth, we can appeal to God at any time. We need not look to God only in testing times, but in fertile times. We should look to cultivate a relationship with Him in good times, and not just bad. --unknown *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation OBSERVANCE "The older I grow, the more I listen to people who don't say much." -- German G. Gladden I've noticed that an important part of my recovery is people watching. I have fun watching people --- at a party, on a train or in a park. I find the daily "theater" of life fascinating and stimulating. I also learn so much about me by observing others. I can identify with their mannerisms, actions and facial antics and intuitively sense what they are feeling. I see their fear, hesitancy and shame and connect it with mine. People are a mirror to my life. Part of my recovery is developing that instinctive spirituality that grows through observation. The human being is forever communicating, sending energy and messages not only with words but by his existence --- and especially by his silence. Sometimes a person's silence can be deafening! God is most alive to me in the lives and behavior of His people, and part of my worship and prayer is observing the splendor and richness of my fellow human beings. You, who have created the universe in such magnificent silence, touch me with Your stillness. ************************************************** ********* "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Luke 12:32 "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Matthew 24:36 "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15 "This, then, is how you should pray: "‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:9-15 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration When we are in a bad mood we are often reactive and irrational. A few moments of gratitude for all that we have will quickly change our feelings. Lord, help me gratefully remember that there is always more good in my life than bad. Through the power of God within me, I am stronger than any of my circumstances. Lord, I seek, I knock and I ask and You are always there and ready to give me the miracles that I need. |
October 21
Daily Reflections NOTHING GROWS IN THE DARK We will want the good that is in us all, even in the worst of us, to flower and to grow. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 10 With the self-discipline and insight gained from practicing Step Ten, I begin to know the gratifications of sobriety -- not as mere abstinence from alcohol, but as recovery in every department of my life. I renew hope, regenerate faith, and regain the dignity of self-respect. I discover the word "and" in the phrase "and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it." Reassured that I am no longer always wrong, I learn to accept myself as I am, with a new sense of the miracles of sobriety and serenity. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Now that we have considered the obligations of real, working members of A.A., let us examine what the rewards are that have come to us as a result of our new way of living. First, I understand myself more than I ever did before. I have learned what was the matter with me and I know now a lot of what makes me tick. I will never be alone again. I am just one of many who have the illness of alcoholism and one of many who have learned what to do about it. I am not an odd fish or a square peg in a round hole. I seem to have found my right place in the world. Am I beginning to understand myself? Meditation For The Day "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will remain with him and him with me." The knocking of God's spirit, asking to come into your life, is due to no merit of yours, though it is in response to the longing of your heart. Keep a listening ear, an ear bent to catch the sound of the gentle knocking at the door of your heart by the spirit of God. Then open the door of your heart and let God's spirit come in. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may let God's spirit come into my heart. I pray that it may fill me with an abiding peace. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It Toward Partnership, p. 292 When the distortion of family life through alcohol has been great, a long period of patient striving may be necessary. After the husband joins A.A., the wife may become discontented, even highly resentful that A.A. has done the very thing that all her years of devotion had failed to do. Her husband may become so wrapped up in A.A. and his new friends that he is inconsiderately away from home more than when he drank. Each then blames the other. But eventually the alcoholic, now fully understanding how much he did to hurt his wife and children, nearly always takes up his marriage responsibilities with a willingness to repair what he can and accept what he can't. He persistently tries all of A.A.'s Twelve Steps in his home, often with fine results. He firmly but lovingly commences to behave like a partner instead of like a bad boy. 12 & 12, pp. 118-119 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places What is a disappointment? Handling My Outlook Try as we will for success and achievement, we still must face a number of disappointments in our lives. We may be disappointed by a sales presentation that failed, a repair project that became a nightmare, or a vacation plan that turned sour. How can we handle such disappointments in the spirit of the Twelve Step program? We must remember not to be too hard on ourselves when disappointments occur. Disappoints are part of the human experience, not misfortunes that come only to certain individuals. If we=ve done our best in any situation, we are not responsible if it did not work out. Even more important, we should use every disappointment as a learning experience. It=s always possible that one disappointment will provide kernels of truth that will help us succeed in our next effort. Many people point to specific disappointments or setbacks as times when they are able to find new direction. There are even times when disappointment in a lesser enterprise clears the way for success in a larger one. Whatever the outcome, no disappointment need be final---- nor should we take it as proof that we=re somehow inadequate and unworthy. I will be positive in my outlook, expecting every effort to be effective and successful. If disappointment comes, however, I will take it in stride, knowing that it=s only a temporary detour in my successful life. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.---Anonymous Nobody’s always wrong. Nobody’s all bad. And that includes us. Sometimes, we really get down on ourselves. When we do Step Four, we sometimes see only our faults. When we make our Step Ten checkup, we see only our mistakes. We can’t afford to do this. We need to see our strengths too. But even our faults have a good side. Are you stubborn? Good---be stubborn, you know how to hang on to feelings. So, hang on to the good feelings instead of the bad ones. Each of us is good and wise. What’s good about us got twisted by our disease. But now we can get the kinks out. We are sober, and we have a program to help us. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to see the good in myself and others. Action for the Day: I’ll take another look at my faults today. How can I use them in good ways? ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning The strength of the drive determines the force required to suppress it. --Mary Jane Sherfey We are all struggling to succeed. And each day of our lives we'll be confronted with major or minor adversities that might well interfere with our success. Adversities don't have to hinder us, however. They can strengthen us, if we incorporate them as opportunities for growth. For many of us, the ability to handle adversity is a fairly recent phenomenon. And not always can we do it securely and with ease. But we are coming to believe that a power greater than ourselves is at hand and will guarantee us all the strength we'll ever need. Knowing that action is always possible, that passive acceptance of any condition need never be necessary are unconditional gifts of living the Twelve Step program. Our path forward is as certain as our commitment to it, our belief in the strength of the program, and our faith that all is well even when times are troubled. No one ever promised that our new way of life would be always easy. But we have been promised that we'll arrive at our proper destination if we do the footwork and let God do the navigating. Success is at hand. I will apply what I'm learning, and I'll meet it. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword To Fourth Edition THIS fourth edition of “Alcoholics Anonymous” came off press in November 2001, at the start of a new millennium. Since the third edition was published in 1976, worldwide membership of A.A. has just about doubled, to an estimated two million or more, with nearly 100,800 groups meeting in approximately 150 countries around the world. p. xxiii ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Gratitude In Action The story of Dave B., one of the founders of A.A. in Canada in 1944. At the end of my first year of sobriety, my wife agreed to leave her job after I found some work. I thought that would be easy. All I had to do was go see an employer and I'd be able to support my family in a normal fashion. However, I looked for work for many months. We didn't have much money, and I was spending the little we had going from one place to the other, answering ads and meeting people. I was getting more and more discouraged. One day, a member said, "Dave, why don't you apply at the aircraft factory? I know a fellow there who could help you." So that was where I got my first job. There really is a Higher Power looking after us. pp. 198-199 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Eleven - "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless. The moment we catch even a glimpse of God's will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs. We know that God lovingly watches over us. We know that when we turn to Him, all will be well with us, here and hereafter. p. 105 ************************************************** ********* S T E P S = Solutions To Every Problem in Sobriety. C H A N G E = Choosing Honesty Allows New Growth Every day. Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action. --Mother Teresa Joy increases as you give it, and diminishes as you try to keep it for yourself. In giving it, you will accumulate a deposit of joy greater than you ever believed possible. --Norman Vincent Peale, Positive Thinking Every Day God is singing and Creation is the melody. --David Palmer Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. --unknown I didn't learn humility with my head. I learned humility with my heart. --unknown *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation CONSCIENCE "In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place." -- Mohandas Gandhi How I used to hate myself. So many times I caught myself pleasing the crowd, agreeing with people I did not understand or respect, laughing at jokes and opinions I loathed. How I used to hate myself! Today I have a healthy respect for what the majority may feel but I also trust and follow my conscience. I know that to be in the minority is not necessarily to be in the wrong. My recovery insists that I listen to my conscience, that inner self that is based on a program of honesty, that spiritual cornerstone of my life that I have come to trust. Now I can say to people, "I do not agree." Today I give myself permission to disagree with family, friends and colleagues. May I never follow the crowd because of the numbers: God is one. ************************************************** ********* The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not hurt you by day, nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. Psalm 121:5-8 Let me hear of your unfailing love to me in the morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I have come to you in prayer. Save me from my enemies, LORD; I run to you to hide me. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. Psalm 143:8-10 "Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down." Proverbs 26:20 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration There are far more solutions than problems and knowing this is very empowering. Lord, in the encounters of my daily life, may I choose to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. No gift is so precious as love. Gratefully trust God and give Him your love. Lord, I give You my heart. |
October 22
Daily Reflections TRUE TOLERANCE Finally, we begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true tolerance and see what real love for our fellows actually means. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 92 The thought occurred to me that all people are emotionally ill to some extent. How could we not be? Who among us is spiritually perfect? Who among us is physically perfect? How could any of us be emotionally perfect? Therefore, what else are we to do but bear with one another and treat each other as we would be treated in similar circumstances? That is what love really is. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day I am content to face the rest of my life without alcohol. I have made the great decision once and for all. I have surrendered as gracefully as possible to the inevitable. I hope I have no more reservations. I hope that nothing can happen to me now that would justify my taking a drink. No death of a dear one. No great calamity in any area of my life should justify me in drinking. Even if I were on some desert isle, far from the rest of the world, but not far from God, should I ever feel it right to drink. For me, alcohol is out--period. I will always be safe unless I take that first drink. Am I fully resigned to this fact? Meditation For The Day Day by day we should slowly build up an unshakable faith in a Higher Power in that Power's ability to give us all the help we need. By having these quiet times each morning, we start each day with a renewing of our faith, until it becomes almost a part of us and is a strong habit. We should keep furnishing the quiet places of our souls with all the furniture of faith. We should try to fill our thoughts each day with all that is harmonious and good, beautiful, and enduring. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may build a house in my soul for the spirit of God to dwell in. I pray that I may come at last to an unshakable faith. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It Rebellion Or Acceptance, p.293 All of us pass through the times when we can pray only with the greatest exertion. Occasionally we go even further than this. We are seized with a rebellion so sickening that we simply won't pray. When these things happen, we should not think too ill of ourselves. We should simply resume prayer as soon as we can, doing what we know to be good for us. ******************************** A man who persists in prayer finds himself in possession of great gifts. When he has to deal with hard circumstances, he finds he can face them. He can accept himself and the world around him. He can do this because he now accepts a God who is All--and who loves all. When he says, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name," he deeply and humbly means it. When in good meditation and thus freed from the clamors of the world, he knows that he's in God's hands, that his own ultimate destiny is really secure, here and hereafter, come what may. 1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 105 2. GRAPEVINE, JUNE 1958 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places When the bath is negative Personal relations A member referred to getting a "negative bath" every day at work. She was talking about her boss's bad disposition and the poor attitudes of several co-workers. How does one deal with this negativity? It's not satisfactory to say that this member created her own "negative bath" by her attitudes toward her boss and others. In fact, in many businesses, the atmosphere is negative... and dealing with it takes more than trite comment. In such situations, we can employ detachment, as practiced in Al-Anon, and accept the things we cannot change, as stated in the Serenity Prayer. The longer-term solution may require making a major change, such as finding a new job, but we must be careful not to exchange one negative situation for another. We will make the right decision if we're careful to avoid resentment and self-pity while being completely honest about our own motives and intentions. I may find myself in a "negative bath" of some kind today, but I can detach from it by avoiding resentment or the tendency to blame others. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Life is what happens to us while we’re making other plans. ---Thomas LaMance What happened to our years of drinking and using other drugs? They seemed to pass so quickly with so little to show for them. We had plans, but we didn’t get where we wanted to go. There was always “tomorrow.” What a difference today! Now we work a program that helps us really live each day. We’re not losing time out of our lives anymore. Now every day is full of life: sights, sounds, people, feelings---those things we used to miss out on. We have the help of a Higher Power who makes every day important. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me do Your will for me today. I place this day in Your care. Action for the Day: Be on the lookout today for signs of life! ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning Children awaken you own sense of self when you see them hurting, struggling, testing; when you watch their eyes and listen to their hearts. Children are gifts, if we accept them. --Kathleen Tierney Crilly Children look to us and their world with fresh eyes, uncynical attitudes, open hearts. They react spontaneously to the events in their lives; what they feel is who they are. Close observation of children can help us. See how complex we have made our lives! Their simple honesty can serve us well. To look at the world, once again, with wonder, is a byproduct offered us when we live the principles of this program. So many gifts await us when we accept the program and its principles. We dispense with the baggage of the past. We learn to live this day only. And we come to believe that there is a power greater than ourselves that has everything and us in our lives under control. Children instinctively trust those who take care of them. We can learn to trust, once again, when we apply the Steps of this program to our lives. I will look to this day with wonder and trust. Everything is okay. I am in the care of a power greater. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword To Fourth Edition Literature has played a major role in A.A.’s growth, and a striking phenomenon of the past quarter-century has been the explosion of translations of our basic literature into many languages and dialects. In country after country where the A.A. seed was planted, it has taken root, slowly at first, then growing by leaps and bounds when literature has become available. Currently, “Alcoholics Anonymous” has been translated into forty-three languages. p. xxiii ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Gratitude In Action The story of Dave B., one of the founders of A.A. in Canada in 1944. One of the most fundamental things I have learned is to pass on our message to other alcoholics. That means I must think more about others than about myself. The most important thing is to practice these principles in all my affairs. In my opinion, that is what Alcoholics Anonymous is all about. p. 199 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." The joy of living is the theme of A.A.'s Twelfth Step, and action is its key word. Here we turn outward toward our fellow alcoholics who are still in distress. Here we experience the kind of giving that asks no rewards. Here we begin to practice all Twelve Steps of the program in our daily lives so that we and those about us may find emotional sobriety. When the Twelfth Step is seen in its full implication, it is really talking about the kind of love that has no price tag on it. p. 106 ************************************************** ********* With the power of God in my actions and thinking I can do all things with love and kindness. --Shelley "God Loves You - even when you are not looking." He created me to be a light of love and life. Letting go, I allow the light of Him within me to shine forth in my life and out into my world. --unknown Express love through acknowledgment. Notice the good in those around you and freely comment on it. --Mary Manin Morrissey The value of persistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but we will finally hear Him. --William McGill We are not living just to be sober; we are living to learn, to serve, and to love. The express elevator to sobriety doesn't work - please use the Steps. S T E P S = Solutions To Every Problem in Sobriety. *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation UNITY "This land of ours cannot be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in." -- Richard Nixon My sobriety has given me a comprehensive view of life and my neighbor. Today I believe that we are all connected and if I hurt or am hurt, then everybody at some level is affected. Because we are all children of God, it follows that we are all one big family --- speaking different languages, having different customs, revealing different physical characteristics and complexions, requiring different satisfaction (both sexual and emotional), but we are still one big family under God. This means I have a responsibility to all in the family and I can best exercise that responsibility by having a healthy respect for myself. I should treat people as I would want to be treated, allowing them the freedom and love I require in my life. I am the key to the world's needs. Lord, let me find my neighbor in myself. ************************************************** ********* "Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God." Colossians 1:6 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:5 For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You rule generation after generation. The LORD is faithful in all he says; he is gracious in all he does. The LORD helps the fallen and lifts up those bent beneath their loads. All eyes look to you for help; you give them their food as they need it. When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. Psalm 145:13-16 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Do not take any action until you've prayed and listened and then you will have guidance to reach the understanding necessary to complete the things you need to do. Lord, I know that there is no obstacle for You and ask that You will guide me along the right path. Rejoice and be happy for others when they are blessed. Lord, bless me with the ability to be free of envy so that I can truly share the joy of my neighbors. |
October 24
Daily Reflections WHAT WE KNOW BEST "Shoemaker, stick to thy last!" . . . better do one thing supremely well than many badly. That is the central theme of this Tradition [Five]. Around it our Society gathers in unity. The very life of our Fellowship requires the preservation of this principle. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 150 The survival of A.A. depends upon unity. What would happen if a group decided to become an employment agency, a treatment center or a social service agency? Too much specialization leads to no specialization, to frittering of efforts and, finally, to decline. I have the qualifications to share my sufferings and my way of recovery with the newcomer. Conformity to A.A.'s primary purpose insures the safety of the wonderful gift of sobriety, so my responsibility is enormous. The life of millions of alcoholics is closely tied to my competence in "carrying the message to the still-suffering alcoholic." ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day I have learned how to be honest. What a relief! No more ducking or dodging. No more tall tales. No more pretending to be what I am not. My cards are on the table, for all the world to see. "I am what I am," as Popeye used to say in the comics. I have had an unsavory past. I am sorry, yes. But it cannot be changed now. All that is yesterday and is done. But now my life is an open book. Come and look at it, if you want to. I'm trying to do the best I can. I will fail often, but I won't make excuses. I will face things as they are and not run away. Am I really honest? Meditation For The Day Though it may seem a paradox, we must believe in spiritual forces which we cannot see more than in material things which we can see, if we are going to truly live. In the last analysis, the universe consists more of thought or mathematical formulas than it does of matter as we understand it. Between one human being and another only spiritual forces will suffice to keep them in harmony. These spiritual forces we know, because we can see their results although we cannot see them. A changed life--a new personality--results from the power of unseen spiritual forces working in us and through us. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may believe in the Unseen. I pray that I may be convinced by the results of the Unseen which I do see. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It Love+Rationality=Growth, p. 294 "It seems to me that the primary object of any human being is to grow, as God intended, that being the nature of all growing things. "Our search must be for what reality we can find, which includes the best definition and feeling of love that we can acquire. If the capability of loving is in the human being, then it must surely be in his Creator. "Theology helps me in that many of its concepts cause me to believe that I live in a rational universe under a loving God, and that my own irrationality can be chipped away, little by little. This is, I suppose, the process of growth for which we are intended." ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places How do we hurt others? Inventory Even while drinking, few of us abused others physically or committed crimes. Yet we did harm others, even when we thought we were hurting only ourselves. One way we harmed others.... and this applies to many alcoholic family relationships.. was by with-holding the love and support they needed. If we had a nasty disposition at times, this poisoned the atmosphere and made others uncomfortable and afraid. Maybe we harmed others by not being productive at work. Our absenteeism, for example, may have put our boss in a bad light with superiors or caused the firm to lose a client. Perhaps the worst harm was in being completely indifferent to what we were doing to others. Any willingness to admit wrong, then, can be a major step toward recovery and self-improvement. Though, I have no intention of harming anyone today, I'll realize that even my attitude can affect others unfavorably. I'll try to maintain an attitude that's uplifting to everyone. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple It’s not dying faith that’s so hard, it’s living up to it.William Makepeace Thackeray We may ask, “Do I have to do an Eighth or Ninth Step?” “Do I really need a sponsor?” “Hmm…can I get by without going to so many meetings?” Having faith means putting our questions aside. So…what do we do? We work the program. We accept that those who’ve gone before us were right. We accept the idea that we need others. Faith is knowing that others love and care for us. Faith is also about action. The main way we know that we have faith is by looking at our behavior. Ask yourself this: “Are my actions those of a person with faith?” Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me remove the questions that get in my way. Help me act like a person with faith. Action for the Day: I’ll list four parts of my program that I have faith in, such as, “I believe honesty is important to my sobriety.” ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning ...words are more powerful than perhaps anyone suspects, and once deeply engraved in a child's mind, they are not easily eradicated. --May Sarton How burdened we became, as little girls, with the labels applied by parents, teachers, even school chums. We believe about ourselves what others teach us to believe. The messages aren't always overt. But even the very subtle ones are etched in our minds, and they remind us of our "shortcomings" long into adulthood. Try as we might to forget the criticisms, the names, they linger in our memories and influence our self-perceptions as adults. The intervening years have done little to erase whatever emotional scars we acquired as children. Our partnership with God will help us understand that we are spiritual beings with a wonderful purpose in this life. And we are as lovely, as capable, as successful as we perceive ourselves to be. Our own thoughts and words, our own labels can become as powerful as those of our youth. It takes practice to believe in ourselves. But we can break the past's hold on us. My higher power will help me know the real me. I am all that I ever needed to be; I am special, and I will come to believe that. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword To Fourth Edition As the message of recovery has reached larger numbers of people, it has also touched the lives of a vastly greater variety of suffering alcoholics. When the phrase “We are people who normally would not mix” (page 17 of this book) was written in 1939, it referred to a Fellowship composed largely of men (and a few women) with quite similar social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. Like so much of A.A.’s basic text, those words have proved to be far more visionary than the founding members could ever have imagined. The stories added to this edition represent a membership whose characteristics—of age, gender, race, and culture—have widened and have deepened to encompass virtually everyone the first 100 members could have hoped to reach. pp. xxiii-xxiv ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Gratitude In Action The story of Dave B., one of the founders of A.A. in Canada in 1944. I never forgot a passage I first read in the copy of the Big Book that Bobbie sent me: "Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us." It is very simple--though not always easy. But it can be done. p. 199 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Our Twelfth Step also says that as a result of practicing all the Steps, we have each found something called a spiritual awakening. To new A.A.'s, this often seems like a very dubious and improbable state of affairs. "What do you mean when you talk about a `spiritual awakening'?" they ask. p. 106 ************************************************** ********* Honesty is something you can't wear out. --Waylon Jennings And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. --Antoine de Saint- [The Little Prince] "Sometimes we need to look hard at a person and remember that he is doing the best he can. He's just trying to find his way. That's all." --Ernest Thompson "God's gift to us is our life. What we do with it, is our gift to God." An error is a positive way to learn provided you make the attempt to correct the mistake. --unknown "It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves." --Helen Keller *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation VALUE "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and value of nothing." -- Oscar Wilde I never knew the value of my life until I looked beyond it. For years I was so self-obsessed that I missed the joy and beauty of this wonderful world. I was so concerned with details and minutia of life that I missed the fun of living. I now see that my behavior had its roots in my childhood. I was the child in a dysfunctional family. I became a parent to my parents. I took charge of everybody's life and I felt responsible and guilty. Everything was work and I did not learn how to play. Today I am working on my recovery. I am "dumping" my feelings of guilt, shame and anger. I am beginning to understand that I am not responsible for my parents and I am beginning to feel free. Today I am learning how to play. Lord of the dance, teach me the steps. ************************************************** ********* "Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God." Joshua 23:11 "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" Matthew 16:26 "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler." Psalm 91:3-4 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Start an "I am grateful for..." list and read it when you are feeling low. Lord, help me see things in a new light and understand that with a little effort I can turn my complaints into something positive. We are the only ones who can change how we think or how we act. Lord, help me make positive decisions so that life doesn't just happen to me. |
October 24
Daily Reflections "BY FAITH AND BY WORKS" On anvils of experience, the structure of our Society was hammered out. . . . Thus has it been with A.A. By faith and by works we have been able to build upon the lessons of an incredible experience. They live today in the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, which - God willing - shall sustain us in unity for so long as He may need us. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 131 God has allowed me the right to be wrong in order for our Fellowship to exist as it does today. If I place God's will first in my life, it is very likely that A.A. as I know it today will remain as it is. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day I have turned to a Power greater than myself. Thank God, I am no longer at the center of the universe. All the world does not revolve around me any longer. I am only one among many. I have a Father in Heaven and I am only one of His children and a small one at that. But I can depend on Him to show me what to do and to give me the strength to do it. I am on the Way and the whole power of the universe is behind me when I do the right thing. I do not have to depend entirely on myself any longer. With God, I can face anything. Is my life in the hands of God? Meditation For The Day The grace of God is an assurance against all evil. It holds out security to the believing soul. The grace of God means safety in the midst of evil. You can be kept unspotted by the world through the power of His grace. You can have a new life of power. But only in close contact with the grace of God is its power realized. In order to realize it and benefit from it, you must have daily quiet communion with God, so that the power of His grace will come unhindered into your soul. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may be kept from evil by the grace of God. I pray that henceforth I will try to keep myself more unspotted by the world. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It Praying Rightly, p.295 We thought we had been deeply serious about religious practices. However, upon honest appraisal we found that we had been most superficial. Or sometimes, going to extremes, we had wallowed in emotionalism and had also mistaken this for true religious feeling. In both cases, we had been asking something for nothing. We had not prayed rightly. We had always said, "Grant me my wishes," instead of "Thy will be done." The love of God and man we understood not at all. Therefore, we remained self-deceived, and so incapable of receiving enough grace to restore us to sanity. 12 & 12, p. 32 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Light for Dark corners Honesty Newspaper writers know that there's usually a future story in the "dark side" of any person who is being lavishly praised in the media. That's because almost every person has a "dark side" or secrets that are carefully guarded. We should look for such dark corners in our own lives. Most of us are not public figures fearing exposure, but recovering people seeking to stay sober and healthy. We can begin to illuminate our dark corners by discussing our secrets with others. This does not necessarily eliminate whatever shortcoming is involved, but our honesty is a step in the right direction. False pride may also play a part in keeping dark secrets from others, causing fear that others might see us as we really are. Thus, learning to confront and confess our dark sides can lead to victory over both fear and pride. I'll strive today to be honest about any weaknesses or wrongs that I've been concealing. Under the light of such honesty, my dark secrets can be transformed ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all.---Oliver Wendell Homes Lying, above anything else, brings us close to getting crazy again. Lying is what addicts do. In our addiction, our whole life was a lie. Lying creates danger because it creates secrets. Secrets keep us from others. To stay sober, we need to stay close to people. We can't make it on our own. Lying creates danger because it creates shame. A lie, like a drink, may make us feel good for the moment. But in the long run, it creates shame. Do we still lie to deal with the world? Lies are like drinks---one leads to another. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to live today free of lies. Action for the Day: For the next twenty-four hours, I will tell no lies. If I do I’ll go back and do Step Ten. I will remember that lies can lead to relapse. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning The universal human yearning [is] for something permanent, enduring, without shadow of change. --Willa Cather The specter of change builds dread in most of us. We fear the effects on our personal lives. We lack faith that the impending change will benefit us. Only time can assure us of that. And it will, just as every change we've survived up to now has done. Changes are gifts, really. They come as hallmarks to our present attainments. They signify successful growth. How we struggle to understand this, and how quickly we forget it once we have adapted to the change. The struggle is then repeated the next time change visits us. We long for permanence, believing it guarantees security, not realizing the only real security available to us comes with our trust in God, from whom all change comes as a blessing on the growth we've attained. If we were to experience total lack of change, we'd find death. Life is challenge, continued change, always endurable and growth-enhancing. We can reflect on what's gone before, and trust that which faces us now. Change means I am progressing, on course. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword To Fourth Edition While our literature has preserved the integrity of the A.A. message, sweeping changes in society as a whole are reflected in new customs and practices within the Fellowship. Taking advantage of technological advances, for example, A.A. members with computers can participate in meetings online, sharing with fellow alcoholics across the country or around the world. In any meeting, anywhere, A.A.’s share experience, strength, and hope with each other, in order to stay sober and help other alcoholics. Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, A.A.’s speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity. p. xxiv ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Gratitude In Action The story of Dave B., one of the founders of A.A. in Canada in 1944. I know the Fellowship of A.A. doesn't offer any guarantees, but I also know that in the future I do not have to drink. I want to keep this life of peace, and tranquility that I have found. Today, I have found again the home I left and the woman I married when she was still so young. We have two more children, and they think their dad is an important man. I have all these wonderful things--people who mean more to me than anything in the world. I shall keep all that, and I won't have to drink, if I remember one simple thing: to keep my hand in the hand of God. p. 199 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Maybe there are as many definitions of spiritual awakening as there are people who have had them. But certainly each genuine one has something in common with all the others. And these things which they have in common are not too hard to understand. When a man or a woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important meaning of it is that he has now become able to do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided strength and resources alone. He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being. He has been set on a path which tells him he is really going somewhere, that life is not a dead end, not something to be endured or mastered. In a very real sense he has been transformed, because he has laid hold of a source of strength which, in one way or another, he had hitherto denied himself. He finds himself in possession of a degree of honesty, tolerance, unselfishness, peace of mind, and love of which he had thought himself quite incapable. What he has received is a free gift, and yet usually, at least in some small part, he has made himself ready to receive it. pp. 106-107 ************************************************** ********* "Every moment is an opportunity for those who are ready to seize it." --unknown Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. --Leo Buscaglia Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. --Robert Louis Stevenson It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action. --Al Batt Nature gave men two ends - one to sit on and one to think with. Ever since then man's success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most. --George R. Kirkpatrick "Worry drives us to prayer and prayer drives away the worry." --Eliz McJunkin A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour. Contentment comes from making the most of what you have and going with it. --unknown *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation CYNICS "A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin." -- H. L. Mencken There was a time when I always felt that life was out to get me. I always looked on the "black" side of life. I was forever being negative and pessimistic I would always be surrounded by sick and destructive human beings. Whenever people offered hope or tried to help me, I turned away and rejected them. For years I created the pain and misery in my life. Then a close friend forced himself into my life and gave me a dose of "tough love". He made me see that I was wallowing in self-pity. He cared enough to intervene and tell me what I did not want to hear. Today I have some years of recovery from alcoholism and I carry the message. I pray that I may always love myself and others enough to take a risk. ************************************************** ********* "For we walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7 The LORD is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. The LORD is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. The LORD protects all those who love him, but he destroys the wicked. I will praise the LORD, and everyone on earth will bless his holy name forever and forever. Psalm 145:17-21 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Do not be discouraged if it seems that there is no response to your prayers at this time. God always responds. Lord, Your wisdom always responds to my needs with unceasing peace and love and when I listen and give thanks I am blessed with results that bring goodness to me in better ways than I expect. Through the power of God within me, I am stronger than any of my circumstances. Lord, I seek, I knock and I ask and You are always there and ready to give me the miracles that I need. |
October 25
Daily Reflections A.A.'s HEARTBEAT Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; . . . . AS BILL SEES IT, p. 125 Without unity I would be unable to recover in A.A. on a daily basis. By practicing unity within my group, with other A.A. members and at all levels of this great Fellowship, I receive a pronounced feeling of knowing that I am a part of a miracle that was divinely inspired. The ability of Bill W. and Dr. Bob, working together and passing it on to other members, tells me that to give it away is to keep it. Unity is oneness and yet the whole Fellowship is for all of us. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Fifth, I have learned to live one day at a time. I have finally realized the great fact that all I have is now. This sweeps away all vain regret and it makes my thoughts of the future free of fear. Now is mine. I can do what I want with it. I own it, for better or worse. What I do now, in this present moment, is what makes up my life. My whole life is only a succession of nows. I will take this moment, which has been given to me by the grace of God, and I will do something with it. What I do with each now, will make me or break me. Am I living in the now? Meditation For The Day We should work at overcoming ourselves, our selfish desires and our self-centeredness. This can never be fully accomplished. We can never become entirely unselfish. But we can come to realize that we are not at the center of the universe and that everything does not revolve around us at the center. I am only one cell in a vast network of human cells. I can at least make the effort to conquer the self-life and seek daily to obtain more and more of this self-conquest. "He that overcomes himself is greater than he who conquers a city." Prayer For The Day I pray that I may strive to overcome my selfishness. I pray that I may achieve the right perspective of my position in the world. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It Daily Inventory, p. 296 Often, as we review each day, only the closest scrutiny will reveal what our true motives were. There are cases where our ancient enemy rationalization has stepped in and has justified conduct which was really wrong. The temptation here is to imagine that we had good motives and reasons when we really hadn't. We "constructively criticized" someone who needed it, when our real motive was to win a useless argument. Or, the person concerned not being present, we thought we were helping others to understand him, when in actuality our true motive was to feel superior by pulling him down. We hurt those we loved because they needed to be "taught a lesson," but we really wanted to punish. We were depressed and complained we felt bad, when in fact we were mainly asking for sympathy and attention. 12 & 12, p. 94 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Different routes to alcoholism Understanding powerlessness While alcoholics have much in common, the personal stories heard at AA open meetings show that we took different routes to alcoholism. Some became out-of-control drinkers almost from the beginning. Others lost control slowly after years of seemingly moderate drinking. These differences are underscored by the fact that we also differ in physical and emotional traits. Some alcoholics, for example, were so emotionally disturbed that they became problem drinkers from the very start. Some appeared to "have it all together," yet became alcoholics after retirement or some other change in life patterns. Whatever the route taken, we share in common our individual powerlessness at the time we knocked on AA's door. And the solution for each of us was the same: sobriety in AA. The risk in listening to such different personal accounts is that some of us twist these differences into "proof" that we are not alcoholics. The reward of such sharing , however, is learning that we do have a common problem and that there is a solution that fits everyone, in spite of our diffences. I'll remember today that I came to AA because I was powerless over alcohol. That has not changed. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Love thy neighbor as thyself, but choose your neighbor.---Louise Beal In our program, we learn a lot about loving ourselves. Then we start to see how this helps us love our neighbors. We learn to love ourselves honestly, seeing our strengths and our weaknesses. We learn to see others honestly . We learn how much to trust ourselves and when to get extra help. We learn how much to trust others too. We learn to love ourselves with a love that’s honest and challenging. We learn to love others this way too. We learn to care about others without losing our common sense. We learn to protect our spirits from harm. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see others clearly. Help me love them. But help me choose carefully who I trust. Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list three people I trust the most, and I’ll write down why. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning Love has the quality of informing almost everything--even one's work. --Sylvia Ashton-Warner We are changed through loving and being loved. Our attitudes are profoundly and positively affected by the presence of love in our lives. Each time we offer a loving response to a friend, co-worker, even a stranger, we powerfully influence the dynamics of the interaction between us. Every response we make to someone changes us while it informs him or her. When we treat others with disdain, we invite the same. When we express only criticism of others, our self-assessment is equally negative. The beauty of a loving posture is that it calls forth love in response. The more love we give away, the more we receive. Any task before us is lessened when we carry love in our hearts. Love is more powerful than fear. Love helps to open the channel to God, assuring us of the strength, the understanding, and the patience needed to complete any assignment confronting us. God loves me, unconditionally. And I will experience the reality of that love the more I give it away. Love wants to change me--and it can. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition The Doctor's Opinion WE OF Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the reader will be interested in the medical estimate of the plan of recovery described in this book. Convincing testimony must surely come from medical men who have had experience with the sufferings of our members and have witnessed our return to health. p. xxv ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Women Suffer Too Despite great opportunities, alcohol nearly ended her life. Early member, she spread the word among women in our pioneering period. WHAT WAS I saying . . . From far away, as if in a delirium, I had heard my own voice—calling someone "Dorothy," talking of shops, of jobs . . . the words came clearer . . . this sound of my own voice frightened me as it got closer . . . and suddenly, there I was, talking of I knew not what, to someone I'd never seen before this very moment. Abruptly I stopped speaking. Where was I? p. 200 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." A.A.'s manner of making ready to receive this gift lies in the practice of the Twelve Steps in our program. So let's consider briefly what we have been trying to do up to this point: Step One showed us an amazing paradox: We found that we were totally unable to be rid of the alcohol obsession until we first admitted that we were powerless over it. In Step Two we saw that since we could not restore ourselves to sanity, some Higher Power must necessarily do so if we were to survive. Consequently, in Step Three we turned our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. For the time being, we who were atheist or agnostic discovered that our own group, or A.A. as a whole, would suffice as a higher power. Beginning with Step Four, we commenced to search out the things in ourselves which had brought us to physical, moral, and spiritual bankruptcy. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory. Looking at Step Five, we decided that an inventory, taken alone, wouldn't be enough. We knew we would have to quit the deadly business of living alone with our conflicts, and in honesty confide these to God and another human being. At Step Six, many of us balked--for the practical reason that we did not wish to have all our defects of character removed, because we still loved some of them too much. Yet we knew we had to make a settlement with the fundamental principle of Step Six. So we decided that while we still had some flaws of character that we could not yet relinquish, we ought nevertheless to quit our stubborn, rebellious hanging on to them. We said to ourselves, "This I cannot do today, perhaps, but I can stop crying out `No, never!' " Then, in Step Seven, we humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings such as He could or would under the conditions of the day we asked. pp. 107-108 ************************************************** ********* "Be the change you want to see in the world." --Mohandas Ghandi Who has never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet. --German Proverb It doesn't take a lot of effort to know the needs of another person. By helping others you are helping yourself. --unknown Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. --Abraham Lincoln In just two days, tomorrow will be yesterday. --unknown Learn to enjoy little things; there are so many of them! --unknown *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation FLEXIBILITY "Better bend than break." -- Scottish Proverb Dis-ease: to be controlling, stiff, uncomfortable and unbending. Sobriety: being relaxed, comfortable and flexible in my personal life and my interaction with others. Life: not a race but an experience; it is not an exercise but an adventure. Before I accepted my alcoholism, I went through periods of "dryness" --- when I was rigid, stiff and unbending. It was awful! Everything became a test, a job, a premeditated act behind a mask of cheerfulness. I was angry, resentful and in pain. My problem was that I stopped drinking to please other people, rather than accept the true nature of my disease. Dryness is controlled denial. Today the sobriety I have gained from an acceptance of self has overflowed into an acceptance of life on life's terms --- and I am happy. Let the wind of experience continue to bend me in the knowledge of Your love. ************************************************** ********* "From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord's name is to be praised." Psalms 113:3 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 1 Corinthians 3:7-9 "Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:3-4 The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts the burdens of those bent beneath their loads. The LORD loves the righteous. The LORD protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. The LORD will reign forever. Psalm 146:8-10 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Treat your family as you would treat a best friend. Lord, help me to treasure my family with all of their imperfections as well as my own and cherish the time we have together. There is no real happiness without God and no peace when we separate ourselves from Him. Lord, You said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you". I give you my troubled heart. |
October 26
Daily Reflections ONE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 132 When I am chosen to carry some small responsibility for my fellows, I ask that God grant me the patience, open-mindedness, and willingness to listen to those I would lead. I must remind myself that I am the trusted servant of others, not their "governor," "teacher," or "instructor." God guides my words and my actions, and my responsibility is to heed His suggestions. Trust is my watchword, I trust others who lead. In the Fellowship of A.A., I entrust God with the ultimate authority of "running the show." ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Sixth, I have A.A. meetings to go to, thank God. Where would I go without them? Where would I be without them? Where would I find the sympathy, the understanding, the fellowship, the companionship? Nowhere else in the world. I have come home. I have found the place where I belong. I no longer wander alone over the face of the earth. I am at peace and at rest. What a great gift has been given me by A.A.! I do not deserve it. But it is nevertheless mine. I have a home at last. I am content. Do I thank God everyday for the A.A. Fellowship? Meditation For The Day Walk all the way with another person and with God. Do not go part of the way and then stop. Do not push God so far into the background that He has no effect on your life. Walk all the way with Him. Make a good companion of God, by praying to Him often during the day. Do not let your contact with Him be broken for too long a period. Work all the way with God and with other people, along the path of life, wherever it may lead you. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may walk in companionship with God along the way. I pray that I may keep my feet upon the path that leads upward. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It A VISION OF THE WHOLE, p. 297 "Though many of us have had to struggle for sobriety, never yet has this Fellowship had to struggle for lost unity. Consequently, we sometimes take this one great gift for granted. We forget that, should we lose our unity, the millions of alcoholics who still 'do not know' might never get their chance. ******************************** "We used to be skeptical about large A.A. gatherings like conventions, thinking they might prove too exhibitionistic. But, on balance, their benefit is huge. While each A.A.'s interest should center principally in those about him and upon his own group, it is both necessary and desirable that we all get a larger vision of the whole. "The General Service Conference in New York also produces this effect upon those who attend. It is a vision-stretching process." 1. Letter, 1949 2. Letter, 1956 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Who is an Alcoholic? AA's mission Though AA's avowed mission is to carry its message to alcoholics, the fellowship does not really have a one-size-fits-all definition of alcoholism. This has created some confusion when nonalcoholics inadvertently show up at meetings that are supposed to be for alcoholics only, or when people with other addictions seek AA's help. A few groups even insist that people must declare themselves alcoholics in order to participate in a "closed" meeting. But who is an alcoholic? The AA pioneers were not insistent that people should immediately declare themselves alcoholics in order to receive help. Newcomers were invited to attend meetings and then decide for themselves if they were alcoholics and needed the program. In today's environment, we have the added factor that troubled people might be addicted to both drugs and alcohol. Such cross-addiction, in fact, seems to be a strong trend. We also know that any alcoholic can easily become cross-addicted if he or she uses other drugs. Our best course is to keep the door open for any person who comes to AA sincerely desiring help. If people find their answer in AA, they probably belong in the fellowship. I'll be grateful today that I was able to admit that I had a problem and needed AA's help. I'll accept others just as I was accepted. To stay sober and grow in the program. I do not need to define alcoholism for anybody other myself. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Nobody give you freedom. Malcolm X We were not free. We were prisoners of our illness. What our illness wanted, we give itour dignity, our self-respect, even our families. Our prison walls were made of denial, false pride, and self-will run riot. Now we know that brick walls don’t have to stop us. We don’t have to bang our heads on them. Slowly, we’re learning about freedom. We’re learning that freedom. We’re learning that freedom comes from within. It comes when we think clearly and make our own choices. It comes when we follow a better way of life. It comes when we take care of ourselves. It comes when we take responsibility. The key to freedom is in loving our Higher Power. Do you choose freedom? Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, show me how to walk away from a wall or go around it. But teach me to stop and think when I get to a wall. Maybe it’s there for my safety. Today’s Action: Today I’ll think about all the freedom I have given myself by living a sober way of life. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, an everlasting vision of the ever-changing view. --Carole King Every event of our lives is contributing a rich thread to our personal tapestry. Each of us is weaving one unique to ourselves, but all of our tapestries are complementary. We need others' rich designs in order to create our own. We seldom have the foresight to understand the worth, the ultimate value of a particular circumstance at its beginning. But hindsight offers us clarity. It's good to reflect on the many circumstances that failed to thrill us; in all cases we can now see why we needed them. As our trust in God and the goodness of all experiences grows, we'll more quickly respond with gladness when situations are fresh. No experience is meant for harm. We are coming to understand that, even though on occasion we forget. Practicing gratitude will help us more fully appreciate what has been offered us. Being grateful influences our attitude; it softens our harsh exterior and takes the threat out of most new situations. If I greet the day, glad to be alive, I will be gladdened by all the experiences in store for me. Each is making a necessary contribution to my wholeness. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition The Doctor's Opinion A well-known doctor, chief physician at a nationally prominent hospital specializing in alcoholic and drug addiction, gave Alcoholics Anonymous this letter: To Whom It May Concern: I have specialized in the treatment of alcoholism for many years. In late 1934 I attended a patient who, though he had been a competent businessman of good earning capacity, was an alcoholic of a type I had come to regard as hopeless. In the course of his third treatment he acquired certain ideas concerning a possible means of recovery. As part of his rehabilitation he commenced to present his conceptions to other alcoholics, impressing upon them that they must do likewise with still others. This has become the basis of a rapidly growing fellowship of these men and their families. This man and over one hundred others appear to have recovered. I personally know scores of cases who were of the type with whom other methods had failed completely. These facts appear to be of extreme medical importance; because of the extraordinary possibilities of rapid growth inherent in this group they may mark a new epoch in the annals of alcoholism. These men may well have a remedy for thousands of such situations. You may rely absolutely on anything they say about themselves. Very truly yours, William D. Silkworth, M.D. pp. xxv-xxvi ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Women Suffer Too Despite great opportunities, alcohol nearly ended her life. Early member, she spread the word among women in our pioneering period. I'd waked up in strange rooms before, fully dressed on a bed or a couch; I'd waked up in my own room, in or on my own bed, not knowing what hour or day it was, afraid to ask . . . but this was different. This time I seemed to be already awake, sitting upright in a big easy chair, in the middle of an animated conversation with a perfectly strange young woman, who didn't appear to think it strange. She was chatting on, pleasantly and comfortably. p. 200 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." In Step Eight, we continued our housecleaning, for we saw that we were not only in conflict with ourselves, but also with people and situations in the world in which we lived. We had to begin to make our peace, and so we listed the people we had harmed and became willing to set things right. We followed this up in Step Nine by making direct amends to those concerned, except when it would injure them or other people. By this time, at Step Ten, we had begun to get a basis for daily living, and we keenly realized that we would need to continue taking personal inventory, and that when we were in the wrong we ought to admit it promptly. In Step Eleven we saw that if a Higher Power had restored us to sanity and had enabled us to live with some peace of mind in a sorely troubled world, then such a Higher Power was worth knowing better, by as direct contact as possible. The persistent use of meditation and prayer, we found, did open the channel so that where there had been a trickle, there now was a river which led to sure power and safe guidance from God as we were increasingly better able to understand Him. pp. 108-109 ************************************************** ********* "Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time." --Rabbinical Saying It's amazing how well I feel when I'm not thinking about myself. --Bob Y "Appreciate people. Nothing gives more joy than appreciation." --Ruth Smeltzer "When someone does something well, applaud! You will make two people happy." --Samuel Goldwyn And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. --Kahlil Gibran ************************************************** ********* Father Leo's Daily Meditation KINDNESS "Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." -- Lao-tzu It costs me nothing to say "hello" and yet it might make all the difference to my neighbor. It costs me nothing to give a hug and yet that hug might make all the difference to a friend. It costs me nothing to listen to anothers pain and yet the listening might make all the difference to another person. Love is to be found in the small, ordinary acts of kindness as well as in the extravagant gesture. I need to seek God in the everyday happenings of life alongside the "religious". Spirituality is in the smile that is real! Today I know that I give only what I received --- and I received a great deal. People loved me enough to be patient, they cared enough to telephone, they encouraged me with the gentle word of hope: I am in the flow. Lord, You have created this wondrous patterned fabric of life --- may I find You in its smallest detail. ************************************************** ********* Pleasant words are a honeycomb sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24 “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God..." Ephesians 2:8 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration You have the choice to do or not to do and realizing this allows you to accomplish more than you thought possible. Lord, help me make wise decisions with my time and not allow the pressures of life to drain my effectiveness. Often times that which we find difficult is that which teaches. Lord, may I always be able to see the good that comes from even my trials. |
October 27
Daily Reflections GLOBAL SHARING The only thing that matters is that he is an alcoholic who has found a key to sobriety. These legacies of suffering and of recovery are easily passed among alcoholics, one to the other. This is our gift from God, and its bestowal upon others like us is the one aim that today animates A.A.'s all around the globe. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 151 The strength of Alcoholics Anonymous lies in the desire of each member and of each group around the world to share with other alcoholics their suffering and the steps taken to gain, and maintain, recovery. By keeping a conscious contact with my Higher Power, I make sure that I always nurture my desire to help other alcoholics, thus insuring the continuity of the wonderful fraternity of Alcoholics Anonymous. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Seventh, I can help other alcoholics. I am of some use in the world. I have a purpose in life. I am worth something at last. My life has a direction and a meaning. All that feeling of futility is gone. I can do something worthwhile. God has given me a new lease on life so that I can help other alcoholics. He has let me live through all the hazards of my alcoholic life to bring me at last to a place of real usefulness in the world. He has let me live for this. This is my opportunity and my destiny. I am worth something! Will I give as much of my life as I can to A.A.? Meditation For The Day All of us have our own battle to win, the battle between the material view of life and the spiritual view. Something must guide our lives. Will it be wealth, pride, selfishness, greed or will it be faith, honesty, purity, unselfishness, love and service? Each one has a choice. We can choose good or evil. We cannot choose both. Are we going to keep striving until we win the battle? If we win the victory, we can believe that even God in His heaven will rejoice. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may choose the good and resist the evil. I pray that I will not be a loser in the battle for righteousness. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It A Mighty Beginning, p. 298 Even the newest of newcomers find undreamed rewards as he tries to help his brother alcoholic, the one who is even blinder than he. This is indeed the kind of giving that actually demands nothing. He does not expect his brother sufferer to pay him, or even to love him. And then he discovers that through the divine paradox of this kind of giving he has found his own reward, whether or not his brother has yet received anything. His own character may still be gravely defective, but he somehow knows that God has enabled him to make a mighty beginning, and he senses that he stands at the edge of new mysteries, joys, and experiences of which he had never before dreamed. 12 & 12, pp. 109-110 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Is your opinion of me important? Inventory A statement that is often quoted at AA meetings is Your opinion of me is not important. The purpose of this saying, apparently, is to wean us away from being people pleasers. But the truth is that we all have legitimate interest in the opinions others hold of us. They may like or dislike us for the wrong reasons, but it is helpful for us to know this and accept it. More important, the opinions of others can be useful in helping us take personal inventory and correct wrong behavior and attitudes. There may be a good reason why someone has a low opinion of us, and we should become aware of it. It is true, however, that our opinions count the most in shaping our lives. If we're thinking badly about others, that can be more damaging to us than to them. Surprisingly, they may think better of us as we change our opinions about them. I doubt that I can go through the day without being affected by other people's opinions of me. However, my main work will be in seeing that my own opinions aren't being destructive in my life. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple An excuse is worst and more terrible than a lie.---Alexander Pope Excuses. They’re lies. We use excuses to hide from ourselves. Maybe we don’t want to be honest about our anger. So we say someone else made us angry. Maybe we don’t want to admit how mean we can be. So we pretend we have no part in what happens. Excuses keep us from ourselves. They keep us from our High Power. A lot of our program is about looking at ourselves. Steps Four, Five, and Ten tell us to be honest about our excuses. We can be honest because we are good people. We are loved. Prayer for the day: Today, I’ll say the serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Action for the Day: I’ll list my five most often excuses. Then, I’ll share them with my friends, family, and sponsor. I’ll ask them to tell me when I make excuses. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning Problems have only the size and the power that you give them. --S. H. We will not be free from all difficulties today, or during any period of our lives. But we have the personal power to eliminate the threat, the sting of any challenge. But it's our vision of circumstances that gives them their interpretation. At this moment, we are defining our experience. We are labeling events good or bad, valuable or meaningless. And our growth, particularly this day, is greatly influenced by the value judgments we attach to our experiences. As we grow stronger emotionally and spiritually, we learn that all difficulties are truly opportunities for exceptional growth and increased awareness of the truth of existence. All experiences can be taken in stride if we are trustful of their intended blessing. We are sharing this life, every moment of it, with a power greater than ourselves. We need not worry about any circumstance. Always we are watched over. We never need struggle alone. We can let go of our problems. It's ourselves and that attitude we have cultivated that makes any situation a problem. We can turn it loose and therein discover the solution. I will not make mountains out of the molehills of my life. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition The Doctor's Opinion The physician who, at our request, gave us this letter, has been kind enough to enlarge upon his views in another statement which follows. In this statement he confirms what we who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe—that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind. It did not satisfy us to be told that we could not control our drinking just because we were maladjusted to life, that we were in full flight from reality, or were outright mental defectives. These things were true to some extent, in fact, to a considerable extent with some of us. But we are sure that our bodies were sickened as well. In our belief, any picture of the alcoholic which leaves out this physical factor is incomplete. p. xxvi ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Women Suffer Too Despite great opportunities, alcohol nearly ended her life. Early member, she spread the word among women in our pioneering period. Terrified, I looked around. I was in a large, dark, rather poorly furnished room—the living room of a basement flat. Cold chills started chasing up and down my spine; my teeth were chattering; my hands were shaking so I tucked them under to keep them from flying away. My fright was real enough, but it didn't account for these violent reactions. I knew what they were, all right—a drink would fix them. It must have been a long time since I had my last drink—but I didn't dare ask this stranger for one. I must get out of here. In any case I must get out of here before I let slip my abysmal ignorance of how I came to be here, and she realized that I was stark, staring mad. I was mad—I must be. pp. 200-201 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." So, practicing these Steps, we had a spiritual awakening about which finally there was no question. Looking at those who were only beginning and still doubted themselves, the rest of us were able to see the change setting in. From great numbers of such experiences, we could predict that the doubter who still claimed that he hadn't got the "spiritual angle," and who still considered his well-loved A.A. group the higher power, would presently love God and call Him by name. p. 109 ************************************************** ********* Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of others, but from doing something worthwhile. --Wilfred Grenfell If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder...you are blessed because you can offer healing touch. --unknown "Never let yesterday use up today." --Richard H. Nelson LETTING GO I feel so scared Let go I am so worried Just let go I am so angry Please let go My insanity keeps growing I beseech thee to just let go I am so peaceful Thank you, you let it go --Deborah Ann Smith Forgiveness means letting go of the past. --Gerald Jampolsky *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation JUSTICE "Justice is truth in action." Benjamin Disraeli It is not enough for me to believe that a thing is true, it is important for me to live out my beliefs. For too long I had a thousand beliefs that only kept me silent. A fear of displeasing others played a large part in my silence. Today I understand justice to be part of what I mean by spirituality: I need to be seen to walk as I talk! I am comfortable when I remain silent in the face of injustice. As a recovering alcoholic, this uncomfortability is dangerous because it can so easily lead to low self-esteem, anger, resentments and relapse. Today I know I can have a slip without taking a drink. I slip from where I want to be in my life. My personal integrity combines a justice that can be seen in my lifestyle. O God of justice, teach me never again to hide in the lie of silence. ************************************************** ********* "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17 "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place." Ephesians 4:14 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration It is the little bits of kindness and love that make this world happy. Lord, may I do my part to make today happy for someone. There is no personal problem that you cannot solve. Lord, Your presence within me is all power. You are my help in every need.` |
October 28
Daily Reflections AN UNBROKEN TRADITION We conceive the survival and spread of Alcoholics Anonymous to be something of far greater importance than the weight we could collectively throw back of any other cause. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 177 How much it means to me that an unbroken tradition of more than half a century is a thread that connects me to Bill W. and Dr. Bob. How much more grounded I feel to be in a Fellowship whose aims are constant and unflagging. I am grateful that the energies of A.A. have never been scattered, but focused instead on our members and on individual sobriety. My beliefs are what make me human; I am free to hold any opinion, but A.A.'s purpose -- so clearly stated fifty years ago -- is for me to keep sober. That purpose has promoted round-the-clock meeting schedules, and the thousands of intergroup and central service offices, with their thousands of volunteers. Like the sun focused through a magnifying glass, A.A.'s single vision has lit a fire of faith in sobriety in millions of hearts, including mine. ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day What other rewards have come to me as a result of my new way of living? Each one of us can answer this question in many ways. My relationship with my husband or my wife is on an entirely new plane. The total selfishness is gone and more cooperation has taken its place. My home is a home again. Understanding has taken the place of misunderstanding recriminations, bickering, and resentment. A new companionship has developed which bodes well for the future. "There are homes where fires burn and there is bread, lamps are lit and prayers are said. Though people falter through the dark and nations grope, with God Himself back of these little homes, we still can hope." Have I come home? Meditation For The Day We can bow to God's will in anticipation of the thing happening which will, in the long run, be the best for all concerned. It may not always seem the best thing at the present time, but we cannot see as far ahead as God can. We do not know how His plans are laid, we only need to believe that if we trust Him and accept whatever happens as His will in a spirit of faith, everything will work out for the best in the end. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may not ask to see the distant scene. I pray that one step may be enough for me. ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** As Bill Sees It Anonymity and Sobriety, p. 299 As the A.A. groups multiplied, so did anonymity problems. Enthusiastic over the spectacular recovery of a brother alcoholic, we'd sometimes discuss those intimate and harrowing aspects of his case meant for his sponsor's ear alone. The aggrieved victim would then rightly declare that his trust had been broken. When such stories got into circulation outside of A.A., the loss of confidence in our anonymity promise was severe. It frequently turned people from us. Clearly, every A.A. member's name--and story, too--had to be confidential, if he wished. << << << >> >> >> We now fully realize that 100 per cent personal anonymity before the public is just as vital to the life of A.A. as 100 per cent sobriety is to the life of each and every member. This is not counsel of fear; it is the prudent voice of long experience. 1. 12 & 12, p. 185 2. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 293 ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Walk In Dry Places The new problems in sobriety Fortitude Sometimes sobriety turns up problems that were never apparent during one's drinking days. Some people, for example, encounter marriage problems that lead to divorce. It almost appears that some things were better when we were drinking. But there are good reasons why sobriety brings new problems. One is that we become aware of problems that were there all the time, although not acknowledged. It's possible, too, that sobriety brings more responsibility, along with risks of failure. At the same time, we might be more sensitive to the real problems of living. We should never use such problems as an excuse for drinking. It is true, as many people say, that drinking can only make matters worse. Nothing can be improved by a return to drinking. I must remember today that sobriety means living on a new basis. This includes facing problems and dealing with them... not running from them as I did in the past. ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Keep It Simple I wish you the courage to be warm when the world would prefer you to be cool.Robert A. Ward Our program and the Steps have warmed us from the inside out. Just as a bonfire warms those who stand around it, the Steps take away the chill we have felt for so long. At Times, we’ll be tempted to move away from the Steps. At times, we’ll get tired of looking at our behavior and attitudes. We are by nature, controlling people. We’ll want to “prove our point” about something when our program tells us to let it go. We need to stay close to the Steps and the warmth they hold. Remember the chill of our disease. Prayer for the Day: I need to member that the Steps and the fellowship of the program keep me sober, not me alone. Action for the Day: Today, I’ll thank about what the Steps have done for me. I will think of how they have kept me warm. ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Each Day a New Beginning The most elusive knowledge of all is self-knowledge. --Mirra Komarovsky Discovering who we are is an adventure, one that will thrill and sometimes trouble us and will frequently occupy our thoughtful reflections. We are growing and changing as a result of our commitment to the program. And it's that process of commitment that heightens our self-awareness. We learn who we are by listening to others, by sensing their perceptions of us, by taking an honest, careful inventory of our own behavior. The inner conversations that haunt us while we're interacting with others are poignant guidelines to self-knowledge, self-definition. Just when we think we've figured out who we are and how to handle our flaws, a new challenge will enter our realm of experiences, shaking up all the understandings that have given us guidance heretofore. It is not an easy task to discover who we really are. It's an even harder job to love and accept the woman we discover. But too many years went by while we avoided or denied or, worse yet, denounced the only person we knew how to be. The program offers us the way to learn about and love fully the person within. Nor will we find the way easy every day. But there's time enough to let the process ease our investigation. I will be soft and deliberate today as I listen to others and myself. ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition The Doctor's Opinion The doctor’s theory that we have an allergy to alcohol interests us. As laymen, our opinion as to its soundness may, of course, mean little. But as exproblem drinkers, we can say that his explanation makes good sense. It explains many things for which we cannot otherwise account. p. xxvi ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Women Suffer Too Despite great opportunities, alcohol nearly ended her life. Early member, she spread the word among women in our pioneering period. The shakes grew worse and I looked at my watch—six o'clock. It had been one o'clock when I last remembered looking. I'd been sitting comfortably in a restaurant with Rita, drinking my sixth martini and hoping the waiter would forget about the lunch order—at least long enough for me to have a couple more. I'd only had two with her, but I'd managed four in the fifteen minutes I'd waited for her, and of course I'd had the usual uncounted swigs from the bottle as I painfully got up and did my slow spasmodic dressing. In fact I had been in very good shape at one o'clock—feeling no pain. What could have happened? That had been in the center of New York, on noisy 42nd Street . . . this was obviously a quiet residential section. Why had "Dorothy" brought me here? Who was she? How had I met her? I had no answers, and I dared not ask. She gave no sign of recognizing anything wrong, but what had I been doing for those lost five hours? My brained whirled. I might have done terrible things, and I wouldn't even know it! p. 201 ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Now, what about the rest of the Twelfth Step? The wonderful energy it releases and the eager action by which it carries our message to the next suffering alcoholic and which finally translates the Twelve Steps into action upon all our affairs is the payoff, the magnificent reality, of Alcoholics Anonymous. p. 109 ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way. --Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 -1882) Although we have been made to believe that if we let go we will end up with nothing, life itself reveals again and again the opposite; that letting go is the path to real freedom. --Sogyai Rinpoche This above all else: to your own self be true. --unknown Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish. --Sam Walton The deeds you do today may be the only sermon some people will hear today. --St. Francis of Assisi Make big decisions in the calm. --Dwight D. Eisenhower ************ ********* ********* ********* ******** Father Leo's Daily Meditation ORATORY "The finest eloquence is that which get things done." -- David Lloyd George I know how to talk. I know how to sound good. I know how to convince a person of my good intentions --- indeed that was part of my manipulation for years. Today I try to walk the talk. I try to demonstrate what I say in the behavior I exhibit. The bottom line is action. Talking never stopped me from drinking --- my physical refusal of the first drink was the start of my recovery. God is to be discovered not merely in pious sentiments, as attractive as they may sound, but rather in the small steps of altered behavior. Am I doing what I am saying? Lord give me the courage to live my words. ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** God blesses the people who patiently endure testing. James 1:12 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart. Psalm 86:11 "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Ephesians 4:31-32 ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Daily Inspiration It is usually easier to start a project than to finish it. Lord, help me spend less time thinking about what I want to do, so that I can have the time to feel the gratification of completing what I started. Pray even when your heart has no words rather than to pray words with no heart. Lord, You faithfully answer all prayers. I will trust in Your answers and never take Your love for granted. |
October 29
Daily Reflections OUR SURVIVAL Since recovery from alcoholism is life itself to us, it is imperative that we preserve in full strength our means of survival. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 177 The honesty expressed by the members of A.A. in meetings has the power to open my mind. Nothing can block the flow of energy that honesty carries with it. The only obstacle to this flow of energy is inebriation, but even then, no one will find a closed door if he or she has left and chooses to return. Once he or she has received the gift of sobriety, each A.A. member is challenged on a daily basis to accept a program of honesty. My Higher Power created me for a purpose in life. I ask him to accept my honest efforts to continue on my journey in the spiritual way of life. I call on Him for strength to know and seek His will. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day My relationships with my children have greatly improved. Those children who saw me drunk and were ashamed, those children who turned away in fear and even loathing have seen me sober and like me, have turned to me in confidence and trust and have forgotten the past as best they could. They have given me a chance for companionship that I had completely missed. I am their father or their mother now. Not just "that person the Mom or Dad married and God knows why." I am a part of my home now. Have I found something that I had lost? Meditation For The Day Our true measure of success in life is the measure of spiritual progress that we have revealed in our lives. Others should be able to see a demonstration of God's will in our lives. The measure of His will that those around us have seen worked out in our daily living is the measure of our true success. We can do our best to be a demonstration each day of the power of God in human lives, and example of the working out of the grace of God in the hearts of men and women. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may so live that others will see in me something of the working out of the will of God. I pray that my life may be a demonstration of what the grace of God can do. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It People Of Faith, p. 300 We who have traveled a path through agnosticism or atheism beg you to lay aside prejudice, even against organized religion. We have learned that, whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to millions. People of faith have a rational idea of what life is all about. Actually, we used to have no reasonable conception whatever. We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices, when we might have seen that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness, and usefulness that we should have sought for ourselves. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 49 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Diminishing returns are still beneficial Getting better. There's a "Cloud nine" effect that some of us had when we first found sobriety. Some call it the honeymoon stage. It includes a feeling of great joy and relief over having found, at last, an answer to drinking. This gradually fades away, as it should under normal conditions. We then feel as though we're in stages of diminishing returns, where the benefits The experience we have in getting sober is like that of people who recovery from a terrible physical illness. At first, they feel remarkably better for the first time. But then their recovery becomes taken for granted, and "feeling better" isn't as remarkable as it was when they first recovered. We should not expect it to be. Instead, we can focus on the contentment and well-being that living sober and steady improvement give us. I may not have anything today like the excitement that accompanied early recovery. I'll be satisfied with the normal blessings of good living. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Each morning puts a man on trail and each evening passes judgment. Ray L. Smith In many ways, the Tenth Step is very natural. We continue to take a personal inventory. And when we’re wrong, we promptly admit it. At the end of each day we ask ourselves, “How did my day go?” As we think about our day, we bring order to our life. The Tenth Step teaches us about order. It also teaches us how to correct mistakes. We do this by admitting our wrongs. This way, we have no backlog of guilt. It’s good to start each day fresh, free from quilt. Admitting our wrongs is a loving thing to do. It’s another way the program teaches us to love ourselves. Prayer for the Day: Today, I’ll face many choices. Higher Power, be with me as I choose. When the day is done, remind me to think about how I lived today. This will help me learn. Action for the Day: Tonight, I’ll list three choices I made today. Would I make the same choices again? ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning Let your tears come. Let them water your soul. --Eileen Mayhew Letting down our guard, releasing the tension that keeps us taut, often invites our tears, tears that soften us, melt our resistance, reveal our vulnerability, which reminds us that we are only human. So often we need reminding that we are only human. Perfectionism may be our bane, as it is for so many of us in this program. We've learned to push, push harder, and even harder yet, not only ourselves but also those around us. We must be better, we think, and we tighten our hold on life. The program can teach us to loosen our grip, if we'll let it. The magic is that when we loosen our grip on this day, this activity, this person, we get carried gently along and find that which we struggled to control happening smoothly and naturally. Life is a series of ironies. We should not hide from our tears. We can trust their need to be present. Perhaps they need to be present for someone else, as well as ourselves. Tears encourage compassion; maybe our assignment in life, today, is to help someone else experience compassion. My tears will heal. And the wounded are everywhere. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition The Doctor's Opinion Though we work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane, we favor hospitalization for the alcoholic who is very jittery or befogged. More often than not, it is imperative that a man’s brain be cleared before he is approached, as he has then a better chance of understanding and accepting what we have to offer. pp. xxvi-xxvii ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Women Suffer Too Despite great opportunities, alcohol nearly ended her life. Early member, she spread the word among women in our pioneering period. Somehow I got out of there and walked five blocks past brownstone houses. There wasn't a bar in sight, but I found the subway station. The name on it was unfamiliar and I had to ask the way to Grand Central. It took three-quarters of an hour and two changes to get there—back to my starting point. I had been in the remote reaches of Brooklyn. pp. 201-202 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Even the newest of newcomers finds undreamed rewards as he tries to help his brother alcoholic, the one who is even blinder than he. This is indeed the kind of giving that actually demands nothing. He does not expect his brother sufferer to pay him, or even to love him. And then he discovers that by the divine paradox of this kind of giving he has found his own reward, whether his brother has yet received anything or not. His own character may still be gravely defective, but he somehow knows that God has enabled him to make a mighty beginning, and he senses that he stands at the edge of new mysteries, joys, and experiences of which he had never even dreamed. pp. 109-110 ************************************************** ********* "Living just for today relieves the burden of the past and the fear of the future." --unknown You can be your best friend or your worst enemy. This is all determined by how you treat yourself. Do you harshly judge yourself, or do you find yourself without any conviction? --unknown Perhaps the reason a person gets upset over a situation is simply because they have preordained things in their own mind. --unknown "Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves." --Pierre T. De Chardin "Your past is always going to be the way it was. Stop trying to change it." --Anonymous "When thinking won't cure fear, action will." --W. Clement Stone A B C = Acceptance, Belief, Change. AA is not something you join, it's a way of life. *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation RACISM "I want to be the white man's brother not his brother-in-law." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Addiction is always about separation, ego, isolation and prejudice. The disease makes us feel different, "less than" and we cover those feelings with false humility or we assume an arrogant and bombastic manner. Pride and feelings of inferiority put us on the defensive. It is not unusual for us to seek a scapegoat for our anger. Drinking alcoholics can be vindictive and prejudicial in their attitude towards minorities: Blacks, gays and Jews. It is a strange quirk of circumstance when a minority seeks to victimize another minority --- because alcoholics are a minority group! Sobriety is about a change in attitude and behavior. The spiritual acceptance of self must lead inevitably to the acceptance of others. The false pride and arrogance of our drinking days must give way to the vulnerable strength of sobriety. Now we are able to embrace our brother, regardless of color, class or creed. Lord, teach me to seek You in my fellow man and greet You in the stranger. ************************************************** ********* "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him." 2 Samuel 22:31 "But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Make more room for love in your life. Lord, may I love myself and what I do, may I love others, and how they better my life, and above all, may I love You more each day. Peace comes not from having no problems, but from being able to deal with them. Lord, bless me with the confidence and wisdom to grow from life's challenges. |
October 30
Daily Reflections LIVE AND LET LIVE Never since it began has Alcoholics Anonymous been divided by a major controversial issue. Nor has our Fellowship ever publicly taken sides on any question in an embattled world. This, however, has been no earned virtue. It could almost be said that we were born with it. . . . "So long as we don't argue these matters privately, it's a cinch we never shall publicly. " TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 176 Do I remember that I have a right to my opinion but that others don't have to share it? That's the spirit of "Live and Let Live." The Serenity Prayer reminds me, with God's help, to "Accept the things I cannot change." Am I still trying to change others? When it comes to "Courage to change the things I can," do I remember that my opinions are mine, and yours are yours? Am I still afraid to be me? When it comes to "Wisdom to know the difference," do I remember that my opinions come from my experience? If I have a know-it-all attitude, aren't I being deliberately controversial? ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day I have real friends, where I had none before. My drinking companions could hardly be called my real friends, though when drunk we seemed to have the closest kind of friendship. My idea of friendship has changed. Friends are no longer people whom I can use for my own pleasure or profit. Friends are now people who understand me and I them, whom I can help and who can help me to live a better life. I have learned not to hold back and wait for friends to come to me, but to go half way and to be met half way, openly and freely. Does friendship have new meaning for me? Meditation For The Day There is a time for everything. We should learn to wait patiently until the right time comes. Easy does it. We waste our energies in trying to get things before we are ready to have them, before we have earned the right to receive them. A great lesson we have to learn is how to wait with patience. We can believe that all our life is a preparation for something better to come when we have earned the right to it. We can believe that God has a plan for our lives and that this plan will work out in the fullness of time. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may learn the lesson of waiting patiently. I pray that I may not expect things until I have earned the right to have them. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It To Rebuild Security, p. 301 In our behavior respecting financial and emotional security, fear. greed. possessiveness, and pride have too often done their worst. Surveying his business or employment record, almost any alcoholic can ask questions like these: In addition to my drinking problem, what character defects contributed to my financial instability? Did fear and inferiority about my fitness for my job destroy my confidence and fill me with conflict? Or did I overvalue myself and play the big shot? Businesswomen in A.A. will find that these questions often apply to them, too, and the alcoholic housewife can also make the family financially insecure. Indeed, all alcoholics need to cross-examine themselves ruthlessly to determine how their own personality defects have demolished their security. 12 & 12, pp. 51-52 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Who is a winner? Staying Sober Newcomers in AA are urged to "stick with the winners." But who is a winner? A winner in AA is one who finds sobriety and represents principles that help others find and maintain sobriety. Any person who can help others is a winner. The losers are people who don't make enough of a commitment to find and maintain sobriety. It may not be their fault. On the other hand, some losers eventually become winners. It is not our purpose to apply ratings to various individuals, whether they're winner or losers. We must know, however, that we cannot benefit from the suggestions of people who do not stay sober. We are looking for the path of recovery, not the road to ruin. The winners are people who can help us in our recovery. I'll spend as much time as possible with people who want to stay sober. I have no intention of joining anyone on the road to ruin. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple The universe is full of magical things waiting for our wits to grow sharper. ---Eden Phillpots How nice to have the fog lifted! Sobriety lets our wits grow sharper. We can go after our dreams and ideas. We can listen to music and sing. We are part of the magic of the universe. At times we may not feel very magical, but we are. Our spirits hold much magic. Sobriety is magic. We work at making the world a better place. In doing so, we get magical powers. Power that heals and comfort others. Power that heals and comforts others. Powers to understand things that before we could not. Powers that let us see the world as we’ve never seen it. Enjoy the magic and use your powers wisely! Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, let Your magic enter and fill my heart. Action for the Day: I’ll list four magical powers I have from being sober. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning Intuition is a spiritual faculty and does not explain, but simply points the way. --Florence Scovel Shinn Should we make this move? Should we change jobs? Should we talk to others about our feelings? We are seldom short on prayers when we're filled with fear and indecision. We are, however, short on answers. Our worries block them out. No prayer ever goes unanswered. Of this we can be certain. On the other hand, the answer may not be what we'd hoped for. In fact, we may not recognize it as the answer because we are expecting something quite different. It takes willingness on our part to be free of our preconceptions--free to accept whatever answers are offered. Our answers come unexpectedly, a chance meeting on the street, a passage in a book or newspaper, a nagging feeling within. God speaks to each of us throughout the day. Our prayers are answered, our problems find solutions, and our worries are eased, if we but attune ourselves to the messages. They are all around. I will be attentive to all the signs from God today. Whatever answer I seek is finding its way to me. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition The Doctor's Opinion The doctor writes: We doctors have realized for a long time that some form of moral psychology was of urgent importance to alcoholics, but its application presented difficulties beyond our conception. What with our ultra-modern standards, our scientific approach to everything, we are perhaps not well equipped to apply the powers of good that lie outside our synthetic knowledge. p. xxvii ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories Women Suffer Too Despite great opportunities, alcohol nearly ended her life. Early member, she spread the word among women in our pioneering period. That night I got very drunk, which was usual, but I remembered everything, which was very unusual. I remembered going through what my sister assured me was my nightly procedure of trying to find Willie Seabrook's name in the telephone book. I remembered my loud resolution to find him and ask him to help me get into that "Asylum" he had written about. I remembered asserting that I was going to do something about this, that I couldn't go on . . . I remembered looking longingly at the window as an easier solution, and shuddering at the memory of that other window, three years before, and the six agonizing months in a London hospital ward. I remembered filling the Peroxide bottle in my medicine chest with gin, in case my sister found the bottle I hid under the mattress. And I remembered the creeping horror of the interminable night, in which I slept for short spells and woke dripping with cold sweat and shaken with utter despair, to drink hastily from my bottle and mercifully pass out again, "You're mad, you're mad, you're mad!" pounded through my brain with each returning ray of consciousness, and I drowned the refrain with drink. That went on for two more months before I landed in a hospital and started my slow fight back to normalcy. It had been going on like that for over a year. I was thirty-two years old. p. 202 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Practically every A.A. member declares that no satisfaction has been deeper and no joy greater than in a Twelfth Step job well done. To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness into light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, to see whole families reassembled, to see the alcoholic outcast received back into his community in full citizenship, and above all to watch these people awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives--these things are the substance of what we receive as we carry A.A.'s message to the next alcoholic. p. 110 ************************************************** ********* "Wherever you may be, look when there is apparently nothing to see, listen when all is seemingly quiet." --unknown "There is no investment you can make which will pay you so well as the effort to scatter sunshine and good cheer through your establishment." --Orison Swett Marden God seldom becomes a reality until God becomes a necessity. --unknown G I F T = God Is Forever There. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. --unknown A well-spent day brings happy sleep. --Leonardo da Vinci ************************************************** ********* Father Leo's Daily Meditation FOOD "Seeing is deceiving. It's eating that's believing." -- James Thurber It may seem strange to many but for years my belief system revolved around my eating. I believed that if I could eat I would be okay. Food for me was both the pleasure and escape. I lived to eat. Feelings, good and bad, were surrounded and stuffed down with food. Some people drank to hide, used cocaine to escape --- I ate to avoid the problems in my life. Seeing was deceiving for me because I refused to accept the reality of my eating. I covered myself with clothes, avoided the beach, rarely looked at my body. I saw only what I wanted to see --- and I was dying. Now I choose to face reality. This for me is the meaning of spirituality. I choose to show my love for me by loving my food, making choices around what I eat and eating slowly. Today I choose to talk about my problems, rather than eat them. God, help me to accept my daily bread with gratitude and abstinence. ************************************************** ********* And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. Colossians 1:10-12 For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible. Mark 10:27 Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6:27-28 Do not expect that your decision to forgive will result in major changes in the other persons. Instead, pray for them. Matthew 5:44 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Be inspired to try something new and much of what you dream can become your life. Lord, thank you for giving me the freedom of choice, and grant me the courage to experience my opportunities and create new ones. Worse than being a quitter is the one who is afraid to begin. Lord, grant me the courage to believe in myself and the ability to focus on what I can do, not what I can't do. |
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