today's readings

August 23

Daily Reflections

BRINGING THE MESSAGE HOME

Can we bring the same spirit of love and tolerance into our sometimes deranged family lives that we bring to our A.A. group? TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS , pp. 111 -112

My family members suffer from the effects of my disease. Loving and accepting them as they are - just as I love and accept A.A. members - fosters a return of love, tolerance and harmony to my life. Using common courtesy and respecting other's personal boundaries are necessary practices for all areas of my life.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

"We who have accepted the A.A. principles have been faced with the necessity for a thorough personal housecleaning. We must face and be rid of the things in ourselves that have been blocking us. We therefore take a personal inventory. We take stock honestly. We search out the flaws in our make-up that caused our failure. Resentment is the number one offender. Life that includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. If we are to live, we must be free of anger." Am I free of resentment and anger?

Meditation For The Day

Keep in mind the goal you are striving for, the good life you are trying to attain. Do not let little things divert you from the path. Do not be overcome by the small trials and vexations of each day. Try to see the purpose and plan to which all is leading. if, when climbing a mountain, you keep your eyes on each stony or difficult place, how weary is your climb. But if you think of each step as leading to the summit of achievement from which a glorious landscape will open out before you, then your climb will be endurable and you will achieve your goal.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may realize that life without a goal is futile. I pray that I may find the good life worth striving for.

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As Bill Sees It

Freed Prisoners, p. 234

Letter to a prison group:

"Every A.A. has been, in a sense, a prisoner. Each of us has walled himself out of society; each has known social stigma. The lot of you folks has been even more difficult: In your case, society has also built a wall around you. But there isn't any really essential difference, a fact that practically all A.A.'s now know.

"Therefore, when you members come into the world of A.A. on the outside, you can be sure that no one will care a fig that you have done time. What you are trying to be--not what you were--is all that counts to us."

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Walk In Dry Places

Planning for others. Letting Go. There are times when we think we see perfectly what others ought to be doing. It pains and disturbs us when loved ones..... our children, perhaps... do not heed our advice. In planning for others, we can easily fall into the trap of enabling. An enabler is a person who supports others in an unhealthy addiction or dependency. We must not plan the lives of others, no matter how dear they are to us or how attached we become to them. They must have the freedom to live without obligation or the belief that they could not have succeeded without our help. Freedom of choice is a precious right that includes the freedom to make mistakes. I'll release any tendency I have to plan for others. At all times, my responsibility is to keep on the right track and let others be free.

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Keep It Simple

Where there is no vision, a people perish.---Ralph Waldo Emerson Working our program teaches us to see things more clearly. We learn to look at who we really are. At first, we’re scared to see ourselves. But it turns out okay, even though were not perfect. We also begin to see others more clearly. We see good in people we don’t like. And we see faults in people we thought we’re prefect. But we don’t judge people anymore. Nobody is perfect. Just as our program friends accept us as we are, we learn to accept others. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, sometimes I don’t like what I see. Help me to believe Your way will for me. Help me have a vision. Action for the Day: I will use my new way of seeing thing to avoid trouble today.

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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.

During my first few months in Akron. I was quite sure that I never wanted to see my hometown again. Too many economic and social problems would beset me there. I would make a fresh start somewhere else. After six months of sobriety, I saw the picture in a different light: Detroit was the place I had to return to, not only because I must face the mess I had made there, but because it was there that I could be of the most service to A.A. In the spring of 1939, Bill stopped off in Akron on his way to Detroit on business. I jumped at the suggestion that I accompany him. We spent two days there together before he returned to New York. Friends invited me to stay on for as long as I cared to. I remained with them for three weeks, using part of the time in making many amends, which I had had no earlier opportunity of making.

p. 252

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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."

This all meant, of course, that we were still far off balance. When a job still looked like a mere means of getting money rather than an opportunity for service, when the acquisition of money for financial independence looked more important than a right dependence upon God, we were still the victims of unreasonable fears. And these were fears which would make a serene and useful existence, at any financial level, quite impossible.

p. 121

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Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. --Benjamin Disraeli

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. --Will Rogers

First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others. --Thomas A. Kempis

There is only one you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself. --Anthony Rapp

I can repeat the past, or I can create new and better experiences. --Shelley

Today I will take enough time to do something good for myself only. I will buy myself a gift or spend worthwhile time doing something pleasant and fulfilling. I have enough time today and I deserve this time for myself. --Ruth Fishel

"Children stand more in need of example than criticism." --Joseph Joubert

What is not love is fear. Anger is one of fear's most potent faces. And it does exactly what fear wants it to do. It keeps us from receiving love at exactly the moment when we need it most. -- Marianne Williamson

The spiritual path is not one of attainment, but return. --Alan Cohen

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

CONFIDENCE

"There is no sort of work that could ever be done well if you minded what fools say." -- George Eliot

Part of the risk in my recovery is arousing the displeasure of others. I know that I cannot please all the people --- and yet my disease tells me that I must! For years I missed life's opportunities because I listened to negative and frightened people. Today I choose to shout my "yes" to life, and I ignore the fools. The fools are rarely friends. Rather, they seek to keep me in the same prison as themselves. If they truly loved me, they would encourage me to be imaginative and creative.

Today I have a joyride "letting go and letting God" because God is a great risk-taker!

I pray that I may always listen to the advice of others, but never miss my power of decision.

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The Lord watches over you..... The Lord is your shade at your right hand. Psalm 121 : 5

"Judge not according to the appearance." John 7: 24

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit." Psalm 51:12

"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." I John 4:12

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Daily Inspiration

Life has a way of working itself out if you simply make the best of this moment, one moment at a time. Lord, You have given me this moment. Grant me the wisdom to live it in a way that will make a difference for me and for those around me.

No one has ever asked of God and not received an answer. Lord, bless me with quiet resolve to hear You and wisdom to accept Your Will.