Thursday's Readings

Recovery Readings

October 6

Daily Reflections

FACING OURSELVES

. . . . and Fear says, "You dare not look!"
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 49

How often I avoided a task in my drinking days,
just because it appeared so large! Is it any wonder
even if I have been sober for some time, that I will
act that same way when faced with what appears to be
a monumental job, such as a searching and fearless
moral inventory of myself? What I discover after I
have arrived at the other side--when my inventory is
completed--is that the illusion was greater than the
reality. The fear of facing myself kept me at a
standstill and, until I became willing to put pencil
to paper, I was arresting my growth based on an
intangible.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Is it my desire to be a big shot in A.A.? Do I always
want to be up front in the limelight? Do I feel that
nobody else can do as good a job as I can? Or am I
willing to take a seat in the back row once in a while
and let somebody else carry the ball? Part of the
effectiveness of any A.A. group is the development of
new members to carry on, to take over, from the older
members. Am I reluctant to give up authority? Do I try
to carry the load for the whole group? If so, I am not
being fair to the newer members. Do I realize that no
one person is essential? Do I know that A.A. could
carry on without me, if it had to?

Meditation For The Day

The Unseen God can help to make us truly grateful and
humble. Since we cannot see God, we must believe in Him
without seeing. What we can see clearly is the change in
a human being, when he sincerely asks God for the strength
to change. We should cling to faith in God and in His power
to change our faith in God and in His power to change our
ways. Our faith in all Unseen God will be rewarded by a
useful and serviceable life. God will not fail to show us
the way we should live. When in real gratitude and true
humility we turn to Him..

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may believe that God can change me.
I pray that I may be always willing to be changed
for the better.

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As Bill Sees It

To Lighten Our Burden, p.277

Only one consideration should qualify our desire for a complete
disclosure of the damage we have done. That will arise where a
full revelation would seriously harm the one to whom we are
making amends. Or--quite as important--other people. We
cannot, for example, unload a detailed account of extramarital
adventuring upon the shoulders of our unsuspecting wife or husband.

It does not lighten our burden when we recklessly make the crosses
of others heavy.

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In making amends, we should be sensible, tactful, considerate, and
humble without being servile or scraping. As God's people, we stand
on our feet; we don't crawl before anyone.

1. 12 & 12, p.86
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p.83

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Walk In Dry Places

By Their fruits
Inventory.
An old saying reminds us that the value of any spiritual effort can be measured
by how well it work: "A good tree is known by its fruits."
By that standard, the 12 Step movement fares very well. Its life-changing work
has won consistent praise and has had continuous success ever since it became
known to the public.
We can apply that same statement to new ideas as they appear in our lives. If
somebody has suggestions or advice, we might ask how well such ideas are working
out for them. We would not take investment advice, for example, from someone
who had repeatedly lost money.
We should always be wary of ideas that go counter to the basic principles of our
program. some people may invite us to share their resentments, for example, but we
have no obligation to do so. We will be even less inclined to do so when we look at
the results they're getting from their resentments, Evaluating ideas "by their fruits"
is a good test.
I'll be careful to look at all the facts in connection with any idea presented today.
I have a right to judge everything by results.

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Keep It Simple

If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.
---Virginia Woolf
Working the Twelve Steps helps us learn the truth. As we struggle with Step Four,
we learn the truth about ourselves. We learn even more about ourselves by doing
Steps Eight and Ten. When we admit the truth about ourselves, things come into
focus. Big changes happen.
As a result, we can see other people more clearly. We see bad sides in people we
thought were prefect. We see good sides in people we hated. We start to know that
everyone has to work hard to find what’s right for them. No one knows all the answers.
In short, we begin to trust others also who also are looking for the truth.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me clearly see myself and others.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll think about how doing Step Ten keeps me clear
about what’s going on in my life.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Many people are living in an emotional jail without recognizing it. --Virginia Satir
Each of us is blessed with an internal guide, a source able to direct our actions if we
but acknowledge it. Never are we in doubt for long about what path to take. The
courage to take it might not be immediately forthcoming; however, it, too, is one
of the gifts with which we've been blessed. Courage is ours for the asking. Right
direction is ours for the taking.
Trusting our inner selves takes practice, followed by attention to the results of our risks.
Before recovery, many of us passively waited for others to orchestrate our behavior,
our feelings, and our attitudes. Stepping forward as the leading lady, with our own script
in hand is quite a change, but one we are being coached, daily, to make.
The Steps help us to know who we are. More importantly, they help us become the women
we long to be. But most important, they offer us the spiritual strength to risk listening to
the message within and the strength to go forth as directed.
Right results, again and again, are elicited by right action. And my knowledge of the right
action is always, and forever, as close as myself.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

ME AN ALCOHOLIC? - Alcohol's wringer squeezed this author--but he
escaped quite whole.

Here I found an ingredient that had been lacking in any other effort I had made to save
myself. Here was--power! Here was power to live to the end of any given day, power
to have the courage to face the next day, power to have friends, power to help people,
power to be sane, power to stay sober. That was seven years ago--and many A.A. meetings
ago--and I haven't had a drink during those seven years. Moreover, I am deeply convinced
that so long as I continue to strive, in my bumbling way, toward the principles I first
encountered in the earlier chapters of this book, this remarkable power will continue
to flow through me. What is this power? With my A.A. friends, all I can say is that it's a
Power greater than myself. If pressed, all I can do is follow the psalmist who said it long
before me: "Be still, and know that I am God."

pp. 386-387

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Two - "For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God
as He may express Himself in our group conscience."

Where does A.A. get its direction? Who runs it? This, too, is a puzzler for every friend and
newcomer. When told that our Society has no president having authority to govern it, no
treasurer who can compel the payment of any dues, no board of directors who can cast an
erring member into outer darkness, when indeed no A.A. can give another a directive and
enforce obedience, our friends gasp and exclaim, "This simply can't be. There must be an
angle somewhere." These practical folk then read Tradition Two, and learn that the sole
authority in A.A. is a loving God as He may express Himself in the group conscience. They
dubiously ask an experienced A.A. member if this really works. The member, sane to all
appearances, immediately answers, "Yes! It definitely does." The friends mutter that this
looks vague, nebulous, pretty naive to them. Then they commence to watch us with
speculative eyes, pick up a fragment of A.A. history, and soon have the solid facts.

p. 132

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I have held many things in my hands and have lost them all, but whatever I placed in
God's hands I still possess.
--GGDNER

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do...
but how much love we put in that action.
--Mother Teresa

Live your life and forget your age.
--Norman Vincent Peale

In a world that is constantly changing, there is no one subject or set of
subjects that will serve you for the foreseeable future, let alone for the
rest of your life. The most important skill to acquire now is learning how to learn.
--John Naisbitt

"In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes
the circle and comes back to us."
--Flora Edwards

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

FORGIVENESS

"Forgiveness is the key to action
and freedom."
-- Hannah Arendt

Early in sobriety I found it easy to forgive others but hard to forgive myself. This kept me
sick and negative, even in recovery, because I was unable to practice self-love. I still
blamed me and felt responsible for being alcoholic. I had not surrendered to the reality of
alcoholism as a disease.

Then a moment of sanity was granted me whereby I understood that I was not responsible
for being alcoholic, but that I am responsible for my recovery. And my recovery involves
a love and respect of self. This knowledge brought a tremendous joy and freedom that led
to action within the recovering community. Only by loving me will I be able to
love you, and in both these ways I show my love of God.

May I always hold on to the spiritual power of forgiveness.

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"Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."
1 Peter 5:7

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. I have taken an oath and
confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. I have suffered much; preserve
my life, O LORD, according to your word. Accept, O LORD, the willing praise of my
mouth, and teach me your laws. Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will
not forget your law. The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from
your precepts. Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.
My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.
Psalm 119:105-112

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Daily Inspiration

Be aware of the blessings of friendship and know that to have a friend you must be
one in return. Lord, help me to be able to smile, to share, to listen and to be available
when I am needed.

God's promises are not for those who walk through life with no obstacles, but for those
who overcome their obstacles. Lord, I pray, not to overpower others, but to overcome
my own weaknesses and strengthen my trust in You.