Daily Recovery Readings - 9/18

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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.

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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.

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As Bill Sees It

"Loners"--but Not Alone, p. 53

What can be said of many A.A. members who, for a variety of reasons,
cannot have a family life? At first many of these feel lonely, hurt, and
left out as they witness so much domestic happiness about them. If
they cannot have this kind of happiness, can A.A. offer them
satisfactions of similar worth and durability?

Yes-- whenever they try hard to seek out these satisfactions.
Surrounded by so many A.A. friends, the so-called loners tell us they
no longer feel alone. In partnership with others--women and
men--they can devote themselves to any number of ideas, people, and
constructive projects. They can participate in enterprises which would
be denied to family men and women. We daily see such members
render prodigies of service, and receive great joys in return.

12 & 12, p. 120

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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.

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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.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

LISTENING TO THE WIND - It took an "angel" to introduce this Native American woman to A.A. and recovery.

I started drinking when I was around eleven years old. I stayed with my brother and his wife just outside of Gallup, New Mexico. We were poor. The smell of beans and fresh tortillas symbolized home to me. I slept in a bed with three other children, where we huddled close to keep warm in the freezing weather. The snow was deep around us.

p. 458

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Seven - "Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."

"Then I woke up. I who had boasted my generosity that morning was treating my own club worse than the distant alcoholics who had forgotten to send the Foundation their dollars. I realized that my five-dollar gift to the slippee was an ego-feeding proposition, bad for him and bad for me. There was a place in A.A. where spirituality and money would mix, and that was in the hat!"

p. 163

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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

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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.

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"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

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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.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
I will, I will accept myself
With hope and fear and wonder
And what I have joined together
Let no man put asunder.
--Dory Preven
There is a wonderful freedom in acceptance. When we accept ourselves, with all our imperfections, we can then begin to accept others just as they are. This is especially exciting when we apply this discovery to our own families. A family is like a bouquet of flowers arranged in a common vase. Each flower is different. One might be blue, one white, one a rose, one a chrysanthemum. But each adds to the beauty of the whole bouquet and enhances the vase that holds it.
It isn't important that we know why one flower is blue and one white. We don't have to understand how a rose becomes a rose to appreciate the arrangement. We just accept it for what it is. Acceptance of others does not mean agreement or approval. How boring if we only accepted those who reflected our own ideas and opinions! How dull to look upon a bouquet of exactly the same flowers.
Today, will I accept the differences between us as part of our beauty together?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. --Paul Tillich
We are men who know the consequences of alcoholism, codependency, and addiction. We have walked dark valleys. We have felt meaningless and empty in our lives. Each of us has a story. The harder we worked to overcome those feelings by our individual efforts, the worse the feelings got. This program suggested we try something radically new --something we couldn't think up on our own.
Grace is the love and generosity of God, which comes through no effort of our own. Not until we felt defeated would we open ourselves to this gift of help from our Higher Power. Grace comes in many forms. It is in the hope we feel in the morning after a night of rest, and it's in the good feeling we get attending our meetings. Before this program, most of us were trying so hard to control our lives we couldn't notice any gifts that came from outside our efforts. These Twelve Steps train us for becoming receptive to the healing grace of God.
The grace of God surrounds me - even in difficult times. Returning to that message renews my strength.


You are reading from the book 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.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.

Letting the Good Stuff Happen
Before recovery, my relationships were lousy. I didn't do very well on my job. I was enmeshed in my dysfunctional family. But at least I knew what to expect! --Anonymous
I want the second half of my life to be as good as the first half was miserable. Sometimes, I'm afraid it won't be. Sometimes, I'm frightened it might be.
The good stuff can scare us. Change, even good change, can be frightening. In some ways, good changes can be more frightening than the hard times.
The past, particularly before recovery, may have become comfortably familiar. We knew what to expect in our relationships. They were predictable. They were repeats of the same pattern - the same behaviors, the same pain, over and over again. They may not have been what we wanted, but we knew what was going to happen.
This is not so when we change patterns and begins recovering.
We may have been fairly good at predicting events in most areas of our life. Relationships would be painful. We'd be deprived.
Each year would be almost a repeat of the last. Sometimes it got a little worse, sometimes a little better, but the change wasn't drastic. Not until the moment when we began recovery.
Then things changed. And the further we progress in this miraculous program, the more we and or circumstances change. We begin to explore uncharted territory.
Things get good. They do get better all the time. We begin to become successful in love, in work, in life. One day at a time, the good stuff begins to happen and the misery dissipates.
We no longer want to be a victim of life. We've learned to avoid unnecessary crisis and trauma.
Life gets good.
"How do I handle the good stuff?" asked one woman. It's harder and more foreign than the pain and tragedy."
"The same way we handled the difficult and the painful experiences," I replied. "One day at a time."
Today, God, help me let go of my need to be in pain and crisis. Help me move as swiftly as possible through sad feelings and problems. Help me find my base and balance in peace, joy, and gratitude. Help me work as hard at accepting what's good, as I have worked in the past at accepting the painful and the difficult.


If something isn't working for me today, I am willing to let go of the struggle. I trust that God has something better in store for me. --Ruth Fishel

[admin]

You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Bad Days

There are some days when we wake up in the morning knowing with a sixth sense that the day is going to be a hard one. These are the days when it is difficult to get out of bed, when we would prefer not to face whatever awaits us. There is no way around these days; we must get through them the best way we can.

Our most useful tool for coping with a bad day is abstinence. Nothing is impossible when we are abstaining from compulsive overeating. Often our problem lies not in the external events of the day but in recognizing a part of ourselves that has been hidden and repressed. We resist facing honestly what our Higher Power is revealing to us about our inner life.

When we are determined not to escape into food, we will come out of a bad day stronger than we were before. We reinforce our new way of living, which is to turn difficult situations over to our Higher Power and then act as He guides us, step by step.
May I be closer to You during the bad days.

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Wisdom for Today
I will never be able to figure out how much money I wasted on alcohol and drugs. The sad part is that I was not just wasting my money, but money that rightfully should have been spent on my family. Getting wasted really wasted a lot more than just me. The financial burden I had on my family was tremendous. Over and over I would ask immediate and extended family to bail me out of a jam. Eventually I found there was little I could do to regain their trust, and asking them for more money was not possible. This led to a growing desperation and more use. The insanity continued.

I was not able to dig my way out just because I stopped using. It took time and staying connected to the program. Frequently I was tempted to take on extra work to pay the bills, but going to meetings was the only way I could stay clean and sober. If I didn't stay clean and sober, I knew I never would get out of the mess. Am I willing to be patient for financial answers? Am I being responsible with the resources I have?
Meditations for the Heart
My future is in the hands of God. I still need to do the footwork if I am to find a way out of the mess addiction created in my life. I must take responsibility for my recovery and seek wisdom from others in the decisions I face. One thing I have learned is that each day can be about progress. Sometimes it is not always easy to see. One day I woke up, and many of the problems I had were gone. This did not mean I had no problems, just better ones - in most instances. And the problems that weren't better, I could handle more constructively. Are the problems I am facing today better than the problems I had? Do I trust that God can and will help me with each problem I face?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,

Today help me face each problem I have with hope. Let me feel assured that by following the principles of the program that the promises of recovery can indeed happen in my life. Help me not to be discouraged but to walk with the knowledge that You walk with me.

Amen.