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June 13

Daily Reflections

LIVING OUR AMENDS

"Years of living with an alcoholic is almost sure to make any
wife or child neurotic. The entire family is to some extent,
ill."
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 122

It is important for me to realize that, as an alcoholic, I not
only hurt myself, but also those around me. Making amends to
my family, and to the families of alcoholics still suffering,
will always be important. Understanding the havoc I created
and trying to repair the destruction, will be a lifelong
endeavor. The example of my sobriety may give others hope,
and faith to help themselves.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In A.A. we have to reeducate our minds. We have to learn to
think differently. We have to take a long view of drinking
instead of a short view. We have to look through the glass
to what lies beyond it. We have to look through the night
before to the morning after. No matter how good liquor looks
from the short view, we must realize that in the long run it
is poison to us. Have I learned to look through the bottle
to the better life that lies ahead?

Meditation For The Day

If you are honestly trying to live the way you believe God
wants you to live, you can get guidance from God in times of
quiet communion with Him, provided your thoughts are directed
toward God's will and all good things. The attitude of
"Thy will, not mine, be done' leads to clear guidance. Act on
this guidance and you will be led to better things. Your
impulses seem to become less your own and more the leading of
God's spirit acting through your thoughts. Obeyed, they will
bring you the answers to your prayers.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may try to think God's thoughts after Him. I
pray that my thoughts may be guided by His thoughts.

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As Bill Sees It

A Saving Principle, p. 164

The practice of admitting one's defects to another person is, of course, very ancient.
It has been validated in every century, and it characterizes the lives of all spiritually
centered and truly religious people.

But today religion is by no means the sole advocate of this saving principle.
Psychiatrists and psychologists point out the deep need every human being has for
practical insight and knowledge of his own personal flaws and a discussion of them with
an understanding and trustworthy person.

So far as alcoholics are concerned, A.A. would go even further. Most of us would
declare that without a fearless admission of our defects to another human being, we
could not stay sober. It seems plain that the grace of God will not enter to expel our
destructive obsessions until we are willing to try this.

12 & 12, pp. 56-57

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Keep It Simple

The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work. ---Robert Frost
Worry---it's a lonely activity. It puts distance between us and others. Our program is full of ideas about what to do with worry. On Step Three, we turn our will and our lives over to God. This includes worry.
Our slogans also suggest what to do with worry. One Day at a Time. Live and Let Live. Easy Does It. Let Go and Let God. Their main message is stop worrying. Trust the program. Trust your Higher Power. Everything will be okay.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I give You my worries. Teach me how to trust again. I want to trust in You, my program, and myself.
Action for the Day: I'll write the program slogans listed above on a piece of paper, and I'll read them over today. I'll let myself live them today.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Everyday . . . life confronts us with new problems to be solved which force us to adjust our old programs accordingly.
--Dr. Ann Faraday
Facing the day straight on is occasionally difficult to do. There are those days we feel like crawling under the covers and staying there, certain that we can't handle whatever might be asked of us. Maybe today is one of those days. Perhaps we feel 12 years old, instead of 42. To consciously behave like a responsible 42-year-old is out of the question. Acting "as if" is the next best thing, the program tells us, and it is.
Acting "as if" also comes in handy when only a minor kink interferes with the day's progression. Most problems don't fit an easy solution or a familiar one. However, most problems are dispensed with by seeing them as opportunities for creative response, calmly seeking guidance and then moving ahead slowly, being aware of the effects of our actions.
Today, and every day, I will have an opportunity to think creatively and to rely on my inner guide. Instead of dreading the unfamiliar, I will be glad for it. It's moving me ever closer to understanding life's mysteries.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

My friend promised when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements.
Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.
These were revolutionary and drastic proposals, but the moment i fully accepted them, the effect was electric. There was a sense of victory, followed by such a peace and serenity as I had ever known. There was utter confidence. I felt lifted up, as though the great clean wind of a mountain top blew through and through. God comes to most men gradually, but His impact on me was sudden and profound.

pp. 13-14

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Five - "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."

The second difficulty is this: what comes to us alone may be garbled by our own rationalization and wishful thinking. The benefit of talking to another person is that we can get his direct comment and counsel on our situation, and there can be no doubt in our minds what that advice is. Going it alone in spiritual matters is dangerous. How many times have we heard well-intentioned people claim the guidance of God when it was all too plain that they were sorely mistaken. Lacking both practice and humility, they had deluded themselves and were able to justify the most arrant nonsense on the ground that this was what God had told them. It is worth noting that people of very high spiritual development almost always insist on checking with friends or spiritual advisers the guidance they feel they have received from God. Surely, then, a novice ought not lay himself open to the chance of making foolish, perhaps tragic, blunders in this fashion. While the comment or advice of others may be by no means infallible, it is likely to be far more specific than any direct guidance we may receive while we are still so inexperienced in establishing contact with a Power greater than ourselves.

p. 60

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A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
--unknown

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through
experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision
cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
--Helen Keller

Laughter is God's sunshine.
--Anonymous

"A fear faced is a fear erased."
--unknown

When we step off the path it is up to us to step back on it.
--SweetyZee

Faith can take us to a place beyond time and space where God dwells.
--SweetyZee

Faith relieves worry and cares, brings peace and harmony, gives us all
the strength we need.
--SweetyZee

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

WORLD

"We are citizens of the world; and
the tragedy of our time is that we
do not know this."
--Woodrow Wilson

In recovery I have learned to "go home" to who I am - and part of this
involves my understanding my place in this vast universe. I am a child
of God and my "family" is not just my immediate blood relatives, but
also the millions of other people that inhabit this planet.

God did not just make me. God does not just love me. God is
concerned for all His children. As an alcoholic I did not have this
attitude and I was always feeling lost and different. I became selfish
and narrow in my lifestyle. Other people were tolerated.

Today I have a "big" God and He has enabled me to grow not only in
my acceptance of self but also in my acceptance of others. Today I am
a citizen of the world and it feels good.

Lord, today I know what it is to belong to the human family. And with
this awareness comes responsibility.

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"Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a lamp to my path. I have sworn
an oath and confirmed it, to observe thy righteous ordinances."
Psalm 119:105-106

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18

If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son,
cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:7

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in
you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."
Romans 8:11

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Daily Inspiration

The phrase "Never Again" is too large a commitment and too easily discarded when we stumble. Lord, help me to work on being a better person today, so that in time, my good habits will require little or no effort.

Tragedy and suffering often opens the soul to the heights of spiritual growth. Lord, let the hardships of my life be my prayer and work to draw You closer and closer.