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admin
08-31-2007, 04:02 PM
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark. --Sir Rabindranath Tagore
In the darkness of early morning, the bird outside the window begins to sing. Soon the eastern sky turns pink. The bird continues singing until the first yellow rays warm its soft wings. Then it flies away, not returning to the window until the next morning.
We can learn from the small bird how to have faith. We don't need to wait for something we want before having faith we'll get it. We can begin to show our faith by celebrating the things we usually take for granted. After all, when we take something for granted, isn't that a selfish form of faith? We can start by singing a song to celebrate the new day. A day that will warm our hearts and shed light on our actions. Like the bird's faith in the sunrise, we need only to have faith that God meant each day to enrich our lives.
What faith can I celebrate right now?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe. --Carl Sagan
Everything is given to us. Our lives came forth with no plan on our part. We have no lease on life and no control, ultimately, over any possession. In the addictive and codependent families most of us came from, we learned something else. We learned a lonely arrogance that said, "I should be self sufficient. I have earned everything that ever came to me." Deep down we probably knew how untrue that was, and we felt great self-doubt.
The cure we learn in this program for our lonely arrogance is a miracle and a blessing. We accept that we are part of a larger whole. Now it dawns on us - all of our friends and relatives share this basic powerlessness. We are all pilgrims. We are all guests. We are all stewards of creation. We can be close, and we must help one another because everyone is equally vulnerable.
I am grateful to my Higher Power today for the life, which has been given me. I pray for greater understanding of my responsibilities.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Success can only be measured in terms of distance traveled. --Mavis Gallant
We are forever moving from one experience to another, one challenge to another, and one relationship to another. Our ability to handle confidently all encounters is a gift of the program, and one that accompanies us throughout every day, providing we humbly express gratitude for it. Success is ours when we are grateful.
We are not standing still. No matter how uneventful our lives may seem, we are traveling toward our destiny, and all the thrills and tears, joys and sorrows, are contributing to the success of our trip. Every day, every step, we are succeeding.
We can reflect on yesterday, better yet, on last week or even last year. What were our problems? It's doubtful we can even remember them. We have put distance between them and us. They were handled in some manner. We have succeeded in getting free of them. We have succeeded in moving beyond them.
How far we have come! And we will keep right on traveling forward. As long as we rely on the program, we are assured of success.
I can do whatever I need to do, today, with success, when I humbly accept the program's gifts.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Patience
Sometimes we get what we want right away. At other times, we wonder if our desires will ever be fulfilled.
We will be fulfilled in the best way possible and as quickly as possible. But some things take time. Sometimes, we have lessons to learn first, lessons that prepare us so we can accept the good we deserve. Things are being worked out in us, and in others. Blocks in us are being removed. A solid foundation is being laid.
Be patient, Relax and trust. Let go. Then, let go some more. Good things are planned for us. We will receive them at the first available moment. We will have all our heart longs for. Relax and trust.
Today, I will identify what I want and need; then, I'll be willing to let go of it. I will devote my energy to living my life today, so I may master my lessons as quickly as possible. I will trust that what I want and need is coming to me. I will let go of my need to control the details.


Today I know I am worthy of having success in my life. I am listening what I tell myself with gentleness and love, putting a stop to any self-talk that does not make me feel good about myself. --Ruth Fishel

admin
08-31-2007, 04:05 PM
You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

We practice the OA principles in all our affairs, twenty-four hours a day. Ours is not a diet program but a way of life. When we were eating compulsively, food occupied the central place in our lives every day. Abstinence replaces food as our prime concern, and maintaining abstinence means working the program.

When we do this, we are amazed at how well the day goes. Our work is easier and more productive. We spend less time and energy hassling with ourselves and other people. Best of all, we do not always have to be right. Being able to admit mistakes delivers us from egocentricity.

Being straight with ourselves enables us to be straight with others, and they in turn respond more positively. We are less concerned that everyone likes us and more concerned about growth in the program. By placing principles before personalities, we get less snarled up in confused, game playing relationships.
May You be foremost in my mind, twenty-four hours a day.

admin
08-31-2007, 04:06 PM
Wisdom for Today
I’m tired. Some days I just don’t feel like I have the energy to go on. It is at times like this that I trust that God will lead me to a place of rest. Just like a river runs dirty after a storm, I know that my life also ran dirty after the storm of addiction. Yet over time as the river continues to flow, it is cleaned. This is true in my life. God does not promise that storms won’t come back into our lives, but He sees to it that the river of life runs clean again. The water does not always rage, it does calm down and flows peacefully again. Do I trust that God will bring me to a place of peace and serenity as long as I walk with Him?
Meditations for the Heart
When I was stuck out in the rapids of addiction, I just wanted to find a way out. I kept bouncing off the rocks and thought for sure I would drown. It seemed that no matter how hard I would swim that I would never get out of the rapids. It was not until I called out for help and realized that I could not get out of the rapids by myself, that then I found hope. The 12 step Program threw me a rope and began to pull me back to shore. Do I trust that God will give me the strength to hold on to the rope?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,

Sometimes I just want to give up, even though I know I am being pulled back to shore. I grow tired and weak. God give me the strength to hold on so that I may rest a while when I get to shore. Help me to realize that my work is not done even when I
get out of the river.

Amen

admin
08-31-2007, 04:09 PM
Daily Reflections

WILLINGNESS TO GROW
If more gifts are to be received, our awakening has to go on.
As Bill Sees It, p.8

Sobriety fills the painful "hole in the soul" that my alcoholism
created. Often I feel so physically well that I believe my work is
done. However, joy is not just the absence of pain; it is the gift of
continued spiritual awakening. Joy comes from ongoing and active
study, as well as application of the principles of recovery in my
everyday life, and from sharing that experience with others. My
Higher Power presents many opportunities for deeper spiritual
awakening. I need only to bring into my recovery the willingness to
grow. Today I am ready to grow.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Be careful not to brand new prospects as alcoholics. Let them draw
their own conclusion. But talk to them about the hopelessness of
alcoholism. Tell them exactly what happened to you and how you
recovered. Stress the spiritual feature freely. If they are agnostics
or atheists, make it emphatic that they do not have to agree with
your concept of God. They can choose any concept they like,
provided it makes sense to them. The main thing is that they be
willing to believe in a power greater than themselves and that they
live by spiritual principles." Do I hold back too much in speaking
of the spiritual principles of the program?

Meditation For The Day

"I will never leave or forsake thee." Down through the centuries,
thousands have believed in God's constancy, untiringness, and
unfailing love. God has love. Then forever you are sure of His
love. God has power. Then forever you are sure, in every
difficulty and temptation, of His strength. God has patience. Then
always there is One who can never tire. God has understanding.
Then always you will understand and be understood. Unless you want
Him to go, God will never leave you. He is always ready with
power.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may feel that God's love will never fail. I pray that I
may have confidence in His unfailing power.

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As Bill Sees It

Truth, the Liberator, p. 70

How truth makes us free is something that we A.A.'s can well
understand. It cut the shackles that once bound us to alcohol. It
continues to release us from conflicts and miseries beyond reckoning;
it banishes fear and isolation. The unity of our Fellowship, the love
we cherish for each other, the esteem in which the world holds us--all
of these are products of the truth which, under God, we have been
privileged to perceive.

<< << << >> >> >>

Just how and when we tell the truth--or keep silent--can often reveal
the difference between genuine integrity and none at all.

Step Nine emphatically cautions us against misusing the truth when it
states: "We made direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others." Because it points
up the fact that the truth can be used to injure as well as to heal, this
valuable principle certainly has a wide-ranging application to the
problem of developing integrity.

Grapevine, August 1961

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Walk In Dry Places

Are we victimizing ourselves?
Finding the New Happiness
Some believe that people create their own trouble by attracting the wrong
conditions and people in their lives. This may not be entirely
true, but we can find that some element of it was at work with us.
Time and time again during our drinking, we set ourselves up for abuse
and rejection, though our motives seemed right.
Why did we do this? Supposedly to punish ourselves, the theory has it.
If this is true, then we should now call a halt to the process
immediately. If we've emerged from the terrors of alcoholism, we've had
all the punishment anybody needs.
We can change our bad patterns by looking carefully at the people and situations
we seem to attract. Without resentment or condemnation, we
can part company with any problems these have been bringing us. We can
start building new relationships and attracting better conditions that
will be immensely successful in terms of happiness and well-being.<br>
I'll remember today that in the new life I'm seeking, there's no need
for punishment. I will not go out of my way to attract people or
conditions that create problems in my life.

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Keep It Simple

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible . . . ---First half of Step Nine
In our illness, we harmed people. In Step Nine, we are to make amends. Making amends is about asking people we have harmed what we need to do to set things right. But making amends is more than saying, “I'm sorry.” If you ran a store and someone had stolen five dollars, you wouldn't want them to just say, ”I'm sorry.” You'd want the person to pay back the money. The same is true with amends.
Many people we've harmed ask only that we don't repeat our mistakes. Respect their wishes. Step Nine has healed many wounds. Step Nine allows us to grow up. Step Nine help us regain faith in ourselves. Remember, the best amend we make to all is to stay sober.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, give me courage. Help me face the trouble caused by my disease. Make me ready to help other heals from the harm I've caused.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll pray that those I've harmed will heal. I will be responsible for my actions.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

SAFE HAVEN - This A.A. found that the process of discovering who he really was began with knowing who he didn't want to be.

I didn't grow up in a home that used alcohol, but when I took my first drink at the age of thirteen, I knew I would drink again. Being raised in a home founded on high moral standards didn't seem to instill any fear of consequences once I took a drink of booze. Sometimes as I rode my bicycle around the neighborhood, I would spy a grown-up in his yard drinking beer. Returning later, when i knew he was not at home, I would break into his home to steal the golden beverage from the refrigerator.

p. 452

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Six - "An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."

Yes, we of A.A. did dream those dreams. How natural that was, since most alcoholics are bankrupt idealists. Nearly every one of us had wished to do great good, perform great deeds, and embody great ideals. We are all perfectionists who, failing perfection, have gone to the other extreme and settled for the bottle and the blackout. Providence, through A.A., had brought us within reach of our highest expectations. So why shouldn't we share our way of life with everyone?

p. 156

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God brings peace to me, all I need do is ask.
--Shelley

The peace that I feel in my life is growing richer every day. As I
continue to walk on my spiritual path to recovery, I let myself be
guided by truth and love. Conflict is leaving, making more and more
room for charity, serenity and usefulness.
--Ruth Fishel

Treat every person with kindness and respect, even those who are
rude to you. Remember that you show compassion to others not
because of who they are, but because of who you are.
--Andrew T. Somers

Today I know my Higher Power is guiding me through the changes I
choose to make in my life. I have all the energy I need today
to make these changes as easily and effortless as I wish.
--Ruth Fishel

Today, I will stop forcing things to happen. Instead, I will allow things
to happen naturally. If I catch myself trying to force events or control
people, I will stop and figure out a way to detach.
--Melody Beattie

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

OPTIMISM

"Optimism is a kind of heart
stimulant -- the digitalis of
failure."
-- Elbert Hubbard

Today I am an optimist. I believe in life, and more importantly, I
believe in me. I know that God cares and this brings me hope.

But when I was drinking I had a negative and destructive attitude in all
areas of life; nothing pleased me, people were not to be trusted,
everybody had a price, God seemed to be "out for lunch" and life had
lost its meaning. I was a sad man. I was a lonely man. I was an angry
man.

When I was told to put down the drink and follow some new directions,
I halfheartedly agreed. I met people who laughed, shared their pain
and lived in the realistic "now". I began to listen. Slowly I changed.
Peace was within my grasp.

Today I wonder at my halfhearted risk that started it all -- and thank
God.

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Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be
shaken but endures forever.
Psalm 125:1

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your
heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!"
Psalm 27:14

"Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever
state I am, to be content."
Philippians 4:11

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Daily Inspiration

Get outside of yourself and be outgoing for others. Lord, help me to act in a heartwarming manner so that Your presence in me lights an entire room.


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.