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06-14-2014, 10:39 AM | #15 |
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Join Date: Aug 2013
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June 15
Daily Reflections MAKING A. A. YOUR HIGHER POWER ". . . . . You can . . . make A. A. itself your 'higher power.' Here's a very large group of people who have solved their alcohol problem. . . . .many members . . . . have crossed the threshold just this way. . . . .their faith broadened and deepened. . . . transformed, they came to believe in a Higher Power. . . . ." TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 27-28 No one was greater than I, at least in my eyes, when I was drinking. Nevertheless, I couldn't smile at myself in the mirror, so I came to A.A. where, with others, I heard talk of a Higher Power. I couldn't accept the concept of a Higher Power because I believed God was cruel and unloving. In desperation I chose a table, a tree, then my A.A. group, as my Higher Power. Time passed, my life improved, and I began to wonder about this Higher Power. Gradually, with patience, humility and a lot of questions, I came to believe in God. Now my relationship with my Higher Power gives me the strength to live a happy, sober life. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day In A.A. we have three things: fellowship, faith, and service. Fellowship is wonderful, but its wonder lasts just so long. Then some gossip, disillusionment, and boredom may come in. Worry and fear come back at times and we find that fellowship is not the whole story. Then we need faith. When we're alone, with nobody to pat us on the back, we must turn to God for help. Can I say "Thy will be done" - and mean it? Meditation For The Day There is beauty in a God-guided life. There is wonder in the feeling of being led by God. Try to realize God's bounty and goodness more and more. God is planning for you. Wonderful are His ways - they are beyond your knowledge. But God's leading will enter your consciousness more and more and bring you ever more peace and joy. Your life is being planned and blessed by God. You may count all material things as losses if they prevent your winning your way to the consciousness of God's guidance. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may earn the rewards of God's power and peace. I pray that I may develop the feeling of being led by God. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It Fear No Evil, p. 166 Though we of A.A. find ourselves living in a world characterized by destructive fears as never before in history, we see great areas of faith, and tremendous aspirations toward justice and brotherhood. Yet no prophet can presume to say whether the world outcome will be blazing destruction or the beginning, under God's intention, of the brightest era yet known to mankind. I am sure we A.A.'s will comprehend this scene. In microcosm, we have experienced this identical state of terrifying uncertainty, each in his own life. In no sense pridefully, we can say that we do not fear the world outcome, whichever course it may take. This is because we have been established to deeply feel and say, "We shall fear no evil--Thy will, not ours, be done." Grapevine, January 1962 ************************************************** ********* Walk in Dry Places Keeping Sobriety Rolling Continuing to Follow A child learning to ride a bicycle discovers that it only takes gentle pedaling to keep the bike in motion. The more difficult task was getting on the bike and maintaining a straight course in the right direction. Staying sober in AA seems to be the same kind of thing. It may take a lot of effort and self-honesty to establish sobriety, but a routine of simple steps can keep it going on a daily basis. For most people, daily meditations and regular attendance at meetings are enough to maintain a straight course in the right direction. The danger comes when people become too lazy or careless to take even these simple steps. Then, like a bike losing forward momentum, they can wobble and fall. Even at the point of wobbling, one can get a bike up to speed again and gain stability. This is something to remember if we find our own sobriety becoming wobbly. Nothing can be so important today that it keeps me from doing the simple things needed for continuous sobriety. I'll remember the bike. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple He who laughs, last.---Mary Pettibone Poole It feels good to laugh again! Our disease took away our sense of humor. Recovery gives it back. That's why there's so much laughter at our meetings. By seeing the funny side of things, we ease up. A person in treatment was talking about the Higher Power he had come to believe in. The counselor asked, “Does God have a sense of humor?" The group had fun talking about this idea for a while. The next day, the counselor came to work and found a note on her door. It read: “Of course God has a sense of humor. He made you, didn't He? Laughter helps us heal. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me ease up today. Let me see the funny side of things. Action for the Day: I'll let myself laugh today. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning For many years I was so flexible I didn't know who I was, and now that I'm discovering who I am, I think "OK, I know where I stand on that issue. Now on to the next one." But I have to remind myself that all issues are interrelated--no one is separate. --Kathleen Casey Theisen Today flows from yesterday, the day before, the day before that. Tomorrow repeats the pattern. What we are given on any one day will have its beginning in the past and its finale in the future. No incident is isolated entirely; no issue is self-contained. Maturity is being able to let go of outgrown attitudes, stifling opinions, no matter how good and right they were at one time. Our egos often get too attached to some of our opinions, and new ideas can't filter in. Some will try to get our attention today. We are ready for new growth. The choice not to hamper it is ours to make. The opinions we held certain yesterday may not be adequate to the problems of today. They need not be. They served us well. They are not for naught. Today's issues need today's fresh responses. I will be unafraid. Today flows from yesterday, the day before, and the day before that. Tomorrow follows suit. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Chapter 10 - To Employers On your employee’s return, talk with him. Ask him if he thinks he has the answer. If he feels free to discuss his problems with you, if he knows you understand and will not be upset by anything he wishes to say, he will probably be off to a fast start. pp. 144-145 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Four - "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." But all alcoholics who have drunk themselves out of jobs, family, and friends will need to cross-examine themselves ruthlessly to determine how their own personality defects have thus demolished their security. pp. 51-52 ************************************************** ********* Adventure is not outside a man. It is within. --David Grayson "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." --William Arthur Ward "When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade." --Dale Carnegie Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. --Marcus Aurelius Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." --Groucho Marx *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation FEAR "Nothing is so much to be feared as fear. " --Henry David Thoreau Fear is a killer. It stops the God-given spirituality in our lives from taking shape and making life enjoyable. Fear is connected with doubt - doubt of self. Low self-esteem develops along with fear and in order for confidence to develop, the fear must be faced, confronted and talked about. Fear is not going to go away because we wish it away or hope it sway or even pray it away. Fear needs to be identified, located and seen for what it is - or, as in most cases, what it isn't. Fear of people, things, tomorrow or life itself grows so long as we forge that we are creatures of God. There is nothing that cannot be faced or overcome - as long as we remain drug-free. God is on our side - but we need also to be on our side. Fear is never stronger than our spirituality. We need to bring our fear into the light; then it can be overcome. I ask to stay in the light of sobriety, not the darkness of alcoholism. ************************************************** ********* "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy." Psalms 145:8 "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." I Peter 2:24 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Ask yourself if what you are spending your thoughts and energy on will matter in a week, a month, or a year. Lord, help me select my priorities wisely and use my time in ways that will make my life and those around me better and happier. The more cheer you give, the more that remains. Lord, may I show my love for You through a happy face and may my presence be a joyful experience to all that I encounter.
__________________
"No matter what you have done up to this moment, you get 24 brand-new hours to spend every single day." --Brian Tracy
AA gives us an opportunity to recreate ourselves, with God's help, one day at a time. --Rufus K. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. --Franklin D. Roosevelt We stay sober and clean together - one day at a time! God says that each of us is worth loving. |
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