Today's readings

September 11

Daily Reflections

MAKING AMENDS

Above all, we should try to be absolutely sure that we are not
delaying because we are afraid.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 87

To have courage, to be unafraid, are gifts of my recovery. They
empower me to ask for help and to go forth in making my amends with
a sense of dignity and humility. Making amends may require a certain
amount of honesty that I feel I lack, yet with the help of God and
the wisdom of others, I can reach within and find the strength to
act. My amends may be accepted, or they may not, but after they are
completed I can walk with a sense of freedom and know that, for
today, I am responsible.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Continuing the answers to the question of how a person can live
without liquor and be happy, we say: "You will be bound to the other
A.A.s with new and wonderful ties, for you and they will escape
disaster together and all will commence shoulder to shoulder the
common journey to a better and more satisfactory life. You will know
what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and
rediscover life. You will become happy, respected, and useful once
more. Since these things have happened to us, they can happen to
you." Have these things happened to me?

Meditation For The Day

God manifests Himself in human lives as strength to overcome evil
and power to resist temptation. The grace of God is that power which
enables a human being to change from a useless, hopeless individual
to a useful, normal person. God also manifests Himself as love--love
for other people, compassion for their problems, and a real
willingness to help them. The grace of God also manifests itself as
peace of mind and serenity of character. We can have plenty of power,
love, and serenity in our lives if we are willing to ask God for
these things each day.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may see God's grace in the strength I receive, the love
I know, and the peace I have. I pray that I may be grateful for the
things I have received through the grace of God.

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As Bill Sees It

"Look Before You Leap"?, p.253

"Wise men and women rightly give a top rating to the virtue of
prudence. They know that without this all important attribute
little wisdom is to be had.

"Mere 'looking before we leap' is not enough. If our looking is
charged with fear, suspicion, or anger, we had better not have looked
or acted at all."

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"We lose the fear of making decisions, great and small, as we realize
that should our choice prove wrong we can, if we will, learn from the
experience. Should our decision be the right one, we can thank God
for giving us the courage and the grace that caused us so to act."

Letters, 1966

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Walk In Dry Places

With Whom are we Honest?
Honesty
"When you're up before a judge, you can't be honest with the court,"
an AA member said, with some regret. "If you are, the judge will throw
the book at you."
This member was right in the sense that court-room disclosures must
always be made with prudence. What's more important is that we are
always completely honest with ourselves and the close friends who serve
as our sponsors. As for what is disclosed in a court situation, for example,
we follow sound professional advice. Under no circumstances, of course,
should we tell an outright lie, however.
Our practice of honesty also does not require us to tell every person we
know about our alcoholism. We are entitled to our privacy as well as anonymity.
Others, in turn, need not be burdened with complete knowledge about our lives.
Our Higher Power will guide us along honest paths once we're committed to the
program. We will know when and how to make the right disclosures about ourselves.
I'll practice rigorous honest today. At the same time, I will be prudent in the way
I disclose personal information.

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Keep It Simple

This above all: To thine own self be true.
---William Shakespeare
What does this saying mean: “To thine own self be true”? Hadn’t we thought
only of ourselves before recovery? The answer is no. That wasn’t the real us.
Each of us lost touch with our real self because of our addiction. We lost our
goals, our feelings, our values. We chased the high. In this way, we lost our
spirit. We became addicts.
With sobriety, we find ourselves again---and it feels great! We stop playing a
role and become ourselves---and it’s wonderful. We follow our dreams and
beliefs, not some addictive wild goose chase. We are again free to be ourselves.
Thank you. Higher Power.
Prayer for the Day: Today, I pray to be myself, to know all of me. I can trust
myself because my spirit is good.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll pray: “thine own self be true.”

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Each Day a New Beginning

I used to think I'd never know the difference between serenity and depression
because depression subdued me. --S.H.
Depression is familiar to us all, and less incapacitating than it used to be. We
have made progress, we can be assured. "This too shall pass" is not an empty slogan.
Each of us can recall, with ease probably, a period we thought we'd never survive.
Maybe our problem was family-related, or a tough on-the-job situation. Or maybe
we felt inadequate and lacking in strength to cope with all situations. But we managed.
Here we are today, taking charge of our lives and moving forward in search of serenity.
Serenity no doubt eludes us, again and again, throughout the day. But we can let our
minds rest. We can give our thoughts to the wind, and serenity will find us. Serenity's
peace nurtures us, strengthens us to withstand the turmoil ahead. There is always
turmoil ahead. Life's lessons are found there. The irony is that a life with no problems
doesn't offer the opportunities we must have if we are to grow.
I will let the serene moments wash over me. I will cherish them. They soften me.
And the blows of today's tumultuous storm will be lessened.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

WINNER TAKES ALL - Legally blind but no longer alone, she found a way to stay
sober, raise a family, and turn her life over to the care of God.

When I was three years sober, I made one of the most difficult decisions I had ever
made. I left the marriage. I did not leave because I didn't love him. I still love him,
but the marriage was not a healthy place for me to be. I found myself with two children
to support. I was legally blind and had no job skills. When I moved out, I first moved
into public housing for blind people. This was a shocking experience for me, but it was
full of growth. For the first time in my life, I was learning to accept my handicap.
Before this I would plan out my day as if I could see and then plan it out again based
on the fact that my vision was limited.

p. 379
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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."

Compatibility, of course, can be so impossibly damaged that a separation may be necessary.
But those cases are the unusual ones. The alcoholic, realizing what his wife has endured,
and now fully understanding how much he himself did to damage her and his children,
nearly always takes up his marriage responsibilities with a willingness to repair what
he can and to accept what he can't. He persistently tries all of A.A.'s Twelve Steps in his
home, often with fine results. At this point he firmly but lovingly commences to behave
like a partner instead of like a bad boy. And above all he is finally convinced that reckless
romancing is not a way of life for him.

p. 119

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Few is the number of those who think with their own mind and feel
with their own heart.
--Albert Einstein

"I think everybody has to experience a certain amount of pain on the
way to maturity."
--Ruth Casey

"The great mind knows the power of gentleness."
--Robert Browning

God is guiding me in all my thoughts and plans and actions. I have
given up all my struggling and self-defeating messages and have
turned over all my thoughts to the power and energy of goodness and
love.
--Ruth Fishel

Today, I will not run from myself, my circumstances, or feelings. I will
be open to myself, others, my Higher Power, and life. I will trust that
by facing today to the best of my ability, I will acquire the skills I need
to face tomorrow.
--Melody Beattie

We do not possess our home, our children, or even our own body. They
are only given to us for a short while to treat with care and respect.
--Jack Kornfield

"Two things are hard on the heart - running upstairs and running down
people."
--Unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

THOUGHT

"To be able to be caught up in a
world of thought -- that is being
educated."
-- Edith Hamilton

For years I didn't think I reacted. Things happened and I felt I had to
respond -- but rarely was it a considered response. I had no
program for my life. I was like a boat without a sail.

Today I think before I speak. I talk things over with a sponsor or
friends before I make an important decision. I listen to the opinions
of others before I make a choice. Today I am caught up in a world
of thought and it isn't simply my own. God knows my best thinking
nearly killed me!

The world only makes sense because people share. It is the giving
and receiving that makes life worthwhile. To be an island unto
myself is isolation. I know what it was to be lonely. Today I desire a
relationship of mind, body and feelings.

Let me find You in my neighbor and be sustained by the stranger.

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"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends."
John 15:13

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that
which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto
the hearers."
Ephesians 4:29

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and
dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many
seeds."
John 12:24

If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full
measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and
running over. Whatever measure you use in giving "large or small" it
will be used to measure what is given back to you.
Luke 6:38

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Daily Inspiration

The little moments of the day are as important in building our foundation as the impact of great events.
Lord, thank You for my blessings and my crosses. Graciously bless me with the courage to grow closer
to You with all that fills my day.

Never doubt the power, the wisdom and the love that God has for you.
Lord, thank You for Your constant care and the certainty of Your love for me.