today's readings

k bluidkiti for making these readings possible.

June 6

Daily Reflections

ALL WE DO IS TRY

Can He now take them all -- every one? ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76

In doing Step Six it helped me a lot to remember that I am striving for "spiritual progress." Some of my character defects may be with me for the rest of my life, but most have been toned down or eliminated. All that Step Six asks of me is to become willing to name my defects, claim them as my own, and be willing to discard the ones I can, just for today. As I grow in the program, many of my defects become more objectionable to me than previously and, therefore, I need to repeat Step Six so that I can become happier with myself and maintain my serenity.

************************************************** *********

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Drinking is the way we alcoholics express our maladjustment's to life. I believe that I was a potential alcoholic from the start. I had an inferiority complex. I didn't make friends easily. There was a wall between me and other people. And I was lonely. I was not well adjusted to life. Did I drink to escape from myself?

Meditation For The Day

According to the varying needs of each person, so does each person think of God. It is not necessary that you think of God as others think of Him, but it is necessary that you think of Him as supplying what you personally need. The weak need God's strength. The strong need God's tenderness. The tempted and fallen need God's saving grace. The righteous needs God's pity for sinners. The lonely need God as a friend. The fighters for righteousness need a leader in God. You may think of God in any way you wish. We usually do not turn to God until we need Him.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may think of God as supplying my needs. I pray that I will bring all my problems to Him for help in meeting them. ************************************************** *********

As Bill Sees It

Imagination Can Be Constructive, p. 157

We recall, a little ruefully, how much store we used to set by imagination as it tried to create reality out of bottles. Yes, we reveled in that sort of thinking, didn't we? And, though sober nowadays, don't we often try to do much the same thing?

Perhaps our trouble was not that we used our imagination. Perhaps the real trouble was our almost total inability to point imagination toward the right objectives. There's nothing the matter with truly constructive imagination; all sound achievement rests upon it. After all, no man can build a house until he first visions a plan for it.

12 & 12, p. 100

************************************************** *********

Walk in Dry Places

My opportunities are in change Personal Growth. It’s common to hear a recovering person voice apprehensions about an impending change. This apprehension only results from our fear that change will mean loss. There can never be any permanent loss if we are solidly anchored in our spiritual program. Our Higher Power is the guiding force in all change and will make all things right as events unfold. We should also remember that change brought us to our present situation. Any good we now enjoy came-to us by a certain process. Even painful experiences have been valuable lessons. There is no way we can avoid change; it is a built-in condition of life. We can accept it moregracefullyifweview itas God’s way of bringing us opportunity. Any change that I sense today is just a signal for the arrival of new opportunities. Even if changes seem uncomfortable, I'll welcome all such change.

************************************************** *********

Keep It Simple

Fortunate are the people whose roots are deep.---Agnes Meyer A tree's roots seek water and minerals. Though the roots can't be seen easily seen, they are there. The life of the tree depends on them. The stronger a tree's roots, the higher a tree can grow. We need to set deep roots into the soil of recovery. The soil of recovery is madeup oftheTwelveSteps, fellowship, and service to others. We'll have to get through storms and high winds in our return to health. In so doing, we'll become beautiful, strong, and spiritual. We'll be able to live with both the gentle breezes and the heavy winds of life. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me believe in what I can't see. Just as I believe that the roots of a tree are there because I can see the leaves. I believe in a Higher Power because I can see the results. Action for the Day: I will ask myself, "Which Step do I need to work on the most right now?" I will volunteer to give a meeting on that Step.

************************************************** *********

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Our Southern Friend

Pioneer A.A., minister's son, and southern farmer, he asked, "Who am I to say there is no God?"

I am at the hospital to see my wife. We have another child. But she is not glad to see me. I have been drinking while the baby was arriving. Her father stays with her. It is a cold, bleak day in November. I have fought hard to stop drinking. Each battle has ended in defeat. I tell my wife I cannot stop drinking. She begs me to go to a hospital for alcoholics which has been recommended. I say I will go. She makes the arrangements, but I will not go. I'll do it all myself. This time I'm off of it for good. I'll just take a few beers now and then.

pp. 212-213

************************************************** *********

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Nine - "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others."

After taking this preliminary trial at making amends, we may enjoy such a sense of relief that we conclude our task is finished. We will want to rest on our laurels. The temptation to skip the more humiliating and dreaded meetings that still remain may begreat. We will often manufacture plausible excuses for dodging these issues entirely. Or wemay justprocrastinate,telling ourselves the time is not yet, when in reality we have already passed up many a fine chance to right a serious wrong. Let's not talk prudence while practicing evasion.

p. 85

************************************************** *********

Live to learn and you will learn to live. --Portuguese Proverb

It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities. --Sir Josiah Stamp

You cannot raise a man up by calling him down. --William Boetcker

"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is like expecting a bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian." --Dennis Wholey

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. --Will Rogers

Realize the acts of others are not for or against you. They are experiences in his or her life. --unknown

We do not have to be perfect, self assured, and untarnished, to be accepted and loved. --SweetyZee

Anxiety separates us from experiencing a great life. So caught up are we in our worry, we may even cut ourselves off from giving and receiving love. God invites us into a fuller life in which we recognize that there is no anxiety that our Creator cannot handle, if we only remember to ask. --Mary Manin Morrissey

Nothing can separate us from God's love. --Luis Aramayo

************************************************** *********

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

SCIENCE

"As long as men are free to ask what they must - free to say what they think - free to think what they will - freedom can never be lost and science can never regress." --J. Robert Oppenheimer

We need to press on in this wonderful journey of life because new discoveries await us in our tomorrows. Spirituality always brings joy in the journey. In the traveling is the fun for we will never reach our destination in this life.

The freedom to question is the discipline of science, and science is involved in the treatment and recovery of addiction. We must always be looking for better ways of treatment, more vivid ways of teaching and creative aids to recovery.

Science, and every other creative discipline, should be used in the treatment of addictions: God is to be found in the many.

Lord, let us remember that You gave mankind a scalpel and a prayer book.

************************************************** *********

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything. 1 John 3:18-20

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

************************************************** *********

Daily Inspiration

Even the most difficult of trials is God's way of preparing us for something else. Lord, may I view my challenges as an opportunity to grow rather than as an opportunity to fail.

Jesus said, "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.". Lord, I pray, I believe, and I thank you even before it is fulfilled.