Today's Readings

Daily Reflections

I CANNOT CHANGE THE WIND

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 85

My first sponsor told me there were two things to say about prayer and meditation: first, I had to start and second, I had to continue. When I came to A.A. my spiritual life was bankrupt; if I considered God at all, He was to be called upon only when my self-will was incapable of a task or when overwhelming fears had eroded my ego.

Today I am grateful for a new life, one in which my prayers are those of thanksgiving. My prayer time is more for listening than for talking. I know today that if I cannot change the wind, I can adjust my sail. I know the difference between superstition and spirituality. I know there is a graceful way of being right, and many ways to be wrong.

************************************************** *********

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

I have hope. That magic thing that I had lost or misplaced. The future looks dark no more. I do not even look at it, except when necessary to make plans. I try to let the future take care of itself. The future will be made up of todays and todays, stretching out as short as now and as long as eternity. Hope is justified by many right nows, by the rightness of the present. Nothing can happen to me that God does not will for me. I can hope for the best, as long as I have what I have and it is good. Have I hope?

Meditation For The Day

Faith is the messenger that bears your prayers to God. Prayer can be like incense, rising ever higher and higher. The prayer of faith is the prayer of trust that feels the presence of God which it rises to meet. It can be sure of some response from God. We can say a prayer of thanks to God every day for His grace, which has kept us on the right way and allowed us to start living the good life. So we should pray to God with faith and trust and gratitude.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may feel sure of some response to my prayers. I pray that I may be content with whatever form that response takes.

************************************************** *********

As Bill Sees It

Loving Advisers, p. 303

Had I not been blessed with wise and loving advisers, I might have cracked up long ago. A doctor once saved me from death by alcoholism because he obliged me to face up to the deadlines of that malady. Another doctor, a psychiatrist, later on helped me save my sanity because he led me to ferret out some of my deep-lying defects. >From a clergyman I acquired the truthful principles by which we A.A.'s now try to live.

But these precious friends did far more than supply me with their professional skills. I learned that I could go to them with any problem whatever. Their wisdom and their integrity were mine for the asking.

Many of my dearest A.A. friends have stood with me in exactly this same relation. Oftentimes they could help where others could not, simply because they were A.A.'s.

Grapevine, August 1961

************************************************** *********

Walk In Dry Places

Do we have the free will? The question of a human being's free will has been argued for centuries by learned individuals. We can answer it for ourselves as a result of our experience in AA. Our freedom was lost while we were in the grip of alcohol. Once free of drink, we still realized that many things in life are controlled by other people and things, such as political and economic forces. If our employer closes the business, for example, we may have to choose less satisfactory employment. If a person threatens physical violence, we may have to go along with his or her wishes against our will. In all circumstances, our free will lies in the way we choose to think about what's happening. We always have the choice of turning to our Higher Power in thought, rather than reacting with fear and resentment. This is the only free will we can possibly have in the world, but it may be all we really need. If a difficult situation or problem arises, I'll remember that no human power could have relieved my alcoholism. This will remind me that the true source of power is always at hand.

************************************************** *********

Keep It Simple

Sought through pray and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him. . . First half of Step Eleven Through Step Eleven, we develop a lasting, loving relationship with our Higher Power. Conscious contact means knowing and sensing God in our lives throughout the day. God is not just an idea. We talk with our Higher Power through prayer. As we meditate, we sense God’s love for us, and we get answers to our questions. When we pray and meditate, we become aware that God is always with us. Our Higher Power becomes our best friend. Our Higher Power is there for advice, support, celebration, comfort. Prayer for the Day: Dear Higher Power, I pray that our relationship grows stronger every day. I accept the friendship You offer me. Action for the Day: Today, I’ll seek out God through prayer and meditation.

************************************************** *********

Each Day a New Beginning

For to be a woman is to have interests and duties, raying out in all directions from the central mother-core, like spokes from the hub of a wheel. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh It is sometimes easy to get overwhelmed by our duties, forgetting that our interests fit the scheme of our lives. They are inspired by our lives and flow from them. Our interests round us out; they beckon us to become our better selves. Our duties have their places as well. In our careers, with our families and friends, we have responsibilities. People need to be able to count on us for our part in completing their particular scheme for life. Finding the right balance between our duties and our interests takes daily attention. It is perhaps our greatest struggle. Feeling duty-bound is common among women; putting a low value on our interests is a familiar trick we play on ourselves. We need reminding that our interests will cull out our better, inner selves. We must stretch to become all we are meant to be. Our interests entice us to live up to God's expectations. Each day I need to pay heed to interests as well as duties. I will let no day go by without heeding an interest.

************************************************** *********

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

THE PERPETUAL QUEST - This lawyer tried psychiatrists. biofeedback, relaxation exercises, and a host of other techniques to control her drinking. She finally found a solution, uniquely tailored, in the Twelve Steps.

I became as compulsive about A.A. as I had been about drinking, which was necessary because I had been told to spend as much time at meetings as I had spent drinking. I went to every A.A. get-together possible and was saturated with A.A. I listened to tapes of A.A. talks. I read and reread the literature and books, laughing into the night over Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers. I signed up for the Loners-Internationalist Meeting in print (LIM) and shared the meetings I attended in letters to people who could not get to meetings. This helped me to remember what I had heard, and my sharing helped someone else. I once wrote to a man who received my letter the same day he had killed someone in a car accident, which would no doubt make one very, very thirsty.

p. 396 ************************************************** *********

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Three - "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."

Quite a while later, Ed got a sales job which took him out of town. At the end of a few days, the news came in. He'd sent a telegram for money, and everybody knew what that meant! Then he got on the phone. In those days, we'd go anywhere on a Twelfth Step job, no matter how unpromising. But this time nobody stirred. "Leave him alone! Let him try it by himself for once; maybe he'll learn a lesson!"

p. 144

************************************************** *********

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver. --Barbara De Angelis

However long the night, the dawn will break. --African Proverb

Let your anger set with the sun and not rise again. --Irish Proverb

Gratitude is to thank God for all His infinite goodness with all our heart. --Ottokar Prohaszka

Gods love, can heal all things. --Shelley

***********************************************

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

RISKS

"Appeasers believe that if you keep on throwing steaks to tigers, the tiger will become a vegetarian." -- Heywood Broun

Spirituality involves taking risks. But the risk has to be sensible, having the possibility of success. The risks I take today have a chance, usually a good chance, of succeeding and I always discuss "the risk" with a sponsor or recovering friend with some years of sobriety.

Today I take risks on things and situations that have the possibility of working for me, rather than against me. God has given me freedom and He has taken a risk on how I exercise that freedom. God's love is revealed in the risk. But risk should have the possibility of success!

I pray that I will continue to take sensible risks.

************************************************** *********

"I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." John 12:46

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind." Matthew 22:37

************************************************** *********

Daily Inspiration

The ordinary things we do each day are often taken for granted and make us feel unimportant. Lord, help me change my thinking so that I can happily see that the little things I do are very important and that I do make a very big difference.

When you are troubled, comfort someone more troubled, when lonely, reach out to one that is lonelier and when unsure, give encouragement to the weary. To care for another makes us forget our own sorrows. Lord, You comfort me. Help me now to be a comforter.