today's readings

August 2

Daily Reflections

WE BECOME WILLING. . . . .

At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not an end in itself. ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS , p. 77

How easily I can become misdirected in approaching the Eighth Step! I wish to be free, somehow transformed by my Sixth and Seventh Step work. Now, more than ever, I am vulnerable to my own self-interest and hidden agenda. I am careful to remember that self-satisfaction, which sometimes comes through the spoken forgiveness of those I have harmed, is not my true objective. I become willing to make amends, knowing that through this process I am mended and made fit to move forward, to know and desire God's will for me.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Alcoholics Anonymous has no quarrel with medicine, psychiatry, or religion. We have great respect for the methods of each. And we are glad for any success they may have had with alcoholics. We are desirous always of cooperating with them in every way. The more doctors, the more psychiatrists, the more clergy and rabbis we can get to work with us, the better we like it. We have many who take a real interest in our program and we would like many more. Am I ready to cooperate with those who take a sincere interest in A.A.?

Meditation For The Day

God is always ready to pour His blessings into our hearts in generous measure. But like the seed-sowing, the ground must be prepared before the seed is dropped in. It is our task to prepare the soil. It is God's to drop the seed. This preparation of the soil means many days of right living, choosing the right and avoiding the wrong. As you go along, each day you are better prepared for God's planting, until you reach the time of harvest. Then you share the harvest with God -- the harvest of a useful and more abundant life.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that my way of living may be properly prepared day by day. I pray that I may strive to make myself ready for the harvest which God has planted in my heart.

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As Bill Sees It

Only Try, p. 214

In my teens, I had to be an athlete because I was not an athlete. I had to be a musician because I could not carry a tune. I had to be the president of my class in boarding school. I had to first in everything because in my perverse heart I felt myself the least of God's creatures. I could not accept my deep sense of inferiority, and so I strove to become captain of the baseball team, and I did learn to play the fiddle. Lead I must--or else. This was the "all or nothing" kind of demand that later did me in.

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"I'm glad you are going to try that new job. But make sure that you are only going to 'try.' If you approach the project in the attitude that "I must succeed, I must not fail, I cannot fail,' then you practically guarantee the flop which in turn will guarantee a drinking relapse. But if you look at the venture as a constructive experiment only, then all should go well."

1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 53 2. Letter, 1958

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Walk In Dry Places

"That's the way I am" Getter Better Bad behavior is sometimes justified as a form of self-expression: "That's the way I am." Others are supposed to tolerate this or risk losing a friendship. In our program, we should modify any behavior that offends or hurts others. If we have been too brutally frank in our comments, for example, maybe we're at fault. What we call honesty is really a form of cruelty. If we persist in "being the way we are" even when it doesn't work, we have nobody to blame but ourselves when things go wrong. Other people are entitled to be treated fairly and decently. Just as we want to be. Perhaps "the way I am" is something that can be changed for the good of all, ourselves included. If I have habits and traits that cause friction with others, I'll take a new look at them. It's possible that this is something I can and should change.

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Keep It Simple

. . . and because willing to make amends to them all.---Second half of Step Eight. We have made our list of persons we've harmed. Now we look at how willing we are to make amends. We might find that we aren't ready and willing to make amends to everyone. Maybe they have wronged us more than we have wronged them. Maybe we're afraid they'll get angry with us. Maybe we're afraid they'll put us in jail. We get ready to make amends by listening and talking to others in our group---and to our sponsor. We pray for help to be willing to make amends. Becoming willing does not just happen. We have to work at it. We need to be willing to let go of the past. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me become willing. Help me see my part. I know "my part" is the only part I can change. Action for the Day: I will take time to go over my list. To whom am I not ready to make amends? I will take time to read the Serenity Prayer.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Jim's Story

This physician, one of the earliest members of A.A.'s first black group, tells of how freedom came as he worked among his people.

I worked in the steel mill for possibly two months, and then I became disgusted with myself and decided to go back home. I think the thing that galled me was that just after Easter I had drawn my salary for two weeks' work and had decided that I was going to send some money to Vi; and above all else was going to send my baby daughter an Easter outfit. But there happened to be a liquor store between the post office and the mill, and i stopped to ge that one drink. Of course, the kid never got the Easter outfit. I got very little out of the two hundred that I drew on that payday.

pp. 241-242

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."

Of course all A.A.'s, even the best, fall far short of such achievements as a consistent thing. Without necessarily taking that first drink, we often get quite far off the beam. Our troubles sometimes begin with indifference. We are sober and happy in our A.A. work. Things go well at home and office. We naturally congratulate ourselves on what later proves to be a far too easy and superficial point of view. We temporarily cease to grow because we feel satisfied that there is no need for all of A.A.'s Twelve Steps for us. We are doing fine on a few of them. Maybe we are doing fine on only two of them, the First Step and that part of the Twelfth where we "carry the message." In A.A. slang, that blissful state is known as "two-stepping." And it can go on for years.

pp. 112-113

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Today...well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. --unknown

"Treat People The Way You Want To Be Treated." "To Thine Own Self Be True!" "This Is The Real Thing IT'S No Dress Rehearsal."

"Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves." --Thomas Carlyle

"In any situation, no matter how painful, we have two choices: Hold onto anger, resentment, hurt, and fear, or open our hearts and look at the other person with understanding, empathy, & forgiveness." --Melody Beattie

"Look back and be grateful, look ahead and be hopeful, look around and be helpful." --unknown

The first step identifies the problem. The second step identifies the solution. The third step identifies the action. --unknown

When I came into AA all I could say was, "I know" and "yeah but..." Then I got a sponsor who said, "You don't know, and there are no buts!" --unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

LAUGHTER

"Nobody ever died of laughter." -- Max Beerbohm

I knew that I was growing in self-esteem and confidence when I was able to laugh, express that "belly" laugh that proclaims that I am glad to be alive.

So many religious people are too serious. They seem to think that God disapproves of laughter and yet it seems the most natural emotion in the world. Sobriety is a statement that the pain is being overcome and the hope that is experienced will necessarily release laughter.

Laughter also stops us from treating ourselves and the world too seriously. I remember a professor telling me, "God created the world for fun. Find the key to life and enjoy it." Spirituality is that key.

Sometimes, Lord, in the silence of my car, my joy is so great and my gratitude so overwhelming, I can do nothing but laugh. Thank You for the gift of laughter.

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"For you are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord shall enlighten my darkness." II Samuel 22;29

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4

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Daily Inspiration

Whether the friendships we have last a lifetime or only a brief period, they bring joy and make life a little better. Lord, may I be genuine and honest with the people in my life so that each relationship is a blessing.

As we help those in need or comfort those in trouble, God's great love and divine glory is revealed to the world. Lord, I am Your servant. May others know more of You through me.