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12-10-2007, 03:43 PM
Daily Reflections
A GENUINE HUMILITY
. . . . we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This is to the end
that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live
in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 192
Experience has taught me that my alcoholic personality tends to be
grandiose. While having seemingly good intentions, I can go off on
tangents in pursuit of my "causes." My ego takes over and I lose
sight of my primary purpose. I may even take credit for God's
handiwork in my life. Such an overstated feeling of my own
importance is dangerous to my sobriety and could cause great harm
to A.A. as a whole. My safeguard, the Twelfth Tradition, serves to
keep me humble. I realize, both as an individual and as a member of
the Fellowship, that I cannot boast of my accomplishments, and that
"God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves."
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Doctors think of the A.A. fellowship as group therapy. This is a very narrow
conception of the depth of the A.A. fellowship. Looking at it purely as a means of
acquiring and holding sobriety, it is right as far as it goes. But it doesn't go far
enough. Group therapy is directed toward the help that the individual receives from
it. It is essentially selfish. It is using the companionship of other alcoholics only in order
to stay sober ourselves. But this is only the beginning of real A.A. fellowship. Do I deeply
feel the true A.A. fellowship?
Meditation For The Day
Most of us have had to live through the dark part of our lives, the time of failure, the
nighttime of our lives, when we were full of struggle and care, worry and remorse,
when we felt deeply the tragedy of life. But with our daily surrender to a Higher
Power, comes a peace and joy that makes all things new. We can now take each day
as a joyous sunrise-gift from God to use for Him and for other fellow people. The night of
the past is gone, this day is ours.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may take this day as a gift from God. I pray that I may thank God for
this day and be glad in it.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
To Rebuild Security, p. 301
In our behavior respecting financial and emotional security, fear.
greed. possessiveness, and pride have too often done their worst.
Surveying his business or employment record, almost any alcoholic can
ask questions like these: In addition to my drinking problem, what
character defects contributed to my financial instability? Did fear and
inferiority about my fitness for my job destroy my confidence and fill
me with conflict? Or did I overvalue myself and play the big shot?
Businesswomen in A.A. will find that these questions often apply to
them, too, and the alcoholic housewife can also make the family
financially insecure. Indeed, all alcoholics need to cross-examine
themselves ruthlessly to determine how their own personality defects
have demolished their security.
12 & 12, pp. 51-52
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Keep the Focus on Personal Responsibility
Responsible attitudes.
Alcoholics often try to shift responsibility to others. We once thought it was possible to blame others for our drinking, and we had sneaky ways of manipulating family members so they would feel guilty and comply with our demands.
In sober living, we must not allow ourselves to slip back into this mode of thinking. Keeping the focus on personal responsibility is our best way of approaching all problems. "What is my responsibility in this?" is a good question to ask in evaluating our part in situations.
We are always responsible for our own sobriety. Beyond that, we're also responsible for maintaining good attitudes and making sure that our own anger and pride do not make any situation worse than it already is.
I'll be responsible today for my own thoughts, feelings, and actions. If any stressful issue or situation arises, I'll keep my focus on personal responsibility.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.--Tuli Keupferberg.
Recovery has happened to us. We stopped drinking or using other drugs and, like magic, a new world appeared. Being sober sure shakes up a person's life! It's good to shake up our world every now and then. This way, we see there's not just one “world”, but many. We grow each time we step into a new world and learn new things. Of course, the addict's world was new and exciting to us at one time. But we got trapped and couldn't find our way out. Our Higher Power had to free us. We need to try new worlds, but we always need to take our Higher Power with us--into worlds where there's honesty, love, and trust.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, lead me to new worlds where I'll learn more about living fully.
Action for the Day: I'll list 3 ways I can step into a new world today. For example, I could read something new, go to a museum, or eat a new food.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
ON THE MOVE - Working the A.A. program showed this alcoholic how to get from geographics to gratitude.
I thought my life had come to an end when I arrived at my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous at twenty-eight years old. I had been drinking since my early teens, and to my way of thinking, booze had been the answer to my problems, not the problem itself. Even I had to admit, though, that my life had gotten pretty bad and my options were quickly running out. In a moment of desperation, I agreed to go to one A.A. meeting.
p. 486
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Two - "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
Consider next the plight of those who once had faith, but have lost it. There will be those who have drifted into indifference, those filled with self-sufficiency who have cut themselves off, those who have become prejudiced against religion, and those who are downright defiant because God has failed to fulfill their demands. Can A.A. experience tell all these they may still find a faith that works?
p. 28
************************************************** *********
Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day
brings forth.
--Horace
"Ask for what you want. Ask for help, ask for input, ask for advice and ideas -- but
never be afraid to ask."
--Brian Tracy
"Material success may result in the accumulation of possessions; but only spiritual
success will enable you to enjoy them."
--Nido Qubein
"The act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers."
--Brian Tracy
Life is very beautiful, you know. It is a gift given to us by God. Don’t ignore its
beauty. Don’t ignore its joy. Don’t ignore its love. Embrace it, cherish it, and live it
with all of your heart. Make the life you live as beautiful and wonderful as the life
God has given you. Whether you are rich or poor, young or old, healthy or sick always
remember that life is beautiful and so are you.
--Joseph J. Mazzella
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
TODAY
"The only courage that matters
is the kind that gets you from
one moment to the next."
-- Mignon McLaughlin
I do not have to have courage for a lifetime, just for the moment. I am helped by the
philosophy that teaches me to live one day at a time, one hour at a time, one moment
at a time. It is too awesome to try to live my tomorrows today. Life is a process to be
lived not a future to be anticipated.
For years I tried to anticipate what life had to throw at me, and I always came away
confused, surprised and exhausted. I missed the joy of the moment by worrying about
the future. What was he going to do? What happens if the police get involved? Will
my mother telephone next week? Will my niece grow up to be alcoholic? Am I to
blame? I had a thousand questions that I could not answer; nobody can answer for the
future today.
I can only take responsibility for my life a day at a time. I developed the courage to
face the moment and I became a winner.
May I avoid the temptation to seek the fantasy of tomorrow for the reality of today.
************************************************** *********
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ...'
1 Thessalonians 5:9
"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be
made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful
and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our
Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
I Timothy 2:1-5
“He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a
matter separates even close friends.”
Proverbs 17:9
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Use Jesus' as your example on how to live. Lord, You will guide and advise us and then You will leave it to us to decide our own future. Give us wisdom in our choices.
God gives abundantly to those who pass His gifts on to others. Lord, let Your blessings flow in to me and then out from me. I will neither be selfish nor let my gifts stagnate.
A GENUINE HUMILITY
. . . . we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This is to the end
that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live
in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 192
Experience has taught me that my alcoholic personality tends to be
grandiose. While having seemingly good intentions, I can go off on
tangents in pursuit of my "causes." My ego takes over and I lose
sight of my primary purpose. I may even take credit for God's
handiwork in my life. Such an overstated feeling of my own
importance is dangerous to my sobriety and could cause great harm
to A.A. as a whole. My safeguard, the Twelfth Tradition, serves to
keep me humble. I realize, both as an individual and as a member of
the Fellowship, that I cannot boast of my accomplishments, and that
"God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves."
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Doctors think of the A.A. fellowship as group therapy. This is a very narrow
conception of the depth of the A.A. fellowship. Looking at it purely as a means of
acquiring and holding sobriety, it is right as far as it goes. But it doesn't go far
enough. Group therapy is directed toward the help that the individual receives from
it. It is essentially selfish. It is using the companionship of other alcoholics only in order
to stay sober ourselves. But this is only the beginning of real A.A. fellowship. Do I deeply
feel the true A.A. fellowship?
Meditation For The Day
Most of us have had to live through the dark part of our lives, the time of failure, the
nighttime of our lives, when we were full of struggle and care, worry and remorse,
when we felt deeply the tragedy of life. But with our daily surrender to a Higher
Power, comes a peace and joy that makes all things new. We can now take each day
as a joyous sunrise-gift from God to use for Him and for other fellow people. The night of
the past is gone, this day is ours.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may take this day as a gift from God. I pray that I may thank God for
this day and be glad in it.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
To Rebuild Security, p. 301
In our behavior respecting financial and emotional security, fear.
greed. possessiveness, and pride have too often done their worst.
Surveying his business or employment record, almost any alcoholic can
ask questions like these: In addition to my drinking problem, what
character defects contributed to my financial instability? Did fear and
inferiority about my fitness for my job destroy my confidence and fill
me with conflict? Or did I overvalue myself and play the big shot?
Businesswomen in A.A. will find that these questions often apply to
them, too, and the alcoholic housewife can also make the family
financially insecure. Indeed, all alcoholics need to cross-examine
themselves ruthlessly to determine how their own personality defects
have demolished their security.
12 & 12, pp. 51-52
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Keep the Focus on Personal Responsibility
Responsible attitudes.
Alcoholics often try to shift responsibility to others. We once thought it was possible to blame others for our drinking, and we had sneaky ways of manipulating family members so they would feel guilty and comply with our demands.
In sober living, we must not allow ourselves to slip back into this mode of thinking. Keeping the focus on personal responsibility is our best way of approaching all problems. "What is my responsibility in this?" is a good question to ask in evaluating our part in situations.
We are always responsible for our own sobriety. Beyond that, we're also responsible for maintaining good attitudes and making sure that our own anger and pride do not make any situation worse than it already is.
I'll be responsible today for my own thoughts, feelings, and actions. If any stressful issue or situation arises, I'll keep my focus on personal responsibility.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.--Tuli Keupferberg.
Recovery has happened to us. We stopped drinking or using other drugs and, like magic, a new world appeared. Being sober sure shakes up a person's life! It's good to shake up our world every now and then. This way, we see there's not just one “world”, but many. We grow each time we step into a new world and learn new things. Of course, the addict's world was new and exciting to us at one time. But we got trapped and couldn't find our way out. Our Higher Power had to free us. We need to try new worlds, but we always need to take our Higher Power with us--into worlds where there's honesty, love, and trust.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, lead me to new worlds where I'll learn more about living fully.
Action for the Day: I'll list 3 ways I can step into a new world today. For example, I could read something new, go to a museum, or eat a new food.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
ON THE MOVE - Working the A.A. program showed this alcoholic how to get from geographics to gratitude.
I thought my life had come to an end when I arrived at my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous at twenty-eight years old. I had been drinking since my early teens, and to my way of thinking, booze had been the answer to my problems, not the problem itself. Even I had to admit, though, that my life had gotten pretty bad and my options were quickly running out. In a moment of desperation, I agreed to go to one A.A. meeting.
p. 486
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Two - "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
Consider next the plight of those who once had faith, but have lost it. There will be those who have drifted into indifference, those filled with self-sufficiency who have cut themselves off, those who have become prejudiced against religion, and those who are downright defiant because God has failed to fulfill their demands. Can A.A. experience tell all these they may still find a faith that works?
p. 28
************************************************** *********
Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day
brings forth.
--Horace
"Ask for what you want. Ask for help, ask for input, ask for advice and ideas -- but
never be afraid to ask."
--Brian Tracy
"Material success may result in the accumulation of possessions; but only spiritual
success will enable you to enjoy them."
--Nido Qubein
"The act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers."
--Brian Tracy
Life is very beautiful, you know. It is a gift given to us by God. Don’t ignore its
beauty. Don’t ignore its joy. Don’t ignore its love. Embrace it, cherish it, and live it
with all of your heart. Make the life you live as beautiful and wonderful as the life
God has given you. Whether you are rich or poor, young or old, healthy or sick always
remember that life is beautiful and so are you.
--Joseph J. Mazzella
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
TODAY
"The only courage that matters
is the kind that gets you from
one moment to the next."
-- Mignon McLaughlin
I do not have to have courage for a lifetime, just for the moment. I am helped by the
philosophy that teaches me to live one day at a time, one hour at a time, one moment
at a time. It is too awesome to try to live my tomorrows today. Life is a process to be
lived not a future to be anticipated.
For years I tried to anticipate what life had to throw at me, and I always came away
confused, surprised and exhausted. I missed the joy of the moment by worrying about
the future. What was he going to do? What happens if the police get involved? Will
my mother telephone next week? Will my niece grow up to be alcoholic? Am I to
blame? I had a thousand questions that I could not answer; nobody can answer for the
future today.
I can only take responsibility for my life a day at a time. I developed the courage to
face the moment and I became a winner.
May I avoid the temptation to seek the fantasy of tomorrow for the reality of today.
************************************************** *********
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ...'
1 Thessalonians 5:9
"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be
made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful
and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our
Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
I Timothy 2:1-5
“He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a
matter separates even close friends.”
Proverbs 17:9
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Use Jesus' as your example on how to live. Lord, You will guide and advise us and then You will leave it to us to decide our own future. Give us wisdom in our choices.
God gives abundantly to those who pass His gifts on to others. Lord, let Your blessings flow in to me and then out from me. I will neither be selfish nor let my gifts stagnate.