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.
************************************************** *********
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.
************************************************** *********
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
************************************************** *********
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?
************************************************** *********
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.
************************************************** *********
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.
************************************************** *********
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
************************************************** *********
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
************************************************** *********
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
***********************************************
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.
************************************************** *********
"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
************************************************** *********
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.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Today's readings
Provided by bluidkiti at http://www.bluidkiti.com/forums/
September 21
Daily Reflections
THE LAST PROMISE
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us
what we could not do for ourselves.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84
The last Promise in the Big Book came true for me
on the very first day of sobriety. God kept me sober
that day, and on every other day I allowed Him to
operate in my life. He gives me the strength, courage
and guidance to meet my responsibilities in life so
that I am then able to reach out and help others stay
sober and grow. He manifests within me, making me a
channel of His word, thought and deed. He works with
my inner self, while I produce in the outer world, for
He will not do for me what I can do for myself. I must
be willing to do His work, so that He can function
through me successfully.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Let us continue with Steps Four, Five, Six, Seven
and Ten. In taking personal inventory of ourselves,
we have to face facts as they really are. We have to
stop running away. We must face reality. We must see
ourselves as we really are. We must admit our faults
openly and try to correct them. We must try to see
where we have been dishonest, impure, selfish, and
unloving. We do not do this once and forget it. We
do it every day of our lives, as long as we live. We
are never done with checking up on ourselves. Am I
taking a daily inventory of myself?
Meditation For The Day
In improving our personal lives, we have Unseen help.
We were not made so that we could see God. That would
be too easy for us and there would be no merit in
obeying Him. It takes an act of faith, a venture of
belief, to realize the Unseen Power. Yet, we have much
evidence of God's existence in the strength that many
people have received from the act of faith, the venture
of belief. We are in a box of space and time and we can
see neither our souls nor God. God and the human spirit
are both outside the limitations of space and time. Yet
our Unseen help is effective here and now. That has
been proved in thousands of changed lives.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may make the great venture of belief.
I pray that my vision may not be blocked by intellectual pride.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Fear And Faith, p.263
The achievement of freedom from fear is a lifetime undertaking, one
that can never be wholly completed.
When under heavy attack, acute illness, or in other conditions of
serious insecurity, we shall all react to this emotion--well or badly, as
the case may be. Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom
from fear.
********************************
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our
make-up. Sometimes we had to search persistently, but He was
there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great
Reality deep down within us.
1. Grapevine, January 1962
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p.55
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Love doesn’t make the world go around. Love is what makes the
ride worthwhile. ---Franklin Jones
Before recovery, anger, self-pity, and sadness often filled our hearts.
The world went on. We came to hate the ride.
In recovery, love fills our hearts. We begin to love life. Love is really
caring about what happens to other people. Love is what makes the
ride worth it
We find much love in our program. People really mater to us. We really
matter to others. For many of us, we learn how to love in our meetings.
The program teaches love because the program is love.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll welcome love into my heart and
others into my life. Love brings me closer to my Higher Power.
Action for the Day: I’ll list all the people I love and why they matter
to me.
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning
Praise and an attitude of gratitude are unbeatable stimulators . . .
we increase whatever we extol. --Sylvia Stitt Edwards
What outlook are we carrying forth into the day ahead? Are we feeling
fearful about the circumstances confronting us? Do we dread a planned
meeting? Are we worried about the welfare of a friend or lover?
Whatever our present outlook, its power over the outcome of our day
is profound. Our attitude in regard to any situation attracting our attention
influences the outcome. Sometimes to our favor, often to our disfavor if
our attitude is negative.
Thankfulness toward life guarantees the rewards we desire, the rewards
we seek too often from an ungrateful stance. The feeling of gratitude is
foreign to many of us. We came to this program feeling worthless,
sometimes rejected, frequently depressed. It seemed life had heaped
problems in our laps, and so it had. The more we lamented what life
"gave us," the more reasons we were given to lament. We got just
what we expected. We still get just what we expect. The difference is
that the program has offered us the key to higher expectations.
Gratitude for the good in our lives increases the good.
I have the personal power to influence my day; I will make it a good one.
************************************************** *********
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
************************************************** *********
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
************************************************** *********
Four steps to achievement:
Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue
persistently.
--William A. Ward
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up
and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.
You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.
--Anne Lamott
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase,
just take the first step.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Forget mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what
you're going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day.
--Will Durant
Laughter is the sound of recovery.
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
ACTION
"I shall pass through this world
but once. If, therefore, there be
any kindness I can show, or any
good thing I can do, let me do it
now; let me not defer it or
neglect it, for I shall not pass
this way again."
-- Etienne de Grellet
Today I know that God requires me to be involved in my recovery and
sobriety. God has always wanted me to be sober but the miracle took
place when I wanted it, too. His hands were always extended towards
me, the miracle happened when I chose to embrace Him. My sobriety
involves me.
Today I understand that sobriety is more than "not picking up the first
drink"; it involves quiet acts of kindness to myself and others. God
works through me -- through my hands, my smile, my voice, my love
and my acceptance. When an opportunity arises for me to be
ordinarily kind, I intend to give it; God knows I have needed such
kindnesses from others in the past.
May I never avoid an opportunity for shared healing.
************************************************** *********
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in His word I put my hope.
Psalm 130 : 5
"Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and
love."
2 John 1:3
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Spend less time on the dreams of life and more time on the joys of living.
Lord, help me to view my troubles as smaller than they are until together
we make them disappear.
We are judged by our actions, not by our intentions. Lord, may I show my
love for You through charity and goodness toward others.
September 21
Daily Reflections
THE LAST PROMISE
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us
what we could not do for ourselves.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84
The last Promise in the Big Book came true for me
on the very first day of sobriety. God kept me sober
that day, and on every other day I allowed Him to
operate in my life. He gives me the strength, courage
and guidance to meet my responsibilities in life so
that I am then able to reach out and help others stay
sober and grow. He manifests within me, making me a
channel of His word, thought and deed. He works with
my inner self, while I produce in the outer world, for
He will not do for me what I can do for myself. I must
be willing to do His work, so that He can function
through me successfully.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Let us continue with Steps Four, Five, Six, Seven
and Ten. In taking personal inventory of ourselves,
we have to face facts as they really are. We have to
stop running away. We must face reality. We must see
ourselves as we really are. We must admit our faults
openly and try to correct them. We must try to see
where we have been dishonest, impure, selfish, and
unloving. We do not do this once and forget it. We
do it every day of our lives, as long as we live. We
are never done with checking up on ourselves. Am I
taking a daily inventory of myself?
Meditation For The Day
In improving our personal lives, we have Unseen help.
We were not made so that we could see God. That would
be too easy for us and there would be no merit in
obeying Him. It takes an act of faith, a venture of
belief, to realize the Unseen Power. Yet, we have much
evidence of God's existence in the strength that many
people have received from the act of faith, the venture
of belief. We are in a box of space and time and we can
see neither our souls nor God. God and the human spirit
are both outside the limitations of space and time. Yet
our Unseen help is effective here and now. That has
been proved in thousands of changed lives.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may make the great venture of belief.
I pray that my vision may not be blocked by intellectual pride.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Fear And Faith, p.263
The achievement of freedom from fear is a lifetime undertaking, one
that can never be wholly completed.
When under heavy attack, acute illness, or in other conditions of
serious insecurity, we shall all react to this emotion--well or badly, as
the case may be. Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom
from fear.
********************************
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our
make-up. Sometimes we had to search persistently, but He was
there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great
Reality deep down within us.
1. Grapevine, January 1962
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p.55
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Love doesn’t make the world go around. Love is what makes the
ride worthwhile. ---Franklin Jones
Before recovery, anger, self-pity, and sadness often filled our hearts.
The world went on. We came to hate the ride.
In recovery, love fills our hearts. We begin to love life. Love is really
caring about what happens to other people. Love is what makes the
ride worth it
We find much love in our program. People really mater to us. We really
matter to others. For many of us, we learn how to love in our meetings.
The program teaches love because the program is love.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll welcome love into my heart and
others into my life. Love brings me closer to my Higher Power.
Action for the Day: I’ll list all the people I love and why they matter
to me.
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning
Praise and an attitude of gratitude are unbeatable stimulators . . .
we increase whatever we extol. --Sylvia Stitt Edwards
What outlook are we carrying forth into the day ahead? Are we feeling
fearful about the circumstances confronting us? Do we dread a planned
meeting? Are we worried about the welfare of a friend or lover?
Whatever our present outlook, its power over the outcome of our day
is profound. Our attitude in regard to any situation attracting our attention
influences the outcome. Sometimes to our favor, often to our disfavor if
our attitude is negative.
Thankfulness toward life guarantees the rewards we desire, the rewards
we seek too often from an ungrateful stance. The feeling of gratitude is
foreign to many of us. We came to this program feeling worthless,
sometimes rejected, frequently depressed. It seemed life had heaped
problems in our laps, and so it had. The more we lamented what life
"gave us," the more reasons we were given to lament. We got just
what we expected. We still get just what we expect. The difference is
that the program has offered us the key to higher expectations.
Gratitude for the good in our lives increases the good.
I have the personal power to influence my day; I will make it a good one.
************************************************** *********
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
************************************************** *********
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
************************************************** *********
Four steps to achievement:
Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue
persistently.
--William A. Ward
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up
and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.
You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.
--Anne Lamott
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase,
just take the first step.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
Forget mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what
you're going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day.
--Will Durant
Laughter is the sound of recovery.
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
ACTION
"I shall pass through this world
but once. If, therefore, there be
any kindness I can show, or any
good thing I can do, let me do it
now; let me not defer it or
neglect it, for I shall not pass
this way again."
-- Etienne de Grellet
Today I know that God requires me to be involved in my recovery and
sobriety. God has always wanted me to be sober but the miracle took
place when I wanted it, too. His hands were always extended towards
me, the miracle happened when I chose to embrace Him. My sobriety
involves me.
Today I understand that sobriety is more than "not picking up the first
drink"; it involves quiet acts of kindness to myself and others. God
works through me -- through my hands, my smile, my voice, my love
and my acceptance. When an opportunity arises for me to be
ordinarily kind, I intend to give it; God knows I have needed such
kindnesses from others in the past.
May I never avoid an opportunity for shared healing.
************************************************** *********
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in His word I put my hope.
Psalm 130 : 5
"Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and
love."
2 John 1:3
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Spend less time on the dreams of life and more time on the joys of living.
Lord, help me to view my troubles as smaller than they are until together
we make them disappear.
We are judged by our actions, not by our intentions. Lord, may I show my
love for You through charity and goodness toward others.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Daily readomgs
September 20
Daily Reflections
H.P. AS GUIDE
See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164
Having a right relationship with God seemed to be an impossible order. My chaotic past had left me filled with guilt and remorse and I wondered how this "God business" could work. A.A. told me that I must turn my will and my life life over to the care of God, as I understand Him. With nowhere else to turn, I went down on my knees and cried, "God, I can't do this. Please help me!" It was when I admitted my powerlessness that a glimmer of light began to touch my soul, and then a willingness emerged to let God control my life. With Him as my guide, great events began to happen, and I found the beginning of sobriety.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A.
Thought For The Day Step Four is, "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." Step Five is, " Admitted to God to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." Step Six is, "Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character." Step Seven is, "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." Step Ten is, "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it." In taking a personal inventory, we have to be absolutely honest with ourselves and with other people. Have I taken an honest inventory of myself? Meditation For The Day God is good. You can often tell whether or not a thing is of God. If it is of God, it must be good. Honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love are all good, unselfish helpfulness is good, and these things all lead to the abundant life. Leave in God's hands the present and the future, knowing only that He is good. The hand that veils the future is the hand of God. He can bring order out of chaos, good out of evil, and peace out of turmoil. We can believe that everything really good comes from God and that He shares His goodness with us. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may reach out for the good. I pray that I may try to choose the best in life.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It Individual
Responsibilities, p.262
Let us emphasize that our reluctance to fight one another, or anybody else, is not counted as some special virtue which entitles us A.A.'s to feel superior to other people. Nor does this reluctance mean that the members of A.A. are going to back away from their individual responsibilities as citizens. Here they should feel free to act as they see the right upon the public issues of our times. But when it comes to A.A. as a whole, that's quite a different matter. As a group we do not enter into public controversy, because we are sure that our Society will perish if we do. 12 & 12, p.177
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
All we need to know. Maintaining Seen from today's perspective, the early AA members had rather narrow attitudes toward the study of alcoholism. They became restless and fidgety if member started discussing psychological aspects of the problem or gave other indications that they were trying to learn more about the disease. While we don't need to hold such narrow attitudes today, we should at least concede that we don't need complex information to stay sober. All we have to know is that we have a very compulsive problem that can be arrested by eliminating the first drink. Even today, nobody fully knows why the first drink is so deadly for people like us. Our experience and the experience of others tells us that it is. That knowledge alone can be an important building block in finding and maintaining sobriety. While being open-minded to new information, I'll remember today that a fairly simple idea.... that I'm an alcoholic and can't live with alcohol.... Is the main thing I need to know.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. ---Mark Twain
Sometimes it does no good to try to “deal” with your feelings. For the moment, we’re stuck. We can only see things one way. No matter what anyone says, we’re closed up. For the moment. But this puts our sobriety at risk. How do we stop self-pity? Focus on someone else. When we really want to help someone else be happy, we'll ask our Higher Power’s help. Then things start to change, because our good deeds come back to us. Remember, service will always keep us sober.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, sometimes I get stuck in my old ways. Help me change my focus at those times. Help me stay sober.
Action for the Day: I will think of a time when I was stuck in bad feelings. How did I get out of that spot.
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning
What difference does it make how I am treated by life? My real life is within. --Angela L. Wozniak
It is said that we teach people how to treat us. How we treat others invites similar treatment. Our response to the external conditions of our lives can be greatly altered by our perceptions of those conditions. And we have control of that perception. No experience has to demoralize us. Each situation can be appreciated for its long-term contribution to our growth as happy, secure women. No outside circumstances will offer us full time and forever the security we all long for. And in like manner, none will adversely interfere with our well being, except briefly and on occasion. The program offers us the awareness that our security, happiness, and well being reside within. The uplifting moments of our lives may enhance our security, but they can't guarantee that it will last. Only the relationship we have with ourselves and God within can promise the gift of security. The ripples in my day are reminders to me to go within.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
ME AN ALCOHOLIC? - Alcohol's wringer squeezed this author--but he escaped quite whole.
When I try to reconstruct what my life was like "before," I see a coin with two faces. One, the side I turned to myself and the world, was respectable--even, in some ways, distinguished. I was father, husband, taxpayer, home owner. I was clubman, athlete, artist, musician, author, editor, aircraft pilot, and world traveler. I was listed in Who's Who in America as an American who, by distinguished achievement, had arrived. p. 382
************************************************** *********
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."
But not so with alcoholics. When A.A. was quite young, a number of eminent psychologists and doctors made an exhaustive study of a good-sized group of so-called problem drinkers. The doctors weren't trying to find how different we were from one another; they sought to find whatever personality traits, if any, this group of alcoholics had in common. They finally came up with a conclusion that shocked the A.A. members of that time. These distinguished men had the nerve to say that most of the alcoholics under investigation were still childish, emotionally sensitive, and grandiose. pp. 122-123
************************************************** *********
Those who created yesterday's pain do not control tomorrow's potential. --unknown
The devil brings devastation; God offers restoration. --unknown
"I do service in Alcoholics Anonymous because it reminds me of where I came from . . . it keeps me green. And green things grow!" --unknown
Most people's confusion comes in the area of their desires, not their needs. Giving can be one of the greatest ways to receiving. If you want more love, give love. If you want more joy, be joyful. Look for the good in all things and situations, and you may be surprised at what you see. --John-Roger
All we need to do is allow more joy and love into our experience. We need to really choose it, to allow ourselves to feel it, paying attention, choosing to be alive and to be kind; allowing ourselves to feel and to be nurtured by the natural order of the Spirit of God. When we choose and allow it, the dramas fall away and dissolve. --Patricia Sun
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. --Winston Churchill
"Fear less, hope more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Hate less, love more; And all good things are yours." --Swedish Proverb ***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
SHARING
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." -- Henry David Thoreau
I thought that I was the only one who felt like I did. Nobody could possibly understand. I was different from everybody and needed to keep my life -- my true life -- a secret. I was living a life of quiet desperation! Then I went to a meeting for recovering alcoholics and heard somebody share my pain, my loneliness, my confusion, my addiction -- my life. I was lonely because I kept myself separate from people. I saw them as being different from myself, and so I remained the lonely and isolated victim. Strange how similar we are when we begin to share. When we get beneath culture, class and creed, we discover sensitive human beings trying to make sense of their lives. We need each other. May I risk rejection in my spiritual need to share and be known.
************************************************** *********
The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken. Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous. The days of the blameless are known to the LORD, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. But the wicked will perish: The LORD's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish--vanish like smoke. Psalm 37:14-20
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
You make a difference every time you smile, speak kindly or give of yourself. Lord, You ask for nothing but goodness of me. What peace it brings to my soul. Listen carefully to the things you say. The advice we give to others is often the best advice for us to follow. Lord, help me to follow that which I know is right even when it is difficult.
Daily Reflections
H.P. AS GUIDE
See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164
Having a right relationship with God seemed to be an impossible order. My chaotic past had left me filled with guilt and remorse and I wondered how this "God business" could work. A.A. told me that I must turn my will and my life life over to the care of God, as I understand Him. With nowhere else to turn, I went down on my knees and cried, "God, I can't do this. Please help me!" It was when I admitted my powerlessness that a glimmer of light began to touch my soul, and then a willingness emerged to let God control my life. With Him as my guide, great events began to happen, and I found the beginning of sobriety.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A.
Thought For The Day Step Four is, "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." Step Five is, " Admitted to God to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." Step Six is, "Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character." Step Seven is, "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." Step Ten is, "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it." In taking a personal inventory, we have to be absolutely honest with ourselves and with other people. Have I taken an honest inventory of myself? Meditation For The Day God is good. You can often tell whether or not a thing is of God. If it is of God, it must be good. Honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love are all good, unselfish helpfulness is good, and these things all lead to the abundant life. Leave in God's hands the present and the future, knowing only that He is good. The hand that veils the future is the hand of God. He can bring order out of chaos, good out of evil, and peace out of turmoil. We can believe that everything really good comes from God and that He shares His goodness with us. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may reach out for the good. I pray that I may try to choose the best in life.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It Individual
Responsibilities, p.262
Let us emphasize that our reluctance to fight one another, or anybody else, is not counted as some special virtue which entitles us A.A.'s to feel superior to other people. Nor does this reluctance mean that the members of A.A. are going to back away from their individual responsibilities as citizens. Here they should feel free to act as they see the right upon the public issues of our times. But when it comes to A.A. as a whole, that's quite a different matter. As a group we do not enter into public controversy, because we are sure that our Society will perish if we do. 12 & 12, p.177
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
All we need to know. Maintaining Seen from today's perspective, the early AA members had rather narrow attitudes toward the study of alcoholism. They became restless and fidgety if member started discussing psychological aspects of the problem or gave other indications that they were trying to learn more about the disease. While we don't need to hold such narrow attitudes today, we should at least concede that we don't need complex information to stay sober. All we have to know is that we have a very compulsive problem that can be arrested by eliminating the first drink. Even today, nobody fully knows why the first drink is so deadly for people like us. Our experience and the experience of others tells us that it is. That knowledge alone can be an important building block in finding and maintaining sobriety. While being open-minded to new information, I'll remember today that a fairly simple idea.... that I'm an alcoholic and can't live with alcohol.... Is the main thing I need to know.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. ---Mark Twain
Sometimes it does no good to try to “deal” with your feelings. For the moment, we’re stuck. We can only see things one way. No matter what anyone says, we’re closed up. For the moment. But this puts our sobriety at risk. How do we stop self-pity? Focus on someone else. When we really want to help someone else be happy, we'll ask our Higher Power’s help. Then things start to change, because our good deeds come back to us. Remember, service will always keep us sober.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, sometimes I get stuck in my old ways. Help me change my focus at those times. Help me stay sober.
Action for the Day: I will think of a time when I was stuck in bad feelings. How did I get out of that spot.
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning
What difference does it make how I am treated by life? My real life is within. --Angela L. Wozniak
It is said that we teach people how to treat us. How we treat others invites similar treatment. Our response to the external conditions of our lives can be greatly altered by our perceptions of those conditions. And we have control of that perception. No experience has to demoralize us. Each situation can be appreciated for its long-term contribution to our growth as happy, secure women. No outside circumstances will offer us full time and forever the security we all long for. And in like manner, none will adversely interfere with our well being, except briefly and on occasion. The program offers us the awareness that our security, happiness, and well being reside within. The uplifting moments of our lives may enhance our security, but they can't guarantee that it will last. Only the relationship we have with ourselves and God within can promise the gift of security. The ripples in my day are reminders to me to go within.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
ME AN ALCOHOLIC? - Alcohol's wringer squeezed this author--but he escaped quite whole.
When I try to reconstruct what my life was like "before," I see a coin with two faces. One, the side I turned to myself and the world, was respectable--even, in some ways, distinguished. I was father, husband, taxpayer, home owner. I was clubman, athlete, artist, musician, author, editor, aircraft pilot, and world traveler. I was listed in Who's Who in America as an American who, by distinguished achievement, had arrived. p. 382
************************************************** *********
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."
But not so with alcoholics. When A.A. was quite young, a number of eminent psychologists and doctors made an exhaustive study of a good-sized group of so-called problem drinkers. The doctors weren't trying to find how different we were from one another; they sought to find whatever personality traits, if any, this group of alcoholics had in common. They finally came up with a conclusion that shocked the A.A. members of that time. These distinguished men had the nerve to say that most of the alcoholics under investigation were still childish, emotionally sensitive, and grandiose. pp. 122-123
************************************************** *********
Those who created yesterday's pain do not control tomorrow's potential. --unknown
The devil brings devastation; God offers restoration. --unknown
"I do service in Alcoholics Anonymous because it reminds me of where I came from . . . it keeps me green. And green things grow!" --unknown
Most people's confusion comes in the area of their desires, not their needs. Giving can be one of the greatest ways to receiving. If you want more love, give love. If you want more joy, be joyful. Look for the good in all things and situations, and you may be surprised at what you see. --John-Roger
All we need to do is allow more joy and love into our experience. We need to really choose it, to allow ourselves to feel it, paying attention, choosing to be alive and to be kind; allowing ourselves to feel and to be nurtured by the natural order of the Spirit of God. When we choose and allow it, the dramas fall away and dissolve. --Patricia Sun
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. --Winston Churchill
"Fear less, hope more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Hate less, love more; And all good things are yours." --Swedish Proverb ***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
SHARING
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." -- Henry David Thoreau
I thought that I was the only one who felt like I did. Nobody could possibly understand. I was different from everybody and needed to keep my life -- my true life -- a secret. I was living a life of quiet desperation! Then I went to a meeting for recovering alcoholics and heard somebody share my pain, my loneliness, my confusion, my addiction -- my life. I was lonely because I kept myself separate from people. I saw them as being different from myself, and so I remained the lonely and isolated victim. Strange how similar we are when we begin to share. When we get beneath culture, class and creed, we discover sensitive human beings trying to make sense of their lives. We need each other. May I risk rejection in my spiritual need to share and be known.
************************************************** *********
The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken. Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous. The days of the blameless are known to the LORD, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. But the wicked will perish: The LORD's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish--vanish like smoke. Psalm 37:14-20
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
You make a difference every time you smile, speak kindly or give of yourself. Lord, You ask for nothing but goodness of me. What peace it brings to my soul. Listen carefully to the things you say. The advice we give to others is often the best advice for us to follow. Lord, help me to follow that which I know is right even when it is difficult.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Today's readings
September 19
Daily Reflections
ACCEPTANCE
We admitted we couldn't lick alcohol with our own remaining resources, and so we accepted the further fact that dependence upon a Higher Power (if only our A.A. group) could do this hitherto impossible job. The moment we were able to accept these facts fully, our release from the alcohol compulsion had begun.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 109
Freedom came to me only with my acceptance that I could turn my will and my life over to the care of my Higher Power, whom I call God. Serenity seeped into the chaos of my life when I accepted that what I was going through was life, and that God would help me through my difficulties--and much more, as well. Since then He has helped me through all of my difficulties! When I accept situations as they are, not as I wish them to be, then I can begin to grow and have serenity and peace of mind.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Let us continue with Steps Two, Three, and Eleven. We must turn to a Higher Power for help, because we are helpless ourselves. When we put our drink problem in God's hands and leave it there, we have made the most important decision of our lives. From then on, we trust God for the strength to keep sober. This takes us off the center of the universe and allows us to transfer our problems to a Power outside ourselves. By prayer and meditation, we seek to improve our conscious contract with God. We try to live each day the way we believe God wants us to live. Am I trusting God for the strength to stay sober?
Meditation For The Day
"These things have I spoken unto you, that your joy may be full." Even a partial realization of the spiritual life brings much joy. You feel at home in the world when you are in touch with the Divine Spirit of the universe. Spiritual experience brings a definite satisfaction. Search for the real meaning of life by following spiritual laws. God wants you to have spiritual success and He intends that you have it. If you live your life as much as possible according to spiritual laws, you can expect your share of joy and peace, satisfaction and success.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I will find happiness in doing the right thing. I pray that I will find satisfaction in obeying spiritual laws.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
"Fearless and Searching", p.261
My self-analysis has frequently been faulty. Sometimes I've failed to share my defects with the right people; at other times, I've confessed their defects, rather than my own; and still other times, my confession of defects has been more in the nature of loud complaints about my circumstances and my problems.
********************************
When A.A. suggests a fearless moral inventory, it must seem to every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do. Every time he tries to look within himself, Pride says, "You need not pass this way," and Fear says, "You dare not look!" But pride and fear of this sort turn out to be bogymen, nothing else. Once we have a complete willingness to take inventory, and exert ourselves to do the job thoroughly, a wonderful light falls upon this foggy scene. As we persist, a brand-new kind of confidence is born, and the sense of relief at finally facing ourselves is indescribable. 1. Grapevine, June 1958 2. 12 & 12, pp.49-50
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Keep the common problem in view Maintaining It there's been one major change in AA, one old-timer observed, it's probably in group discussions. The focus today is far more on overcoming personal problems than in staying away form the first drink. "The early AA members were continuously concerned about the dangers of drinking," he said. "Members today are more concerned about their feelings and personal issues, such as relationships." This change has probably been an improvement, but it carries the risk that members will forget why they needed the program in the first place. For alcoholics, it is dangerous to let the problem with alcohol slide out of view. It is important to keep in mind at all times the life-or-death nature of our drinking problem. Even if we are not totally successful in dealing with our feelings or establishing harmonious relationships, it's always necessary to stay sober. Disaster is in that first drink, and let's keep that constantly in view. No matter how long I've been sober, I'll remind myself several times this day that I'm an alcoholic. I'll also remember that it's only sobriety that enables me to deal with my other problems.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned.
---Alcoholics Anonymous
We can’t control the present by looking into the future. We can only look back at the past. The past can teach us how to get more out of the present. But the past is to be learned from, not to be judged. As we look back, we see the troubles caused by addiction. But we also see recovery. We see how our lives are better. We see our Higher Power’s work in our lives. If we honestly look at our past, we learn.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me learn from the past. With Your help, I’ll stop judging my past, just as I wouldn’t judge those who have gone before me.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll remember my life before I got sober. Do I still hang on to attitudes or behaviors that might make me start to use alcohol and other drugs again?
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning ...concern should drive us into action and not into depression. --Karen Horney
The role of victim is all too familiar to many of us. Life did us injustices --we thought. And we passively waited for circumstances to change. With the bottle we waited, or maybe the little white pills. Nothing was our fault. That we were willing participants to victimization is an awareness not easily accepted, but true nonetheless. Victims no more, we are actors, now. And since committing ourselves to this program, we have readily available a willing and very able director for our role in life. Every event invites an action, and we have opted for the responsible life. Depression may be on the fringes of our consciousness today. But it need not become our state of mind. The antidote is and always will be action, responsible action. Every concern, every experience wants our attention, our active attention. Today stretches before me, an unknown quantity. Concerns will crowd upon me, but guidance regarding the best action to take is always available to me.
************************************************** *********
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.
In working the Twelve Steps, my life and my old way of thinking have changed. I have no control over some of the things that happen in my life, but with the help of God I can now choose how I will respond. Today I choose to be happy, and when I'm not, I have the tools of this program to put me back on track. p. 381
************************************************** *********
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."
Practically every boy in the United States dreams of becoming our President. He wants to be his country's number one man. As he gets older and sees the impossibility of this, he can smile good-naturedly at his childhood dream. In later life he finds that real happiness is not to be found in just trying to be a number one man, or even a first-rater in the heartbreaking struggle for money, romance, or self-importance. He learns that he can be content as long as he plays well whatever cards life deals him. He's still ambitious, but not absurdly so, because he can now see and accept actual reality. He's willing to stay right size. p. 122
************************************************** *********
If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, you have no today for which you can be thankful. --Anonymous
Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well. --Josh Billings
"I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches." --Alice Roosevelt Longworth
In each of our lives, for whatever reason, there are times that we are faced with things that just don't make sense to us. And the more we struggle to understand our hardships, the less any of it makes sense. I have found that in every challenge and obstacle that we are faced with there *can* be good that can come from it! While it's almost never easy to identify, I assure you that it is there lying dormant just waiting for us to release it! I urge everyone to spend your days looking for positives in your life. --Josh Hinds from The Inspiration a Day! April 8, 1998
Whate'er we leave to God, God does and blesses us. --Henry David Thoreau
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
SUICIDE
"Often the test of courage is not to die but to live." -- Conte Vittorio Alfieri
There are many ways of committing suicide. The obvious way is to take your life -- the ultimate escape. One can reach that point in life when there seems no hope, no purpose in living and death is attractive. Many alcoholics and addicts reach this point of despair. However, there is a more subtle way of "suicide", which is to kill yourself slowly -- by a sick behavior and a negative attitude. I was "dying" in a lifestyle that revolved around alcohol. All I wanted to do was drink -- I didn't want to go anywhere, be with anyone or enjoy the thousand and one pleasures that life offers. I was dying in my life. I was becoming a "walking zombie". I was committing suicide by degrees! Today I can see this and I am glad I had the courage to live. My act of courage began with my "no" to alcohol. Let me continue to live in my life.
************************************************** *********
The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1
A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. Psalm 37:10-13
"Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Psalm 25:4-5
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." John 15:13-15
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Are you too busy wishing away your day to get what you really want? Lord, help me set goals and find the means to achieve what is important to me. God has given each of us many talents and abilities. To use them reflects our commitment to Him. Lord, help me find new ways to use the talents that You've given me. __________
Daily Reflections
ACCEPTANCE
We admitted we couldn't lick alcohol with our own remaining resources, and so we accepted the further fact that dependence upon a Higher Power (if only our A.A. group) could do this hitherto impossible job. The moment we were able to accept these facts fully, our release from the alcohol compulsion had begun.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 109
Freedom came to me only with my acceptance that I could turn my will and my life over to the care of my Higher Power, whom I call God. Serenity seeped into the chaos of my life when I accepted that what I was going through was life, and that God would help me through my difficulties--and much more, as well. Since then He has helped me through all of my difficulties! When I accept situations as they are, not as I wish them to be, then I can begin to grow and have serenity and peace of mind.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Let us continue with Steps Two, Three, and Eleven. We must turn to a Higher Power for help, because we are helpless ourselves. When we put our drink problem in God's hands and leave it there, we have made the most important decision of our lives. From then on, we trust God for the strength to keep sober. This takes us off the center of the universe and allows us to transfer our problems to a Power outside ourselves. By prayer and meditation, we seek to improve our conscious contract with God. We try to live each day the way we believe God wants us to live. Am I trusting God for the strength to stay sober?
Meditation For The Day
"These things have I spoken unto you, that your joy may be full." Even a partial realization of the spiritual life brings much joy. You feel at home in the world when you are in touch with the Divine Spirit of the universe. Spiritual experience brings a definite satisfaction. Search for the real meaning of life by following spiritual laws. God wants you to have spiritual success and He intends that you have it. If you live your life as much as possible according to spiritual laws, you can expect your share of joy and peace, satisfaction and success.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I will find happiness in doing the right thing. I pray that I will find satisfaction in obeying spiritual laws.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
"Fearless and Searching", p.261
My self-analysis has frequently been faulty. Sometimes I've failed to share my defects with the right people; at other times, I've confessed their defects, rather than my own; and still other times, my confession of defects has been more in the nature of loud complaints about my circumstances and my problems.
********************************
When A.A. suggests a fearless moral inventory, it must seem to every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do. Every time he tries to look within himself, Pride says, "You need not pass this way," and Fear says, "You dare not look!" But pride and fear of this sort turn out to be bogymen, nothing else. Once we have a complete willingness to take inventory, and exert ourselves to do the job thoroughly, a wonderful light falls upon this foggy scene. As we persist, a brand-new kind of confidence is born, and the sense of relief at finally facing ourselves is indescribable. 1. Grapevine, June 1958 2. 12 & 12, pp.49-50
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Keep the common problem in view Maintaining It there's been one major change in AA, one old-timer observed, it's probably in group discussions. The focus today is far more on overcoming personal problems than in staying away form the first drink. "The early AA members were continuously concerned about the dangers of drinking," he said. "Members today are more concerned about their feelings and personal issues, such as relationships." This change has probably been an improvement, but it carries the risk that members will forget why they needed the program in the first place. For alcoholics, it is dangerous to let the problem with alcohol slide out of view. It is important to keep in mind at all times the life-or-death nature of our drinking problem. Even if we are not totally successful in dealing with our feelings or establishing harmonious relationships, it's always necessary to stay sober. Disaster is in that first drink, and let's keep that constantly in view. No matter how long I've been sober, I'll remind myself several times this day that I'm an alcoholic. I'll also remember that it's only sobriety that enables me to deal with my other problems.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned.
---Alcoholics Anonymous
We can’t control the present by looking into the future. We can only look back at the past. The past can teach us how to get more out of the present. But the past is to be learned from, not to be judged. As we look back, we see the troubles caused by addiction. But we also see recovery. We see how our lives are better. We see our Higher Power’s work in our lives. If we honestly look at our past, we learn.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me learn from the past. With Your help, I’ll stop judging my past, just as I wouldn’t judge those who have gone before me.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll remember my life before I got sober. Do I still hang on to attitudes or behaviors that might make me start to use alcohol and other drugs again?
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning ...concern should drive us into action and not into depression. --Karen Horney
The role of victim is all too familiar to many of us. Life did us injustices --we thought. And we passively waited for circumstances to change. With the bottle we waited, or maybe the little white pills. Nothing was our fault. That we were willing participants to victimization is an awareness not easily accepted, but true nonetheless. Victims no more, we are actors, now. And since committing ourselves to this program, we have readily available a willing and very able director for our role in life. Every event invites an action, and we have opted for the responsible life. Depression may be on the fringes of our consciousness today. But it need not become our state of mind. The antidote is and always will be action, responsible action. Every concern, every experience wants our attention, our active attention. Today stretches before me, an unknown quantity. Concerns will crowd upon me, but guidance regarding the best action to take is always available to me.
************************************************** *********
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.
In working the Twelve Steps, my life and my old way of thinking have changed. I have no control over some of the things that happen in my life, but with the help of God I can now choose how I will respond. Today I choose to be happy, and when I'm not, I have the tools of this program to put me back on track. p. 381
************************************************** *********
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."
Practically every boy in the United States dreams of becoming our President. He wants to be his country's number one man. As he gets older and sees the impossibility of this, he can smile good-naturedly at his childhood dream. In later life he finds that real happiness is not to be found in just trying to be a number one man, or even a first-rater in the heartbreaking struggle for money, romance, or self-importance. He learns that he can be content as long as he plays well whatever cards life deals him. He's still ambitious, but not absurdly so, because he can now see and accept actual reality. He's willing to stay right size. p. 122
************************************************** *********
If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, you have no today for which you can be thankful. --Anonymous
Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well. --Josh Billings
"I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches." --Alice Roosevelt Longworth
In each of our lives, for whatever reason, there are times that we are faced with things that just don't make sense to us. And the more we struggle to understand our hardships, the less any of it makes sense. I have found that in every challenge and obstacle that we are faced with there *can* be good that can come from it! While it's almost never easy to identify, I assure you that it is there lying dormant just waiting for us to release it! I urge everyone to spend your days looking for positives in your life. --Josh Hinds from The Inspiration a Day! April 8, 1998
Whate'er we leave to God, God does and blesses us. --Henry David Thoreau
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
SUICIDE
"Often the test of courage is not to die but to live." -- Conte Vittorio Alfieri
There are many ways of committing suicide. The obvious way is to take your life -- the ultimate escape. One can reach that point in life when there seems no hope, no purpose in living and death is attractive. Many alcoholics and addicts reach this point of despair. However, there is a more subtle way of "suicide", which is to kill yourself slowly -- by a sick behavior and a negative attitude. I was "dying" in a lifestyle that revolved around alcohol. All I wanted to do was drink -- I didn't want to go anywhere, be with anyone or enjoy the thousand and one pleasures that life offers. I was dying in my life. I was becoming a "walking zombie". I was committing suicide by degrees! Today I can see this and I am glad I had the courage to live. My act of courage began with my "no" to alcohol. Let me continue to live in my life.
************************************************** *********
The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1
A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. Psalm 37:10-13
"Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Psalm 25:4-5
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." John 15:13-15
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Are you too busy wishing away your day to get what you really want? Lord, help me set goals and find the means to achieve what is important to me. God has given each of us many talents and abilities. To use them reflects our commitment to Him. Lord, help me find new ways to use the talents that You've given me. __________
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Today's readings
Provided by bluidkiti at http://www.bluidkiti.com/forums/
September 18
Daily Reflections
LOVED BACK TO RECOVERY
Our whole treasured philosophy of self-sufficiency had
to be cast aside. This had not been done with old-fashioned
willpower; it was instead a matter of developing the
willingness to accept these new facts of living. We neither
ran nor fought. But accept we did. And then we were free.
BEST OF THE GRAPEVINE, Vol. I, p. 198
I can be free of my old enslaving self. After a while I
recognize, and believe in, the good within myself. I see
that I have been loved back to recovery by my Higher Power,
who envelops me. My Higher Power becomes that source of
love and strength that is performing a continuing miracle
in me. I am sober . . . . and I am grateful.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Step Two is: "Came to believe that a Power greater
than ourselves could restore us to sanity." Step Three
is: "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God as we understood Him." Step
Eleven is: "Sought through prayer and meditation to
improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood
Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us
and the power to carry that out." The fundamental basis
of A.A. is the belief in a Power greater than ourselves.
Let us not water this down. We cannot get the program
without this venture of belief. Have I made the venture of
belief in a Power greater than my own?
Meditation For The Day
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High,
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Dwell for
a moment each day in a secret place, the place of
communion with God, apart from the world, and thence
receive strength to face the world. Material things cannot
intrude upon this secret place, they cannot ever find it,
because it is outside the realm of material things. When
you abide in this secret place, you are under the shadow
of the Almighty. God is close to you in this quiet place
of communion. Each day, dwell for a while in this secret
place.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may renew my strength in quietness.
I pray that I may find rest in quiet communion with God.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Inward Reality, p.260
It is being constantly revealed, as mankind studies the material
world, that its outward appearance is not inward reality at all. The
prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other
at incredible speed, and these tiny bodies are governed by precise
laws. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it.
When, however, the perfectly logic assumption is suggested that,
infinitely beyond the material world as we see it, there is an all
powerful, guiding, creative Intelligence, our perverse streak comes to
the surface and we set out to convince ourselves that this isn't so.
Were our contention true, it would follow that life originated out of
nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere.
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
The role of humor
Attitudes
There's a lot of humor among recovery groups, which probably came out
of the bizarre drinking stories told by speakers. It's also a reflection of
our real personalities.
The right kind of humor helps us achieve balance and not take ourselves
too seriously. Meetings can be terribly suffocating when they have
neither lightness or gaiety.
There is also a wrong kind of humor that should be avoided. It's very
easy to let joking and good-natured ribbing take the place of the honest
discussions all of us need. It's too easy in AA for a member to become
known and liked as a charming jokester, even though he or she may be
quietly feeling lots of inner pain. People are often surprised when such
a person runs into trouble, because they had accepted the humorous
surface personality without knowing the real person. In such a case,
humor can send the wrong message.
Most of the time, however, humor helps keep us on the right track.
Let's keep it in our picture, but also in the proper focus.
I'll not be afraid to laugh at myself or about myself today. Perhaps
my right-spirited laughter also reflects the laughter of God.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
We feel that the elimination of our drinking is but a beginning.---Alcoholics Anonymous
Giving up alcohol or other drugs is just the start. Even if we give up
chemicals, can we be happy if we have our old life back in every other way?
We have to do more. We have to see how our illness has changed us.
To do this, we turn to the Steps. Our program teaches us to become
new persons. We will change. And the changes will make us happy. That’s
the best part of recovery---change.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, make me open to changes that will
heal me. Help see I’m not cured just because I stopped drinking or using drugs.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll chose one thing about myself I want to change.
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning
The future is made of the same stuff as the present. --Simone Weil
The moment is eternal. It is unending. When we move with the moment,
we experience all that life can offer. Being fully awake to right now,
guarantees rapture even when there's pain, because we know we are
evolving, and we thrill with the knowledge. We are one with all that's
going on around us. Our existence is purposeful and part of the whole
of creation, and we can sense our purpose.
Nothing is--but now. And when we dwell on what was, or what may be,
we are cut off from life--essentially dead. The only reality is the present,
and it's only in the present that we are invited to make our special
contribution to life; perhaps at this moment our special contribution is to
reach out to another person, an act that will change two lives, ours and hers.
We must cling to the present, or we'll miss its invitation to grow, to help a
friend perhaps, to be part of the only reality there is. The present holds all
we need and all we'll ever need to fulfill our lives. It provides every opportunity
for our happiness--the only happiness there is.
Abstinence offers me the gift of the present. I will cherish it, be grateful, and relish it.
************************************************** *********
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.
Today I am doing things that I never dreamed possible. More importantly,
it is the peace and serenity I feel inside that keeps me coming back. I have
been through hard times in and out of sobriety, but before A.A. it didn't matter
how good things got--I always had a feeling that something was wrong.
Since A.A., it doesn't matter how bad things get--I always have a feeling
that everything is going to be all right.
p. 381
************************************************** *********
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."
Let's here take note of our improved outlook upon the problems of personal importance,
power, ambition, and leadership. These were reefs upon which many of us came to
shipwreck during our drinking careers.
p. 122
************************************************** *********
If you don't like what you're getting, change what you're doing.
--Cited in BITS & PIECES
Love grows best when watered daily with kind words.
--Cited in BITS & PIECES
If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
--Mark Twain
"Peace is not something you wish for; it's something you make,
something you do, something you are, something you give away."
--Robert Fulghum
"At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not
an end in itself. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum
service to God and the people about us."
--c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 77
"My life's purpose is much clearer when I just work to help, not to
possess."
--c. 1990, Daily Reflections, page 89
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
"A fanatic is one who can't
change his mind and won't
change the subject."
-- Winston Churchill
In my addiction I had a closed mind because I was afraid to be seen to
be wrong. I had to be right, I had to be in control, and I had to be
perfect. To say "I don't know the answer" would make me weak,
vulnerable and human! So I developed a closed mind: my way, my
thoughts, my ideas, my life, my God. And I was in pain.
Then I had a moment of clarity. I heard that I was sick. I heard that if
I really wanted help, I could receive it. I put away the alcohol and I
became vulnerable. Slowly I faced the confusion of life and I
discovered the human race. I was no longer alone.
Today the spiritual life is more about living with the questions than
providing the answers.
I pray that I may continue to find Truth in variety.
************************************************** *********
"Love does no harm to its neighbor."
Romans 13:10
Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;
for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon
die away. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy
safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the
desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and
he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the
LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in
their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from
anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. For evil
men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the
land.
Psalm 37:1-9
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of
God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:9-10
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other,
even as God also in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Great power comes from being able to appreciate your own goodness and
anticipate goodness in others. Lord, help me to focus on that which will bring
me peace and lift my spirit.
Worry about nothing, pray for everything, and thank God for His answers.
Lord, I ask You to handle my problems with me and care for my needs.
September 18
Daily Reflections
LOVED BACK TO RECOVERY
Our whole treasured philosophy of self-sufficiency had
to be cast aside. This had not been done with old-fashioned
willpower; it was instead a matter of developing the
willingness to accept these new facts of living. We neither
ran nor fought. But accept we did. And then we were free.
BEST OF THE GRAPEVINE, Vol. I, p. 198
I can be free of my old enslaving self. After a while I
recognize, and believe in, the good within myself. I see
that I have been loved back to recovery by my Higher Power,
who envelops me. My Higher Power becomes that source of
love and strength that is performing a continuing miracle
in me. I am sober . . . . and I am grateful.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Step Two is: "Came to believe that a Power greater
than ourselves could restore us to sanity." Step Three
is: "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God as we understood Him." Step
Eleven is: "Sought through prayer and meditation to
improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood
Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us
and the power to carry that out." The fundamental basis
of A.A. is the belief in a Power greater than ourselves.
Let us not water this down. We cannot get the program
without this venture of belief. Have I made the venture of
belief in a Power greater than my own?
Meditation For The Day
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High,
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Dwell for
a moment each day in a secret place, the place of
communion with God, apart from the world, and thence
receive strength to face the world. Material things cannot
intrude upon this secret place, they cannot ever find it,
because it is outside the realm of material things. When
you abide in this secret place, you are under the shadow
of the Almighty. God is close to you in this quiet place
of communion. Each day, dwell for a while in this secret
place.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may renew my strength in quietness.
I pray that I may find rest in quiet communion with God.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Inward Reality, p.260
It is being constantly revealed, as mankind studies the material
world, that its outward appearance is not inward reality at all. The
prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other
at incredible speed, and these tiny bodies are governed by precise
laws. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it.
When, however, the perfectly logic assumption is suggested that,
infinitely beyond the material world as we see it, there is an all
powerful, guiding, creative Intelligence, our perverse streak comes to
the surface and we set out to convince ourselves that this isn't so.
Were our contention true, it would follow that life originated out of
nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere.
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
The role of humor
Attitudes
There's a lot of humor among recovery groups, which probably came out
of the bizarre drinking stories told by speakers. It's also a reflection of
our real personalities.
The right kind of humor helps us achieve balance and not take ourselves
too seriously. Meetings can be terribly suffocating when they have
neither lightness or gaiety.
There is also a wrong kind of humor that should be avoided. It's very
easy to let joking and good-natured ribbing take the place of the honest
discussions all of us need. It's too easy in AA for a member to become
known and liked as a charming jokester, even though he or she may be
quietly feeling lots of inner pain. People are often surprised when such
a person runs into trouble, because they had accepted the humorous
surface personality without knowing the real person. In such a case,
humor can send the wrong message.
Most of the time, however, humor helps keep us on the right track.
Let's keep it in our picture, but also in the proper focus.
I'll not be afraid to laugh at myself or about myself today. Perhaps
my right-spirited laughter also reflects the laughter of God.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
We feel that the elimination of our drinking is but a beginning.---Alcoholics Anonymous
Giving up alcohol or other drugs is just the start. Even if we give up
chemicals, can we be happy if we have our old life back in every other way?
We have to do more. We have to see how our illness has changed us.
To do this, we turn to the Steps. Our program teaches us to become
new persons. We will change. And the changes will make us happy. That’s
the best part of recovery---change.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, make me open to changes that will
heal me. Help see I’m not cured just because I stopped drinking or using drugs.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll chose one thing about myself I want to change.
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning
The future is made of the same stuff as the present. --Simone Weil
The moment is eternal. It is unending. When we move with the moment,
we experience all that life can offer. Being fully awake to right now,
guarantees rapture even when there's pain, because we know we are
evolving, and we thrill with the knowledge. We are one with all that's
going on around us. Our existence is purposeful and part of the whole
of creation, and we can sense our purpose.
Nothing is--but now. And when we dwell on what was, or what may be,
we are cut off from life--essentially dead. The only reality is the present,
and it's only in the present that we are invited to make our special
contribution to life; perhaps at this moment our special contribution is to
reach out to another person, an act that will change two lives, ours and hers.
We must cling to the present, or we'll miss its invitation to grow, to help a
friend perhaps, to be part of the only reality there is. The present holds all
we need and all we'll ever need to fulfill our lives. It provides every opportunity
for our happiness--the only happiness there is.
Abstinence offers me the gift of the present. I will cherish it, be grateful, and relish it.
************************************************** *********
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.
Today I am doing things that I never dreamed possible. More importantly,
it is the peace and serenity I feel inside that keeps me coming back. I have
been through hard times in and out of sobriety, but before A.A. it didn't matter
how good things got--I always had a feeling that something was wrong.
Since A.A., it doesn't matter how bad things get--I always have a feeling
that everything is going to be all right.
p. 381
************************************************** *********
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."
Let's here take note of our improved outlook upon the problems of personal importance,
power, ambition, and leadership. These were reefs upon which many of us came to
shipwreck during our drinking careers.
p. 122
************************************************** *********
If you don't like what you're getting, change what you're doing.
--Cited in BITS & PIECES
Love grows best when watered daily with kind words.
--Cited in BITS & PIECES
If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
--Mark Twain
"Peace is not something you wish for; it's something you make,
something you do, something you are, something you give away."
--Robert Fulghum
"At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not
an end in itself. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum
service to God and the people about us."
--c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 77
"My life's purpose is much clearer when I just work to help, not to
possess."
--c. 1990, Daily Reflections, page 89
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
"A fanatic is one who can't
change his mind and won't
change the subject."
-- Winston Churchill
In my addiction I had a closed mind because I was afraid to be seen to
be wrong. I had to be right, I had to be in control, and I had to be
perfect. To say "I don't know the answer" would make me weak,
vulnerable and human! So I developed a closed mind: my way, my
thoughts, my ideas, my life, my God. And I was in pain.
Then I had a moment of clarity. I heard that I was sick. I heard that if
I really wanted help, I could receive it. I put away the alcohol and I
became vulnerable. Slowly I faced the confusion of life and I
discovered the human race. I was no longer alone.
Today the spiritual life is more about living with the questions than
providing the answers.
I pray that I may continue to find Truth in variety.
************************************************** *********
"Love does no harm to its neighbor."
Romans 13:10
Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;
for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon
die away. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy
safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the
desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and
he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the
LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in
their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from
anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil. For evil
men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the
land.
Psalm 37:1-9
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of
God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:9-10
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other,
even as God also in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Great power comes from being able to appreciate your own goodness and
anticipate goodness in others. Lord, help me to focus on that which will bring
me peace and lift my spirit.
Worry about nothing, pray for everything, and thank God for His answers.
Lord, I ask You to handle my problems with me and care for my needs.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Today's readings
September 17
Daily Reflections
FREEDOM FROM FEAR
When, with God's help, we calmly accepted our lot, then we found we could live at peace with ourselves and show others who still suffered the same fears that they could get over them, too. We found that freedom from fear was more important than freedom from want. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 122
Material values ruled my life for many years during my active alcoholism. I believed that all of my possessions would make me happy, yet I still felt bankrupt after I obtained them. When I first came into A. A., I found out about a new way of living. As a result of learning to trust others, I began to believe in a power greater than myself. Having faith freed me from the bondage of self. As material gains were replaced by the gifts of the spirit, my life became manageable. I then chose to share my experiences with other alcoholics. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Step One is, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable." This step states the membership requirement of A.A. We must admit that our lives are disturbed. We must accept the fact that we are helpless before the power of alcohol. We must admit that we are licked as far as drinking is concerned and that we need help. We must be willing to accept the bitter fact that we cannot drink like normal people. And we must make, as gracefully as possible, a surrender to the inevitable fact that we just stop drinking. Is it difficult for me to admit that I am different from normal drinkers?
Meditation For The Day
"Show us the way, O Lord, and let us walk in Thy paths." There seems to be a right way to live and a wrong way. You can make a practical test. When you live the right way, things seem to work out well for you. When you live the wrong way, things seem to work out badly for you. You seem to take out of life about what you put into it. If you disobey the laws of nature, the chances are that you will be unhealthy. If you disobey the spiritual and moral laws, the chances are that you will be unhappy. By following the laws of nature, and the spiritual laws of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, you can expect to be reasonably healthy and happy.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may try to live the right way. I pray that I may follow the path that leads to a better life. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It
Servant, Not Master, p.259
In A.A., we found that it did not matter too much what our material condition was, but it mattered greatly what our spiritual condition was. As we improved our spiritual outlook, money gradually became our servant and not our master. It became a means of exchanging love and services with those about us. ********************************
One of A.A.'s Loners is an Austrian sheepman who lives two thousand miles from the nearest town, where yearly he sells his wool. In order to be paid the best prices he has to get to town during a certain month. But when he heard that a big regional A.A. meeting was to be held at a later date when wool prices would have fallen, he gladly took heavy financial loss in order to make his journey then. That's how much an A.A. meeting means to him. 1. 12 & 12, p.122 2. A.A. Comes Of Age, p.31 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places
The world will recover Belief If our recovery program is working properly, an amazing thing can happen. Instead of being the bad actors of society, we become people who can be considered solid citizens in every way.. So square that we might even have sharp corners. We might then start becoming critical of the world in general. "I've recovered, so why does the rest of the world have to be the way it is?" A person might say. "Why don't other people do something about their resentments and fears, just as I have?" In asking such a question, we're already in danger of becoming self-righteous. We can remember, however, that our Higher Power has the same concern for others that was shown to us. By the grace of God, and in God's own good time, the world can and will recover. I'll remember today that God is in charge of the world and will set all things straight, just as I was brought to recovery. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple
It is better to be wanted too much than not a all.---Anonymous
It may seem that so many people want our time and love. Parents say we don’t call often enough. Children demand our time. Our partners say we’re gone to much. Our sponsor tells us to check in more often. When we feel off balance by all these people, we need to stop and rest. We need to remember how lonely we were when we were using. No one wanted our time and love then! Now we’re important to others again. You can handle all this by giving people what they need and ask for, within reason---not what you think they need, which may be way too much. Maybe you need Al-Anon, to learn to love others while taking care of yourself.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me put my time and energy to best use today. Help me find the balance I need between work, play, loving others, and self-care.
Action for the Day: When I feel I have to give too much today, I’ll stop and ask my Higher Power for guidance. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning
Desire and longing are the whips of God. --Anna Wickham
Our dreams and desires inspire us to reach beyond our present stopping-place. That which we can achieve will draw our attention, and with certainty, a partner is on hand to help us chart the steps for realizing the goal. Before our introduction to the Twelve Steps, we experienced desires and set many goals. Some we attained. What we often lacked was confidence, and then our commitment wavered. The program is helping us realize that all pure desires are attainable when we invite the program's structure into our daily planning. Our lives are purposeful. Each of us is fulfilling a necessary role. The longings that tug at us, longings that bring no harm to others, or ourselves push us to realize our full potential. Courage and strength, ability and resourcefulness are never lacking when we follow the guidance within and trust in its direction. All the wisdom necessary for succeeding at any task, completing any goal, charting any desire, is as close as our attention is to God. I will pay heed to my desires today. I will pray for the wisdom to fulfill them. All doors will open and my steps will be guided, when the desire is spiritually sound. ************************************************** ********* 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.
I have already told you about some of the miracles that have happened. However, there's more. I want to tell you how I feel inside. I am no longer spiritually bankrupt. It's as if I have magic source in my life that has provided me with all I need. I just celebrated my twelfth year of sobriety a couple of months ago. When I first came to A.A., I didn't know who I was. My sponsor said, "Great--if you don't know who you are, you can become whomever God wants you to be." p. 381 ************************************************** ********* 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."
But as time passed we found that with the help of A.A.'s Twelve Steps we could lose those fears, no matter what our material prospects were. We could cheerfully perform humble labor without worrying about tomorrow. If our circumstances happened to be good, we no longer dreaded a change for the worse, for we had learned that these troubles could be turned into great values. It did not matter too much what our material condition was, but it did matter what our spiritual condition was. Money gradually became our servant and not our master. It became a means of exchanging love and service with those about us. When, with God's help, we calmly accepted our lot, then we found we could live at peace with ourselves and show others who still suffered the same fears that they could get over them, too. We found that freedom from fear was more important than freedom from want. pp. 121-122 ************************************************** ********* "Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart." --Kahlil Gibran
Yesterday is a canceled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, today is cash in the bank. Yesterday is history, Tomorrow's a mystery, Live just for today. Today is a gift that is why they call it the present. When special feelings come your way, let them flow into your heart. When miracles try to find you, don't hide. When special people come along, let them know what a blessing they are. Let your smiles begin way down, deep inside. --Collin McCarthy
"I can do nothing to change the past except stop repeating it in the present." --Courage to Change ***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
PEOPLE-PLEASING
"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is try to please everybody." -- Herbert Bayard Swope
Part of my recovery is not that I never "people-please" but that I know when I am doing it . . . and I am doing it less! My low self-esteem was revealed in the way I would say what I felt you wanted to hear, do what you wanted to do, go where you wanted to go -- and for years I missed me. For years I missed my life because I was preoccupied with other people. And I wasn't honest. I hated being that way but I wouldn't admit it. Now I see that my guilt around my addiction led me into this sick cycle, and recovery is taking me out of it. Today I say "I don't want to go." "I don't agree with what you are saying." "I refuse to do that." My dignity is being discovered in my straight forwardness. God, may I have the courage to share my true feelings. ************************************************** ********* "Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long." Psalm 25:5
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration
When something threatens your peace, do not give it an importance it doesn't have by allowing it to fester in your mind. Lord, there is no situation beyond Your ability to correct. Use the power of positive images in your mind to bring about good experiences. Lord, I will let my faith in You nourish my thoughts so that I can develop a healthy and joyful reality.
Daily Reflections
FREEDOM FROM FEAR
When, with God's help, we calmly accepted our lot, then we found we could live at peace with ourselves and show others who still suffered the same fears that they could get over them, too. We found that freedom from fear was more important than freedom from want. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 122
Material values ruled my life for many years during my active alcoholism. I believed that all of my possessions would make me happy, yet I still felt bankrupt after I obtained them. When I first came into A. A., I found out about a new way of living. As a result of learning to trust others, I began to believe in a power greater than myself. Having faith freed me from the bondage of self. As material gains were replaced by the gifts of the spirit, my life became manageable. I then chose to share my experiences with other alcoholics. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Step One is, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable." This step states the membership requirement of A.A. We must admit that our lives are disturbed. We must accept the fact that we are helpless before the power of alcohol. We must admit that we are licked as far as drinking is concerned and that we need help. We must be willing to accept the bitter fact that we cannot drink like normal people. And we must make, as gracefully as possible, a surrender to the inevitable fact that we just stop drinking. Is it difficult for me to admit that I am different from normal drinkers?
Meditation For The Day
"Show us the way, O Lord, and let us walk in Thy paths." There seems to be a right way to live and a wrong way. You can make a practical test. When you live the right way, things seem to work out well for you. When you live the wrong way, things seem to work out badly for you. You seem to take out of life about what you put into it. If you disobey the laws of nature, the chances are that you will be unhealthy. If you disobey the spiritual and moral laws, the chances are that you will be unhappy. By following the laws of nature, and the spiritual laws of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, you can expect to be reasonably healthy and happy.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may try to live the right way. I pray that I may follow the path that leads to a better life. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It
Servant, Not Master, p.259
In A.A., we found that it did not matter too much what our material condition was, but it mattered greatly what our spiritual condition was. As we improved our spiritual outlook, money gradually became our servant and not our master. It became a means of exchanging love and services with those about us. ********************************
One of A.A.'s Loners is an Austrian sheepman who lives two thousand miles from the nearest town, where yearly he sells his wool. In order to be paid the best prices he has to get to town during a certain month. But when he heard that a big regional A.A. meeting was to be held at a later date when wool prices would have fallen, he gladly took heavy financial loss in order to make his journey then. That's how much an A.A. meeting means to him. 1. 12 & 12, p.122 2. A.A. Comes Of Age, p.31 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places
The world will recover Belief If our recovery program is working properly, an amazing thing can happen. Instead of being the bad actors of society, we become people who can be considered solid citizens in every way.. So square that we might even have sharp corners. We might then start becoming critical of the world in general. "I've recovered, so why does the rest of the world have to be the way it is?" A person might say. "Why don't other people do something about their resentments and fears, just as I have?" In asking such a question, we're already in danger of becoming self-righteous. We can remember, however, that our Higher Power has the same concern for others that was shown to us. By the grace of God, and in God's own good time, the world can and will recover. I'll remember today that God is in charge of the world and will set all things straight, just as I was brought to recovery. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple
It is better to be wanted too much than not a all.---Anonymous
It may seem that so many people want our time and love. Parents say we don’t call often enough. Children demand our time. Our partners say we’re gone to much. Our sponsor tells us to check in more often. When we feel off balance by all these people, we need to stop and rest. We need to remember how lonely we were when we were using. No one wanted our time and love then! Now we’re important to others again. You can handle all this by giving people what they need and ask for, within reason---not what you think they need, which may be way too much. Maybe you need Al-Anon, to learn to love others while taking care of yourself.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me put my time and energy to best use today. Help me find the balance I need between work, play, loving others, and self-care.
Action for the Day: When I feel I have to give too much today, I’ll stop and ask my Higher Power for guidance. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning
Desire and longing are the whips of God. --Anna Wickham
Our dreams and desires inspire us to reach beyond our present stopping-place. That which we can achieve will draw our attention, and with certainty, a partner is on hand to help us chart the steps for realizing the goal. Before our introduction to the Twelve Steps, we experienced desires and set many goals. Some we attained. What we often lacked was confidence, and then our commitment wavered. The program is helping us realize that all pure desires are attainable when we invite the program's structure into our daily planning. Our lives are purposeful. Each of us is fulfilling a necessary role. The longings that tug at us, longings that bring no harm to others, or ourselves push us to realize our full potential. Courage and strength, ability and resourcefulness are never lacking when we follow the guidance within and trust in its direction. All the wisdom necessary for succeeding at any task, completing any goal, charting any desire, is as close as our attention is to God. I will pay heed to my desires today. I will pray for the wisdom to fulfill them. All doors will open and my steps will be guided, when the desire is spiritually sound. ************************************************** ********* 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.
I have already told you about some of the miracles that have happened. However, there's more. I want to tell you how I feel inside. I am no longer spiritually bankrupt. It's as if I have magic source in my life that has provided me with all I need. I just celebrated my twelfth year of sobriety a couple of months ago. When I first came to A.A., I didn't know who I was. My sponsor said, "Great--if you don't know who you are, you can become whomever God wants you to be." p. 381 ************************************************** ********* 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."
But as time passed we found that with the help of A.A.'s Twelve Steps we could lose those fears, no matter what our material prospects were. We could cheerfully perform humble labor without worrying about tomorrow. If our circumstances happened to be good, we no longer dreaded a change for the worse, for we had learned that these troubles could be turned into great values. It did not matter too much what our material condition was, but it did matter what our spiritual condition was. Money gradually became our servant and not our master. It became a means of exchanging love and service with those about us. When, with God's help, we calmly accepted our lot, then we found we could live at peace with ourselves and show others who still suffered the same fears that they could get over them, too. We found that freedom from fear was more important than freedom from want. pp. 121-122 ************************************************** ********* "Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart." --Kahlil Gibran
Yesterday is a canceled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, today is cash in the bank. Yesterday is history, Tomorrow's a mystery, Live just for today. Today is a gift that is why they call it the present. When special feelings come your way, let them flow into your heart. When miracles try to find you, don't hide. When special people come along, let them know what a blessing they are. Let your smiles begin way down, deep inside. --Collin McCarthy
"I can do nothing to change the past except stop repeating it in the present." --Courage to Change ***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
PEOPLE-PLEASING
"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is try to please everybody." -- Herbert Bayard Swope
Part of my recovery is not that I never "people-please" but that I know when I am doing it . . . and I am doing it less! My low self-esteem was revealed in the way I would say what I felt you wanted to hear, do what you wanted to do, go where you wanted to go -- and for years I missed me. For years I missed my life because I was preoccupied with other people. And I wasn't honest. I hated being that way but I wouldn't admit it. Now I see that my guilt around my addiction led me into this sick cycle, and recovery is taking me out of it. Today I say "I don't want to go." "I don't agree with what you are saying." "I refuse to do that." My dignity is being discovered in my straight forwardness. God, may I have the courage to share my true feelings. ************************************************** ********* "Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long." Psalm 25:5
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration
When something threatens your peace, do not give it an importance it doesn't have by allowing it to fester in your mind. Lord, there is no situation beyond Your ability to correct. Use the power of positive images in your mind to bring about good experiences. Lord, I will let my faith in You nourish my thoughts so that I can develop a healthy and joyful reality.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Daily readings....TGIF!
September 16
Daily Reflections
WE STAND--OR FALL--TOGETHER . . . no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone. Alcoholics Anonymous, p.563
Just as the Twelve Steps of A.A. are written in a specific sequence for a reason, so it is with the Twelve Traditions. The First Step and the First Tradition attempt to instill in me enough humility to allow me a chance at survival. Together they are the basic foundation upon which the Steps and Traditions that follow are built. It is a process of ego deflation which allows me to grow as an individual through the Steps, and as a contributing member of a group through the Traditions. Full acceptance of the First Tradition allows me to set aside personal ambitions, fears and anger when they are in conflict with the common good, thus permitting me to work with others for our mutual survival. Without Tradition One I stand little chance of maintaining the unity required to work with others effectively, and I also stand to lose the remaining Traditions, the Fellowship, and my life. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day Today,
let us begin a short study of The Twelve Suggested Steps of A.A. These Twelve Suggested Steps seem to embody five principles. The first step is the membership requirement step. The second, third, and eleventh steps are the spiritual steps of the program. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and tenth steps are the personal inventory steps. The eighth and ninth steps are the restitution steps. The twelfth step is the passing on of the program, or helping others, step. So the five principles are membership requirement, spiritual basis, personal inventory, restitution, and helping others. Have I made all these steps a part of me?
Meditation For The Day
We seem to live not only in time but also in eternity. If we abide with God and He abides with us, we may bring forth spiritual fruit which will last for eternity. If we live with God, our lives can flow as some calm river through the dry land of earth. It can cause the trees and flowers of the spiritual life--love and service--to spring forth and yield abundantly. Spiritual work may be done for eternity, not just for now. Even here on earth we can live as though our real lives were eternal.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may try to make my life like a cool river in a thirsty land. I pray that I may give freely to all who ask my help. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It
Beneath the Surface, p.258
Some will object to many of the questions that should be answered in a moral inventory, because they think their own character defects have not been so glaring. To these, it can be suggested that a conscientious examination is likely to reveal the very defects the objectionable questions are concerned with. Because our surface record hasn't looked too bad, we have frequently been abashed to find that this is so simply because we have buried these selfsame defects deep down in us under thick layers of self-justification. Those were the defects that finally ambushed us into alcoholism and misery. 12 & 12, pp. 53-54 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places
The world will recover Belief If our recovery program is working properly, an amazing thing can happen. Instead of being the bad actors of society, we become people who can be considered solid citizens in every way.. So square that we might even have sharp corners. We might then start becoming critical of the world in general. "I've recovered, so why does the rest of the world have to be the way it is?" A person might say. "Why don't other people do something about their resentments and fears, just as I have?" In asking such a question, we're already in danger of becoming self-righteous. We can remember, however, that our Higher Power has the same concern for others that was shown to us. By the grace of God, and in God's own good time, the world can and will recover. I'll remember today that God is in charge of the world and will set all things straight, just as I was brought to recovery. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple
Here’s my Golden Rule: Be fair with others but then keep after them until they’re fair with you. ---Alan Alda
Often in our illness we were ashamed, so we let people take advantage of us. We acted as if we had no rights. In recovery, we work hard to be fair with others. And we deserve to be treated with fairness too. If people are mean to us, we talk with them about it. If people cheat us, we ask them to set it right. In recovery, we live by our human rights.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to stand for fairness. Help me respect myself and others.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list people who have wronged me. I will make plans to talk to those with whom I feel will listen. I will let love, not shame or fear, control my actions. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning
I long to speak out the intense inspiration that comes to me from lives of strong women. --Ruth Benedict
Each day that we thoughtfully make choices about our behavior and our attitudes, we offer ourselves as examples to others--examples of strength. As women on recovery paths, we find encouragement from one another's successes. No one of us met our experiences very successfully before discovering this program. In most cases we lacked the structure that comes with the Steps. Direction was missing from our lives. Too often we passively bounced from man to man, job to job, drunk to drunk. When working the Steps, we are never in doubt about the manner for proceeding in any situation. The Steps provide the parameters that secure our growth. They help us to see where we've been and push us toward the goals, which crowd our dreams. We have changed. We will continue to grow. The past need haunt us no more. The future can be faced with confidence. Whatever strength is needed to fulfill our destinies will find us. And our forward steps will make the way easier for the women who follow. What a blessing these Steps are! They answer my every question. They fulfill my every need. ************************************************** ********* 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.
I learned to accept the things I cannot change (in this case my vision) and change the things I can (I could be grateful for and accept the visual aids instead of being embarrassed and rejecting them as I had when I was younger). p. 381 ************************************************** ********* 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 ************************************************** ********* Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. --Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)
"Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it." "If you spend more time asking appropriate questions rather than giving answers or opinions, your listening skills will increase." --Brian Koslow
"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." --Benjamin Franklin
"You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water." --Rabindranath Tagore ***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
DENIAL
"The worst vice of the fanatic is his sincerity." -- Oscar Wilde
The disease of alcoholism is "cunning, baffling and powerful", and it manipulates us to believe "the lie". There is a point that we reach in our disease where we believe that crazy behavior is acceptable. Insanity becomes the order of the day. And when friends or therapists try to give us a message, we discount them. How can we break down this wall of denial? Well, there is strength in numbers. If everybody we respect is disagreeing with us, then it is time that we change. If our isolation has become a source of martyrdom, then we need to reorganize our attitude for living. Insanity and isolation are often companions; they feed off each other. We need always to stay close to our recovering community. Strength and sobriety is in numbers. God, You gave me the message to become the message. Help me to live it in the recovering community. ************************************************** ********* O lord hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. Psalm 130:2
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
God...comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration
Never lose your laughter even in the face of trouble and your troubles will not be as heavy. Lord, I will remain cheerful and peaceful as proof of my faith in You. To love and be loved is the greatest of joys. Lord, inspire me with ways to show my love.
Daily Reflections
WE STAND--OR FALL--TOGETHER . . . no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone. Alcoholics Anonymous, p.563
Just as the Twelve Steps of A.A. are written in a specific sequence for a reason, so it is with the Twelve Traditions. The First Step and the First Tradition attempt to instill in me enough humility to allow me a chance at survival. Together they are the basic foundation upon which the Steps and Traditions that follow are built. It is a process of ego deflation which allows me to grow as an individual through the Steps, and as a contributing member of a group through the Traditions. Full acceptance of the First Tradition allows me to set aside personal ambitions, fears and anger when they are in conflict with the common good, thus permitting me to work with others for our mutual survival. Without Tradition One I stand little chance of maintaining the unity required to work with others effectively, and I also stand to lose the remaining Traditions, the Fellowship, and my life. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day Today,
let us begin a short study of The Twelve Suggested Steps of A.A. These Twelve Suggested Steps seem to embody five principles. The first step is the membership requirement step. The second, third, and eleventh steps are the spiritual steps of the program. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and tenth steps are the personal inventory steps. The eighth and ninth steps are the restitution steps. The twelfth step is the passing on of the program, or helping others, step. So the five principles are membership requirement, spiritual basis, personal inventory, restitution, and helping others. Have I made all these steps a part of me?
Meditation For The Day
We seem to live not only in time but also in eternity. If we abide with God and He abides with us, we may bring forth spiritual fruit which will last for eternity. If we live with God, our lives can flow as some calm river through the dry land of earth. It can cause the trees and flowers of the spiritual life--love and service--to spring forth and yield abundantly. Spiritual work may be done for eternity, not just for now. Even here on earth we can live as though our real lives were eternal.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may try to make my life like a cool river in a thirsty land. I pray that I may give freely to all who ask my help. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It
Beneath the Surface, p.258
Some will object to many of the questions that should be answered in a moral inventory, because they think their own character defects have not been so glaring. To these, it can be suggested that a conscientious examination is likely to reveal the very defects the objectionable questions are concerned with. Because our surface record hasn't looked too bad, we have frequently been abashed to find that this is so simply because we have buried these selfsame defects deep down in us under thick layers of self-justification. Those were the defects that finally ambushed us into alcoholism and misery. 12 & 12, pp. 53-54 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places
The world will recover Belief If our recovery program is working properly, an amazing thing can happen. Instead of being the bad actors of society, we become people who can be considered solid citizens in every way.. So square that we might even have sharp corners. We might then start becoming critical of the world in general. "I've recovered, so why does the rest of the world have to be the way it is?" A person might say. "Why don't other people do something about their resentments and fears, just as I have?" In asking such a question, we're already in danger of becoming self-righteous. We can remember, however, that our Higher Power has the same concern for others that was shown to us. By the grace of God, and in God's own good time, the world can and will recover. I'll remember today that God is in charge of the world and will set all things straight, just as I was brought to recovery. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple
Here’s my Golden Rule: Be fair with others but then keep after them until they’re fair with you. ---Alan Alda
Often in our illness we were ashamed, so we let people take advantage of us. We acted as if we had no rights. In recovery, we work hard to be fair with others. And we deserve to be treated with fairness too. If people are mean to us, we talk with them about it. If people cheat us, we ask them to set it right. In recovery, we live by our human rights.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to stand for fairness. Help me respect myself and others.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list people who have wronged me. I will make plans to talk to those with whom I feel will listen. I will let love, not shame or fear, control my actions. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning
I long to speak out the intense inspiration that comes to me from lives of strong women. --Ruth Benedict
Each day that we thoughtfully make choices about our behavior and our attitudes, we offer ourselves as examples to others--examples of strength. As women on recovery paths, we find encouragement from one another's successes. No one of us met our experiences very successfully before discovering this program. In most cases we lacked the structure that comes with the Steps. Direction was missing from our lives. Too often we passively bounced from man to man, job to job, drunk to drunk. When working the Steps, we are never in doubt about the manner for proceeding in any situation. The Steps provide the parameters that secure our growth. They help us to see where we've been and push us toward the goals, which crowd our dreams. We have changed. We will continue to grow. The past need haunt us no more. The future can be faced with confidence. Whatever strength is needed to fulfill our destinies will find us. And our forward steps will make the way easier for the women who follow. What a blessing these Steps are! They answer my every question. They fulfill my every need. ************************************************** ********* 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.
I learned to accept the things I cannot change (in this case my vision) and change the things I can (I could be grateful for and accept the visual aids instead of being embarrassed and rejecting them as I had when I was younger). p. 381 ************************************************** ********* 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 ************************************************** ********* Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. --Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)
"Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it." "If you spend more time asking appropriate questions rather than giving answers or opinions, your listening skills will increase." --Brian Koslow
"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." --Benjamin Franklin
"You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water." --Rabindranath Tagore ***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
DENIAL
"The worst vice of the fanatic is his sincerity." -- Oscar Wilde
The disease of alcoholism is "cunning, baffling and powerful", and it manipulates us to believe "the lie". There is a point that we reach in our disease where we believe that crazy behavior is acceptable. Insanity becomes the order of the day. And when friends or therapists try to give us a message, we discount them. How can we break down this wall of denial? Well, there is strength in numbers. If everybody we respect is disagreeing with us, then it is time that we change. If our isolation has become a source of martyrdom, then we need to reorganize our attitude for living. Insanity and isolation are often companions; they feed off each other. We need always to stay close to our recovering community. Strength and sobriety is in numbers. God, You gave me the message to become the message. Help me to live it in the recovering community. ************************************************** ********* O lord hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. Psalm 130:2
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
God...comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration
Never lose your laughter even in the face of trouble and your troubles will not be as heavy. Lord, I will remain cheerful and peaceful as proof of my faith in You. To love and be loved is the greatest of joys. Lord, inspire me with ways to show my love.
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