Daily Recovery Readings - March

[bluidkiti]

March 6, 2014

Daily Reflections

THE IDEA OF FAITH

Do not let any prejudice you might have against
spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself
what they mean to you.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 47

The idea of faith is a very large chunk to swallow when
fear, doubt and anger abound in and around me. Sometimes
just the idea of doing something different, something I
am not accustomed to doing, can eventually become an act
of faith if I do it regularly, and do it without
debating whether it's the right thing to do. When a bad
day comes along and everything is going wrong, a meeting
or a talk with another drunk often distracts me just
enough to persuade me that everything is not quite as
impossible, as overwhelming as I had thought. In the
same way, going to a meeting or talking to a fellow
alcoholic are acts of faith; I believe I'm arresting
my disease. These are ways I slowly move toward faith
in a Higher Power.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In A.A., we must surrender, give up, admit that we're
helpless. We surrender our lives to God and ask Him for
help. When He knows that we're ready, He gives us
by His grace the free gift of sobriety. And we can't take
any credit for having stopped drinking, because we didn't
do it by our own willpower. There's no place for pride or
boasting. We can only be grateful to God for doing for us
what we could never do for ourselves. Do I believe that
God has made me a free gift of the strength to stay sober?

Meditation For The Day

I must work for God, with God and through God's help. By
doing all I can to bring about a true fellowship of human beings,
I am working for God. I am also working with God, because
this is the way God works, and He is with me when I am
doing such work. I cannot do good work, however, without
God's help. In the final analysis, it is through the
grace of God that any real change in human personality
takes place. I have to rely on God's power and anything
I accomplish is through His help.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may work for God and with God. I pray that
I may be used to change human personalities through
God's help.

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As Bill Sees It

Growth By The Tenth Step, p. 65

In the years ahead A.A. will, of course, make mistakes. Experience
has taught us that we need have no fear of doing this, providing that
we always remain willing to admit our faults and to correct them
promptly. Our growth as individuals has depended upon this healthy
process of trial and error. So will our growth as a fellowship.

Let us always remember that any society of men and women that
cannot freely correct its own faults must surely fall into decay if not
into collapse. Such is the universe penalty for the failure to go on
growing. Just as each A.A. must continue to take his moral inventory
and act upon it, so must our whole Society if we are to survive and if
we are to serve usefully and well.

A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 231

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Walk in Dry Places

Example, not exception___Helping Others.
It's always heady stuff when others congratulate us on our victory over alcohol. Fair-minded people will have considerable admiration for what appears to be a bootstrap effort to make a comeback from despair and defeat.
We can accept this praise with grace and modesty. At some point, however, we should emphasize that our recovery was an example of spiritual principles at work and that thousands have been able to follow in the same path. Sober AA members are not exceptions; they are examples of what the program can do in people's lives.
It is important to emphasize that we are ordinary people. The marvelous thing about the program is that it works for ordinary people like ourselves. Many people in the fellowship have great talent and ability, but those gifts have nothing to do with staying sober. The gifted person gets sober the same way anybody does..... by admitting powerlessness over alcohol and by accepting the program.
We are also helped most by people who can serve as examples in our lives. It is always inspiring to know that we can follow in their paths and find what has been given to them.
I want to provide a good example for others today. I will go through the day remembering that my sobriety is a gift that can be bestowed on anybody___it was not an exception just for me.

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Keep It Simple

When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.
Remember how we tried to make others think we were not in trouble? We walked and talked like addicts. We acted like addicts. Most everyone knew the truth but us. We were like ducks pretending to be eagles.
We see ourselves as we really are. But sometimes we can't see ourselves that way. This is normal.
That's why we need others to help us see what we can't. We were addicts. We are now recovering addicts. We need friends, sponsors, and family members to tell us when we may be acting like addicts again. It may save our lives.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, give my friends and family members the strength to tell me when I'm acting like an addict.
Action for the Day: I'll go to people whom I trust and ask them to tell me when I'm acting like an addict.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Life is made up of desires that seem big and vital one minute, and little and absurd the next. I guess we get what's best for us in the end. --Alice Caldwell Rice
It is often said that we will be granted our heart's "pure desires." When we have many unmet desires, maybe we should be grateful. Wants, ultimately not for our good, can open the way to many unneeded and painful experiences.
How often we sit, wishing for a better job, a more loving relationship, a different weather forecast. How seldom we take positive advantage of what is at hand, not realizing that whatever is, right now, is the ticket to the next act in the drama of our lives.
We have before us a very limited picture. We cannot possibly know just what we need to travel the distance that's in store for us. Our desires, when they are pure, will carry us to the right destination. They are inspired. But the desires that are motivated by our selfish egos will lead us astray. Many times in the past we did not give up those desires. And the painful memories linger.
Desiring God's will is my most fruitful desire. It's also what is best for me; thus, what I need. All things are working for good when I let my higher power determine my desires.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

Our next thought is that you should never tell him what he must do about his drinking. If he gets the idea that you are a nag or a killjoy, your chance of accomplishing anything useful may be zero. He will use that as an excuse to drink more. He will tell you he is misunderstood. This may lead to lonely evenings for you. He may seek someone else to console him - not always another man.

p. 111

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

There was actually a time when the press of America thought the anonymity of A.A. was better for us than some of our own members did. At on point, about a hundred of our Society were breaking anonymity at the public level. With perfectly good intent, these folks declared that the principle of anonymity was horse-an-buggy stuff, something appropriate to A.A.'s pioneering days. They were sure that A.A. could go faster and farther if it availed itself of modern publicity methods. A.A., they pointed out, included many persons of local, national, or international fame. Provided they were willing--and many were--why shouldn't their membership be publicized, thereby encouraging others to join us? These were plausible arguments, but happily our friends of the writing profession disagreed with them.

p. 182

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We surrender to win.

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is
never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants
kindness gathers love.
--Basil (329-379 A.D.)

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for."
--John Lubbock

"Age is a matter of feeling...not of years."
--George William Curtis

"The future comes one day at a time."
--Dean Acheson

Sharing love and life with someone is the one of the greatest gifts of
all. Take the time to appreciate it and enjoy it.

"Joy is the feeling of grinning on the inside."
--Dr. Melba Colgrove

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

HYPOCRISY

"Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo."
-- Ambrose Bierce

As a religious person I could be such a hypocrite. I thought that my
"goodness" was dependent upon my judging others to be inferior. I
was always putting other people down so that I could appear terrific.

But a part of me always knew this was wrong. I ignored the religious
teaching that emphasized forgiveness and acceptance and instead
focused on judgment and condemnation. It was all part of my sickness.
Inside I was hurting and feeling guilty but I hid these feelings with a
mask of hypocrisy and respectability.

Today I do not need to do this. I have a religion that can accept the
non-religious and rejoice in the different cultures and creeds. I do not
fear those who are different, and I am slowly beginning to accept my
many imperfections.

You, who have loved me through forgiveness, help me to forgive.

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"Put away your former way of life, your old self ... be renewed in the spirit of your
minds ... according to the likeness of God."
Ephesians 4:22-24

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body
more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom
or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you
by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing,
why do you worry about the rest?
Luke 12:22-26

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Daily Inspiration

Repeatedly remind yourself what a wonderful person you are. Lord, help me to believe in myself as You believe in me and focus on my goodness.

God's plans for you are beyond your imagination. Lord, may I not limit myself to my past experiences, but be willing to accept new opportunities and challenges into my life.