Daily Recovery Readings - March

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March 25

Daily Reflections

A FULL AND THANKFUL HEART

I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and
thankful heart cannot entertain certain conceits. When
brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely
result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we
can ever know.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 37

I believe that we in Alcoholics Anonymous are fortunate
in that we are constantly reminded of the need to be
grateful and of how important gratitude is in our
sobriety. I am truly grateful for the sobriety God has
given me through the A.A. program and am glad I can give
back what was given to me freely. I am grateful not only
for sobriety, but for the quality of life my sobriety
has brought. God has been gracious enough to give me
sober days and a life blessed with peace and contentment,
as well as the ability to give and receive love, and the
opportunity to serve others -- in our Fellowship, my
family and community. For all of this, I have "a full
and thankful heart."

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Strength comes from coming to believe in a Higher Power
that can help you. You can't define this Higher Power, but
you can see how it helps other alcoholics. You hear them
talk about it and you begin to get the idea yourself. You
try praying in a quiet time each morning and you begin to
feel stronger, as though your prayers were heard. So you
gradually come to believe there must be a Power in the
world outside of yourself, which is stronger than you and
which you can turn to for help. Am I receiving strength from
my faith in a Higher Power?

Meditation For The Day

Spiritual development is achieved by daily persistence in
living the way you believe God wants you to live. Like the
wearing away of a stone by steady drops of water, so will
your daily persistence wear away all the difficulties and
gain spiritual success for you. Never falter in this daily,
steady persistence. Go forward boldly and unafraid.
God will help and strengthen you, as long as you are trying
to do His will.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may persist day by day in gaining spiritual
experience. I pray that I may make this a lifetime work.

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As Bill Sees It

Benefits of Responsibility, p. 84

"Happily, A.A.'s per capita expenses are very low. For us to fail to
meet them would be to evade a responsibility beneficial for us.

"Most alcoholics have said they had no troubles that money would not
cure. We are a group that, when drinking, always held out a hand for
funds. So when we commence to pay our own service bills, this is a
healthy change."

<< << << >> >> >>

"Because of drinking, my friend Henry had lost a high-salaried job.
There remained a fine house--with a budget three times his reduced
earnings.

"He could have rented the house for enough to carry it. But no!
Henry said he knew that God wanted him to live there, and He would
see that the costs were paid. So Henry went on running up bills and
glowing with faith. Not surprisingly, his creditors finally took over the
place.

"Henry can laugh about it now, having learned that God more often
helps those who are willing to help themselves."

1. Letter, 1960
2. Letter, 1966

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Walk in Dry Places

Expect Miracles____Belief
Some have claimed that there have been no miracles since the fourteenth century. This is a smug way of saying that miracles do not happen.
Emmet Fox conceded that miracles don't happen in the sense of violating the perfect, universal system of law and order. But there is such a thing as appealing to a higher law, and this too is part of the constitution of the universe. Prayer is a means of doing this, and enough prayer will get you out of any difficulty, Fox insisted.
People who have found sobriety in AA are actually modern miracles. They expect more miracles to continue happening" otherwise, there would be no point in continuing to work with newcomers. And while we're expecting miracles, let's remember that countless other human problems will yield to a spiritual approach. Life itself is miraculous when we study it: why shouldn't there be more miracles ahead?
I'll keep an open mind on the subject of miracles. Since we still can glipmse only a fragment of the universe, it should follow that there's also much more to learn about the spiritual processes that rescued us from alcoholism.

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Keep It Simple

The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.---Eugene Delacroix
Trying to be prefect puts distance between us and our Higher Power. Trying to be perfect shows we're ashamed of being human. In recovery, we accept that we're human. We try to be the best human we can be. We used to get high to feel powerful and god-like. But God is not just power. God is also gentleness. Gentleness and love are the power we look for on recovery. We work to be human. We work to know the loving, gentle side of ourselves and our Higher Power. Remember, if we try to be god, we'll fail. If we try to be human, we'll win.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me give up trying to be perfect. Help me always keep in mind that I'm human---which means, I'm not perfect.
Action for the Day: Part of being human is making mistakes. Today, I'll see my mistakes as chances to learn.

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Each Day a New Beginning

When I slow down long enough to smell the roses, I usually see the beauty and all else that is ours to share. --Morgan Jennings
We overlook so many joys, so many hidden treasures, when we hurry from place to place, person to person, experience to experience, with little attention anywhere. All that matters passes before us now, at this moment. And assuredly, we will not pass this way again.
It has been said the greatest gift we can give one another is rapt attention; additionally, living life fully attentive to the breezes, the colors, the sorrows and the thrills as well, is the most prayerful response any of us can make in this life. Nothing more is asked of us. Nothing less is expected.
We have just this one life to live, and each day is a blessing. Even the trials we shall understand as blessings in the months, the years ahead, as we can see now how the painful moments of the past played their part. Our attitude toward the lessons life has offered makes all the difference in the world.
I will look closely at everything in my path today. The women and children, the trees and squirrels, the silent neighbors. I will never see them again as I see them today. I will be at attention.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

We have elsewhere remarked how much better life is when lived on a spiritual plane. If God can solve the age-old riddle of alcoholism, He can solve your problems too. We wives found that, like everybody else, we were afflicted with pride, self-pity, vanity and all the things which go to make up the self-centered person; and we were not above selfishness or dishonesty. As our husbands began to apply spiritual principles in their lives, we began to see the desirability of doing so too.

p. 116

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Foreword

There is, too, a rising interest in the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. Students of human relations are beginning to wonder how and why A.A. functions as a society. Why is it, they ask, that in A.A. no member can be set in personal authority over another, that nothing like a central government can anywhere be seen? How can a set of traditional principles, having no legal force at all, hold the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous in unity and effectiveness? The second section of this volume, though designed for A.A.'s membership, will give such inquirers an inside view of A.A. never before possible.

p. 16

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Nine requisites for contented living:
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all the anxious fears concerning the future.
--Johann von Goethe

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
--Chinese proverb

"All fortune belongs to him who has a contented mind."
--The Panchatantra

"If we lead good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times."
--St. Augustine

Wise sayings often fall on barren ground; but a kind word is never thrown away."
--Sir Arthur Helps

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

PERSEVERANCE

"I know of no more encouraging
fact than the unquestionable
ability of man to elevate his life by
a conscious endeavor."
-- Henry David Thoreau

Life is exciting to me when I am creating, when I am pursuing a dream,
when I am making miracles in my life.

I suppose "perseverance" stems from a belief that things get better
when we roll-up our sleeves and do something. Sobriety is about
comprehending that in our lives we reflect the message.

God has created man with the ability to make the dream come true;
this is not to say it is easy . . . but it is harder not to dream!

Teach us to wonder at the stars with a spade in our hands.

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Oh, give thanks to the LORD!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!
Seek the LORD and His strength;
Seek His face evermore.
Psalm 105:1-4

My peace I give you ... Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not
be afraid.
John 14:27

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Daily Inspiration

Things are not always what they seem, so take time to think before you react. Lord, grant me patience and resolve when I have the urge to assume the worst or jump to false conclusions.

Knowing about God and knowing God are very different things. Lord, may I recognize Your workings in my life so that I may really know You.