Daily Recovery Readings - March

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March 12, 2014

Daily Reflections

A DAY'S PLAN

On awakening let us think of the twenty-four hours
ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we
begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially
asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest
or self-seeking motives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 86

Every day I ask God to kindle within me the fire of
His love, so that love, burning bright and clear, will
illuminate my thinking and permit me to better do His
will. Throughout the day, as I allow outside
circumstances to dampen my spirits, I ask God to sear
my consciousness with the awareness that I can start
my day over any time I choose; a hundred times, if
necessary.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

The Prodigal Son "took his journey into a far country
and wasted his substance on riotous living." That's what
we alcoholics do. We waste our substance with riotous
living. "When he came to himself, he said: I will arise
and go to my father." That's what an alcoholic does in
A.A. He comes to himself. His alcoholic self is not his
real self. His sane, sober, respectable self is his real
self. That's why we're so happy in A.A. Have I come to
myself?

Meditation For The Day

Simplicity is the keynote of a good life. Choose the
simple things always. Life can become complicated if you
let it be so. You can be swamped by difficulties if you
let them take up too much of your time. Every difficulty
can be either solved or ignored and something better
substituted for it. Love the humble things of life.
Reverence the simple things. Your standard must never
be the world's standard of wealth and power.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may love the simple things of life.
I pray that I may keep my life uncomplicated and free.

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As Bill Sees It

"How Can You Roll With A Punch?", p. 71

On the day that the calamity of Pearl Harbor fell upon our country, a
great friend of A.A. was walking along a St. Louis street. Father
Edward Dowling was not an alcoholic, but he had been one of the
founders of the struggling A.A. group in his city. Because many of his
usually sober friends had already taken to their bottles that they might
blot out the implications of the Pearl Harbor disaster, Father Ed was
anguished by the thought that his cherished A.A. group would probably
do the same.

Then a member, sober less than a year, stepped alongside and engaged
Father Ed in a spirited conversation--mostly about A.A. Father Ed
saw, with relief, that his companion was perfectly sober.

"How is it that you have nothing to say about Pearl Harbor? How can
you roll with a punch like that?"

"Well," replied the yearling, "each of us in A.A. has already had his
own private Pearl Harbor. So why should we drunks crack up over
this one?"

Grapevine, January 1962

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Walk in Dry Places

Popular Gossip____Higher Thinking
The newsstands are full of publications that seem to delight in exposing the sins and foibles of celebrities and prominent officials. Think of the excitement that's been generated just over the sexual misadventures of important people running for public office.
While some of these disclosures may be true, we don't help ourselves by reveling in them or reading them. We may even harm ourselves if we get secret enjoyment over the fall of a celebrity. It's never beneficial to find ourselves thinking, "it serves him right."
Reading such trash, even in the daily newspapers, is a form of gossip. We can use our time in better ways if we wish to enhance our sobriety.
If this sounds a little too stringent, we should remind ourselves that growth in sobriety calls for better management of our thinking and attitudes. Nobody ever got drunk simply because he or she read gossipy trash. But neither did that person make progress over the general problem of gossip.
I'll have no interest in the weaknesses or shortcomings of those who might be in the news. Popular gossip can be just as harmful as personal gossip.

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Keep It Simple

The Twelve Step program is spiritual, based on action coming from love . . . Martha Cleveland
To be spiritual means to be an active person. It means spending time with others. It means sharing love. It means looking for ways to be more loving to others. It means looking for ways to make the world a better place. Step Three helps us to look at the world better. We turn our lives over to the care of our Higher Power. So Lets allow care to direct our lives. Let's always be asking ourselves, "Is what I'm doing something that shows care?"
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, let me be active in a loving, caring way. Let the love in my heart be my guide.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll do something good for someone and keep it a secret.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Love is not getting, but giving. It is sacrifice. And sacrifice is glorious! --Joanna Field
How easily we mistake attention for love. Even more easily, we trick ourselves into thinking our ability to control someone signifies love - especially theirs for us. But love is something far different from either attention or control. Far different.
Love frees others from our grasp--and lets them return on their own. Love is placing another's personal needs above our own, without regret. Love is selfless, yet it exhilarates the self. Giving love softens our edges, completes us, and connects us to the people with whom we are fulfilling our destinies.
Wanting love is a normal human desire, not one we should deny. And we shall receive love, the less our emphasis is on getting it, the more on giving it. We invite love when we freely and honestly give it. Another invitation for love comes from loving ourselves; self-hatred, which trapped many of us for years, hampers us no longer.
Love inspires--ourselves and those we give it to. It brightens our way, lessens our burdens, makes possible our rightful unfolding.
I won't look for love today. I will just give it. It will bless me tenfold.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

Suppose, however, that your husband fits the description of number two. The same principles which apply to husband number one should be practice. But after his next binge, ask him if he would really like to get over drinking for good. Do not ask that he do it for you or anyone else. Just would he like to?

p. 112

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Twelve - "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

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. This was our first lesson in the practical application of anonymity.

p. 185

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"Take time for solitude. How else can you contemplate the blessings
of recovery,"
--Abby Warman

"What we must realize is that we cannot see everything. We do not
know everything. More important, we must understand that it is
impossible for us to control anything. The process of life is a spiritual
one, governed by invisible, intangible spiritual laws and principles."
--Iyanla Vanzant

"Everyone who has been mistreated by another has mistreated
others at one time or another."
--Paul Ferrini

"Deep faith eliminates fear."
--Lech Walesa

It's not the burdens of everyday that drive men mad.
It is the regret of yesterday and the fear of tomorrow.
Regret and fear are twin thieves that rob us of today.
--Unknown

I completely, and whole heartedly trust Gods love, it will never fail
me.
--SweetyZee

God's grace can turn pain into joy and blessing.
--Isabelle Zeigler Ross

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

DREAMS

"I have learned this at least by
my experiment: that if one
advances confidently in the
direction of his dreams and
endeavors to live the life which
he has imagined, he will meet
with a success unexpected in
common hours."
-- Henry David Thoreau

Drugs brought me nightmares, never dreams. For years I lived in
fear. In the night I imagined horrible shapes, strange colors and
sounds, experienced unspeakable tortures and awake in tension and
sweat.

Today in sobriety my dreams are serene and tranquil; I remember
friends and loved ones and those I most admire. I imagine God in the
beauty of His creation. He breathes His love through me. My dreams
are part of my wellness.

God, who created men to dream their dreams, help me to live mine.

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Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all
your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5, 6

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your
sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer."
Psalms 19:14

I sought the Lord , and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who
look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
Psalm 34:4-5

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Daily Inspiration

If you count your blessings and answered prayers, there is less time for grumbling and complaining. Lord, may I always appreciate the wonders of my life and celebrate Your presence in it.

You cannot be discouraged for long if you are close to our Heavenly Father, the giver of all hope and blessings. Lord, I will spend time daily with You and strengthen my faith.