September 22
Daily Reflections
A "LIMITLESS LODE"
Like a gaunt prospector, belt drawn in over the last
ounce of food, our pick struck gold. Joy at our
release from a lifetime of frustration knew no bounds.
Father feels he has struck something better than gold.
For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself.
He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a
limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines
it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away
the entire product.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 128-29
When I talk with a newcomer to A.A., my past looks me
straight in the face. I see the pain in those hopeful
eyes, I extend my hand, and then the miracle happens: I
become healed. My problems vanish as I reach out to his
trembling soul.
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Step Eight is, "Made a list of all persons we had harmed
and became willing to make amends to them all." Step Nine
is, "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others." Making
restitution for the wrongs we have done is often very
difficult. It hurts our pride. But the rewards are great.
When we go to a person and say we are sorry, the reaction
we get is almost invariably good. It takes courage to make
the plunge, but the results more than justify it. A load is
off your chest and often an enemy has been turned into
a friend. Have I done my best to make all the restitution
possible?
Meditation For The Day
There should be joy in living the spiritual life. A faith
without joy is not entirely genuine. If you are not happier
as a result of your faith, there is probably something wrong
with it. Faith in God should bring you a deep feeling of
happiness and security, no matter what happens on the surface
of your life. Each new day is another opportunity to serve God
and improve your relationships with other people. This should
bring joy. Life should be abundant and outreaching. It should
be glowing and outgoing, in ever widening circles.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that my horizons may grow ever wider.
I pray that I may keep reaching out for more service
and companionship.
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As Bill Sees It
The Step That Keeps Us growing, p.264
Sometimes, when friends tell us how well we are doing, we know
better inside. We know we aren't doing well enough. We still
can't handle life, as life is. There must be a serious flaw
somewhere in our spiritual practice and development.
What, then, is it?
The chances are better than even that we shall locate our trouble in
our misunderstanding or neglect of A.A.'s Step Eleven--prayer,
meditation, and the guidance of God.
The other Steps can keep most of us sober and somehow functioning.
But Step Eleven can keep us growing, if we try hard and work at it
continually.
Grapevine, June 1958
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Walk In Dry Places
Making tough decisions
Decision Making
An AA member in a supervisor's position was faced with the need to
terminate an unsatisfactory employee. Procrastinating about this
unpleasant matter, she found herself wishing that the employee
would suddenly find another job, thus making the termination
ordeal unnecessary.
But further reflection showed that the procrastination was related
to the same problems that had dogged her in her drinking years.
She was a people=pleaser; she felt guilty about inflicting pain on others.
She was finally able to make the tough decision and call the employee
in for termination. In the process, she discovered that a brief prayer
time for preparation and a gentle manner removed some of the pain
for her and the employee being terminated. She learned that the
principles of the program could help her become more decisive
without being brutal.
I'll look over any tough decisions I;ve been putting off and determination
why I'm behaving that way. Am I prolonging tough decisions just as
I did when drinking?
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Keep It Simple
One Day at a Time. Program slogan
This slogan means we are to take with us only the joys and
problems of the present day.
We don’t carry with us the mistakes of the days gone by. We
have no room for them. We are to work at loving others today.
Just today.
It’s crazy for us to think we can handle more than one day at a
time. During our illness, we lived everywhere but in the here
and now. We looked to the future or punished ourselves with
our past. One Day at a Time teaches us to go easy. It teaches
us to focus on what really means anything to us: the here and now.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me turn the slogans
of my programs into a way of life. Help me to live life moment
by moment, One Day at a Time.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll practice living in the present.
When I find myself living in the past or in the future, I’ll bring
myself back to today.
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Each Day a New Beginning
Anger conquers when unresolved. --Anonymous
Emotions need recognition. But not only attention; they also
need acceptance as powerful dimensions of who we are. Their
influence over who we are capable of becoming is mighty.
Respectful attention and willing acceptance of our emotions,
whether fear or anger or hateful jealousy, takes away their sting.
We can prevent them from growing larger than they are. Like a
child who screams and misbehaves more and more fiercely until
attention is won, our emotions grow larger and more intense the
longer we deny their existence.
Our emotions bless us, in reality. They enrich our experiences.
They serve as guideposts on the road we're traveling. How we
"feel" at any single moment flags the level of our security, how
close we are to our higher power, the level of our commitment
to the program. They serve us well when acknowledged. On
the other hand, when ignored or denied, they can immobilize
us, even defeat us.
My feelings frequent my being, always. They steer my behavior.
They reflect my attitudes. They hint at my closeness to God.
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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
ME AN ALCOHOLIC? - Alcohol's wringer squeezed this author--
but he escaped quite whole.
The other side of the coin is sinister, baffling. I was inwardly unhappy
most of the time. There would be times when the life of respectability
and achievement seemed insufferably dull--I had to break out.
This I would do by going completely "bohemian" for a night, getting
drunk, and rolling home with the dawn. Next day, remorse would be
on me like a tiger. I'd claw my way back to respectability and stay
there--until the inevitable next time.
p. 382
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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Seven - "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings."
How we alcoholics did resent that verdict! We would not believe that
our adult dreams were often truly childish. And considering the rough
deal life had given us, we felt it perfectly natural that we were sensitive.
As to our grandiose behavior, we insisted that we had been possessed of
nothing but a high and legitimate ambition to win the battle of life.
p. 123
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Without memory, there is no healing. Without forgiveness, there is no
future."
"A quiet hour is worth more to you than anything you can do in it."
--Sara One Jewess
"If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else"
--Chinese Proverb
A good exercise for the heart is to bend down and help another up.
He who divides and shares is left with the best share.
--Mexican Proverb
"Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming
away better and happier."
--Mother Theresa
If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty
of the sunset.
--Krishnamurti
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Father Leo's Daily Meditation
HEAVEN
"If you're not allowed to laugh
in heaven, I don't want to go
there."
-- Martin Luther
When I was a practicing alcoholic, I imagined heaven to be a dull
formal place, rather like a never-ending cathedral. Beautiful, but
serious. My pain and guilt were so great that I rarely laughed, and
when I did it was usually inappropriate and violent: I laughed at
others!
Today heaven is associated with recovery. It is a place of joy,
acceptance and forgiveness. A place where people can be themselves
and where variety abounds. Christians play with people from other
religions -- and the atheists make the music! The laughter of "peace"
abounds. I am "at one" with my Father and all my brothers and sisters.
I am home!
God of Love, when I hear the sound of laughter here on earth, I think
what joy awaits me in heaven.
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"Happy are the people to whom such blessing fall; happy are the
people whose God is the Lord."
Psalm 144:15
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save
his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it."
Matthew 16:24-25
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Daily Inspiration
Envision the joy of victory when you are faced with troubles and you will
clearly see what direction you must take. Lord, with You my storm will
pass and I will grow stronger as I grow closer to You.
Take heart in the beauty of your life because God loves, helps, fights and
wins. Lord, I will never fear because nothing can triumph over Your Will.
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