today's readings

August 17

Daily Reflections

RIGHTING THE HARM

In many instances we shall find that though the harm done others has not been great, the emotional harm we have done ourselves has. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 79

Have you ever thought that the harm you did a business associate, or perhaps a family member, was so slight that it really didn't deserve an apology because they probably wouldn't remember it anyway? If that person, and the wrong done to him, keeps coming to mind, time and again, causing an uneasy or perhaps guilty feeling, then I put that person's name at the top of my "amends list," and become willing to make a sincere apology, knowing I will feel calm and relaxed about that person once this very important part of my recovery is accomplished.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

"To one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic, a spiritual experience seems impossible, but to continue as he is means disaster. To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face. But we have to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life--or else. Lack of power is our dilemma. We have to find a power by which we can live, and it has to be a power greater than ourselves." Have I found that power by which I can live?

Meditation For The Day

Sunshine is the laughter of nature. Live out in the sunshine. The sun and air are good medicine. Nature is a good nurse for tired bodies. Let her have her way with you. God's grace is like the sunshine. Let your whole being be enwrapped in the Divine spirit. Faith is the soul's breathing in of the Divine spirit. It makes glad the hearts of human beings. The Divine spirit heals and cures the mind. Let it have its way and all will be well.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may live in the sunshine of God's spirit. I pray that my mind and soul may be energized by it.

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As Bill Sees It

Day of Homecoming, p. 229

"As sobriety means long life and happiness for the individual, so does unity mean exactly the same thing to our Society as a whole. Unified we live; disunited we shall perish."

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"We must think deeply of all those sick ones still to come to A.A. As they try to make their return to faith and to life, we want them to find everything in A.A. that we have found, and yet more, if that be possible. No care, no vigilance, no effort to preserve A.A.'s constant effectiveness and spiritual strength will ever be too great to hold us in full readiness for the day of their homecoming."

1. Letter, 1949 2. Talk, 1959

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Walk In Dry Places

Whom Should we Respect? Respecting others. While having dinner in a nice restaurant, my friends and I realized that we were treating the young man bussing the table with cold indifference. He appeared to be unsure of himself, doing his work with apprehension and a lack of confidence. Here was an example of a person who needed silent encouragement. He needed to be assured that his performance of honest, useful work was respected and appreciated. He also needed to be reminded that he had opportunities to continue developing and using his talents. Perhaps we, as patrons of the restaurant, could provide that. Sometimes this encouragement can simply be expressed in the way we act and feel toward people. If it is genuine and based on good spiritual principles, it will be understood. It's actually a form of practicing the principles of the Twelve Steps in all our affairs. At the same time, we practice identifying with every person we meet. I'll try to take note of every person I come in contact with today, knowing that everyone needs support and encouragement. I can do my part to provide that.

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Keep It Simple

Words that do not match deeds are not important.---Ernesto Ch'e Guevara What we do can be much more important than what we say. We tend to talk about things we want to do. We need to also be people who do things we talk about. We are not spiritual people unless our actions are spiritual. Many of us used to be "all or nothing" people. That made us afraid to take the big projects. But now we can get things done, if we take one step at a time. We're not "all or nothing" people anymore. We're people who are changing and growing a little every day. And each day our deeds match our words a little better. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me live fully today. Help me not to talk to much about what I want to do. Give me the gift of patience, so I can be pleased with my progress. Action for the Day: Today, I'll list the things that I say I'd like to do. What is one thing I can do today to make each of them happen? I'll take one step today to match my life to my dreams.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

The Man Who Mastered Fear

He spent eighteen years in running away, and then found he didn't have to run. So he started A.A. in Detroit.

The moment we say, "No, never!" our minds close against the grace of God. Delay is dangerous, and rebellion may be fatal. This is the exact point at which we abandon limited objectives, and move toward God's will for us. Haunting me through each day's stupor---and there were eighteen or nineteen such days in this man's home---was the thought: Where do I go when his family comes home? When the day of their return was almost upon me, and suicide was the only answer I had been able to think of, I went into Ralph's room one evening and told him the truth. He was a man of considerable means, and he might have done what many men would have done in such a case. He might have handed me fifty dollars and said that I ought to pull myself together and make a new start. I have thanked God many times in the last sixteen years that that was just what he did not do!

p. 249

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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."

When the distortion has been great, however, a long period of patient striving may be necessary. After the husband joins A.A., the wife may become discontented, even highly resentful that Alcoholics Anonymous has done the very thing that all her years of devotion had failed to do. Her husband may become so wrapped up in A.A. and his new friends that he is inconsiderately away from home more than when he drank. Seeing her unhappiness, he recommends A.A.'s Twelve Steps and tries to teach her how to live. She naturally feels that for years she has made a far better job of living than he has. Both of them blame each other and ask when their marriage is ever going to be happy again. They may even begin to suspect it had never been any good in the first place.

pp. 118-119

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"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." --Anuerin Bevan

"You cannot plan the future by the past." --Edmund Burke

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship. --Saint Thomas Aquinas

Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it as it is, is the only way of being happy. --Jennie Jerome Churchill

It's not the load that breaks you down...it's the way you carry it. --unknown

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe. --Marcus Aurelius

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

COURAGE

"Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome." -- Samuel Johnson

There was a time when I never attempted anything because I said it "can't" be done. I could never get sober. I could never stand up to my drunken friends. I could never face my buried secrets. I could never stop gambling. I could never change my eating habits or stop using cocaine.

Then I heard the confidence and hope that was reflected in people who were recovering from these same problems. I heard people talk about what it was like, what happened and what it is like now. They told me I didn't mean "can't", I meant "won't"! They told me to take a risk, think positive, try. Today, yesterday's objections are mere memories.

Thank You for showing me the light at the end of the tunnel. May I continue to walk in the light.

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I call on the Lord in my distress and He answers me. Psalm 120:1

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

"However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.'" I Corinthians 2:9

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Daily Inspiration

Pray together as a family and share each other's joys and burdens. Lord, he is not heavy. He's my brother.

If you feel the need to get even, try getting even with those that have helped you. Lord, free me from any thoughts of revenge because this only shuts the door to my own happiness.