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12-18-2007, 04:00 PM
Daily Reflections
UNDERSTANDING THE MALADY
When dealing with an alcoholic, there may be a natural
annoyance that a man could be so weak, stupid and
irresponsible. Even when you understand the malady better,
you may feel this feeling rising.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 139
Having suffered from alcoholism, I should understand the
illness, but sometimes I feel annoyance, even contempt,
toward a person who cannot make it in A.A. When I feel
that way, I am satisfying my false sense of superiority
and I must remember, but for the grace of God, there go I.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
The skeptic and the agnostic say it is impossible for us to
find the answer to life. Many have tried and failed. But
many have put aside intellectual pride and have said to
themselves: Who am I to say there is no God? Who am I to
say there is no purpose in life? The atheist makes a
declaration: "The world originated in a cipher and aimlessly
rushes nowhere." Others live for the moment and do not even
think about why they are here or where they are going. They
might as well be clams on the bottom of the ocean, protected
by their hard shells of indifference. They do not care. Do I care
where I am going?
Meditation For The Day
We may consider the material world as the clay which the
artist works with, to make of it something beautiful or ugly.
We need not fear material things, which are neither good nor
bad in the moral sense. There seems to be no active force for
evil--outside of human beings themselves. Humans alone can
have either evil intentions--resentments, malevolence, hate and
revenge--or good intentions--love and good will. They can make
something ugly or something beautiful out of the clay of their lives.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may make something beautiful out of my life.
I pray that I may be a good artisan of the materials which
I have been given to use.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Rebellion Or Acceptance, p.293
All of us pass through the times when we can pray only with the
greatest exertion. Occasionally we go even further than this. We
are seized with a rebellion so sickening that we simply won't pray.
When these things happen, we should not think too ill of ourselves.
We should simply resume prayer as soon as we can, doing what we
know to be good for us.
********************************
A man who persists in prayer finds himself in possession of great
gifts. When he has to deal with hard circumstances, he finds he can
face them. He can accept himself and the world around him.
He can do this because he now accepts a God who is All--and who
loves all. When he says, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be
Thy name," he deeply and humbly means it. When in good
meditation and thus freed from the clamors of the world, he knows
that he's in God's hands, that his own ultimate destiny is really
secure, here and hereafter, come what may.
1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 105
2. GRAPEVINE, JUNE 1958
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Deadlines
Facing delays
The procrastination of our drinking years caused some of us to become compulsive and fearful about meeting deadlines. We fret and stew if we're unable to get things done when we think they should be completed.
Without being careless or irresponsible, we should remember that we're really living in a spiritual world on a spiritual basis. There are times when a delay even turns out to be beneficial because additional information or assistance turns up later on to ensure the success of a project.
It is part of mature living to keep promises and to meet the proper deadlines. Let's be sure, however, that we're not simply meeting unrealistic deadlines of our own making. We don't have to do this to atone for any failures of the past.
I'll look over my plans today to make sure that I haven't set any unrealistic deadlines for myself. I may be trying too much, too soon.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
The truth is more important than the facts. --Frank Lloyd Wright.
Before recovery, we relied on false facts about addiction. We said things like, "I can quit anytime I want." "If you had my family, you'd drink too." The truth is, we were out of control. We couldn't manage our lives. We were sick. We were scared. When others pointed out this truth to us, we denied it. Honesty, the backbone of our program, is about truth. We even start our meetings with the truth about who we are. "Hi, my name is ___________, and I'm an alcoholic," or "Hi, my name is _______________, and I'm a drug addict." The truth frees us from our addiction. The truth heals us and gives us comfort. It's like a blanket on a cold winter night.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me be an honest person. I pray for the strength to face the truth and speak it.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list 3 ways I have used facts in a dishonest way.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
ON THE MOVE - Working the A.A. program showed this alcoholic how to get from geographics to gratitude.
As a result of that episode, I ended up seeing a psychiatrist to find out what was wrong with me. At our very first session she invited me to "tell me about yourself." I proceeded to do so, only to be told to stop after I had spoken for five minutes or so. She explained that she really only had two things to say to me: that she thought I hadn't told the truth since I walked into the office, and that I was an alcoholic. (It took me a long time to understand how a description of my life could make anyone think I was a drunk.) The doctor said that if I was going to continue to see her, I had to agree to do two things. First, she gave me a business card with a phone number on it. She said the next time I tried to kill myself, I should call that number first. Second, she was going to give me a book to read, and she wanted me to read the first few hundred pages before our next meeting. Before I left that day, she gave me a copy of the Big Book.
pp. 488-489
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Two - "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
Now let's take the guy full of faith, but still reeking of alcohol. He believes he is devout. His religious observance is scrupulous. He's sure he still believes in God, but suspects that God doesn't believe in him. He takes pledges and more pledges. Following each, he not only drinks again, but acts worse than the last time. Valiantly he tries to fight alcohol, imploring God's help, but the help doesn't come. What, then, can be the matter?
pp. 31-32
************************************************** *********
"Keep your head and your heart going in the right direction and you will not have to
worry about your feet."
--Unknown
Reputation is what you are in the light; character is what you are in the dark.
--American Proverb
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past
misfortunes of which all men have some.
--Charles Dickens
The mere sense of living is joy enough.
--Emily Dickinson
Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself, And know that everything in this
life has purpose. There are no mistakes, No coincidences, All events are blessings given
to us to learn from.
--Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
INDIVIDUALITY
"The People, though we think a
great entity when we use the word,
means nothing more than so many
--- millions of individual men (and
women)."
James Bryce
I am an individual. I am unique. I am special. Today I am able to enjoy my difference. I
do not need to hide in alcohol, food or drugs. I do not have to put energy into being the
same as friends or neighbors. I do not need to please people in order to feel good
about myself. Today I am my own person.
God made us varied and different in so many ways, and yet so many of us spend our
time trying to be the same. The effort exerted to achieve the lowest common
denominator is exactly that: the lowest. My spiritual program demands that I be
honest with who I am and what I feel. My self-worth is rooted in my individuality. In
my difference is my soul.
May I always remain true to my individuality.
************************************************** *********
"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:24
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30
For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
Hebrews 4:10
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
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Through the power of God within me, I am stronger than any of my circumstances. Lord, I seek, I knock and I ask and You are always there and ready to give me the miracles that I need.
The first and most powerful commandment is love. Through love we unite ourselves together with God and with each other and bring ourselves closer to our desired goal. Lord, I love You with all my heart and soul and mind.
UNDERSTANDING THE MALADY
When dealing with an alcoholic, there may be a natural
annoyance that a man could be so weak, stupid and
irresponsible. Even when you understand the malady better,
you may feel this feeling rising.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 139
Having suffered from alcoholism, I should understand the
illness, but sometimes I feel annoyance, even contempt,
toward a person who cannot make it in A.A. When I feel
that way, I am satisfying my false sense of superiority
and I must remember, but for the grace of God, there go I.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
The skeptic and the agnostic say it is impossible for us to
find the answer to life. Many have tried and failed. But
many have put aside intellectual pride and have said to
themselves: Who am I to say there is no God? Who am I to
say there is no purpose in life? The atheist makes a
declaration: "The world originated in a cipher and aimlessly
rushes nowhere." Others live for the moment and do not even
think about why they are here or where they are going. They
might as well be clams on the bottom of the ocean, protected
by their hard shells of indifference. They do not care. Do I care
where I am going?
Meditation For The Day
We may consider the material world as the clay which the
artist works with, to make of it something beautiful or ugly.
We need not fear material things, which are neither good nor
bad in the moral sense. There seems to be no active force for
evil--outside of human beings themselves. Humans alone can
have either evil intentions--resentments, malevolence, hate and
revenge--or good intentions--love and good will. They can make
something ugly or something beautiful out of the clay of their lives.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may make something beautiful out of my life.
I pray that I may be a good artisan of the materials which
I have been given to use.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Rebellion Or Acceptance, p.293
All of us pass through the times when we can pray only with the
greatest exertion. Occasionally we go even further than this. We
are seized with a rebellion so sickening that we simply won't pray.
When these things happen, we should not think too ill of ourselves.
We should simply resume prayer as soon as we can, doing what we
know to be good for us.
********************************
A man who persists in prayer finds himself in possession of great
gifts. When he has to deal with hard circumstances, he finds he can
face them. He can accept himself and the world around him.
He can do this because he now accepts a God who is All--and who
loves all. When he says, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be
Thy name," he deeply and humbly means it. When in good
meditation and thus freed from the clamors of the world, he knows
that he's in God's hands, that his own ultimate destiny is really
secure, here and hereafter, come what may.
1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 105
2. GRAPEVINE, JUNE 1958
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Deadlines
Facing delays
The procrastination of our drinking years caused some of us to become compulsive and fearful about meeting deadlines. We fret and stew if we're unable to get things done when we think they should be completed.
Without being careless or irresponsible, we should remember that we're really living in a spiritual world on a spiritual basis. There are times when a delay even turns out to be beneficial because additional information or assistance turns up later on to ensure the success of a project.
It is part of mature living to keep promises and to meet the proper deadlines. Let's be sure, however, that we're not simply meeting unrealistic deadlines of our own making. We don't have to do this to atone for any failures of the past.
I'll look over my plans today to make sure that I haven't set any unrealistic deadlines for myself. I may be trying too much, too soon.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
The truth is more important than the facts. --Frank Lloyd Wright.
Before recovery, we relied on false facts about addiction. We said things like, "I can quit anytime I want." "If you had my family, you'd drink too." The truth is, we were out of control. We couldn't manage our lives. We were sick. We were scared. When others pointed out this truth to us, we denied it. Honesty, the backbone of our program, is about truth. We even start our meetings with the truth about who we are. "Hi, my name is ___________, and I'm an alcoholic," or "Hi, my name is _______________, and I'm a drug addict." The truth frees us from our addiction. The truth heals us and gives us comfort. It's like a blanket on a cold winter night.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me be an honest person. I pray for the strength to face the truth and speak it.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list 3 ways I have used facts in a dishonest way.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
ON THE MOVE - Working the A.A. program showed this alcoholic how to get from geographics to gratitude.
As a result of that episode, I ended up seeing a psychiatrist to find out what was wrong with me. At our very first session she invited me to "tell me about yourself." I proceeded to do so, only to be told to stop after I had spoken for five minutes or so. She explained that she really only had two things to say to me: that she thought I hadn't told the truth since I walked into the office, and that I was an alcoholic. (It took me a long time to understand how a description of my life could make anyone think I was a drunk.) The doctor said that if I was going to continue to see her, I had to agree to do two things. First, she gave me a business card with a phone number on it. She said the next time I tried to kill myself, I should call that number first. Second, she was going to give me a book to read, and she wanted me to read the first few hundred pages before our next meeting. Before I left that day, she gave me a copy of the Big Book.
pp. 488-489
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Two - "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
Now let's take the guy full of faith, but still reeking of alcohol. He believes he is devout. His religious observance is scrupulous. He's sure he still believes in God, but suspects that God doesn't believe in him. He takes pledges and more pledges. Following each, he not only drinks again, but acts worse than the last time. Valiantly he tries to fight alcohol, imploring God's help, but the help doesn't come. What, then, can be the matter?
pp. 31-32
************************************************** *********
"Keep your head and your heart going in the right direction and you will not have to
worry about your feet."
--Unknown
Reputation is what you are in the light; character is what you are in the dark.
--American Proverb
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past
misfortunes of which all men have some.
--Charles Dickens
The mere sense of living is joy enough.
--Emily Dickinson
Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself, And know that everything in this
life has purpose. There are no mistakes, No coincidences, All events are blessings given
to us to learn from.
--Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
INDIVIDUALITY
"The People, though we think a
great entity when we use the word,
means nothing more than so many
--- millions of individual men (and
women)."
James Bryce
I am an individual. I am unique. I am special. Today I am able to enjoy my difference. I
do not need to hide in alcohol, food or drugs. I do not have to put energy into being the
same as friends or neighbors. I do not need to please people in order to feel good
about myself. Today I am my own person.
God made us varied and different in so many ways, and yet so many of us spend our
time trying to be the same. The effort exerted to achieve the lowest common
denominator is exactly that: the lowest. My spiritual program demands that I be
honest with who I am and what I feel. My self-worth is rooted in my individuality. In
my difference is my soul.
May I always remain true to my individuality.
************************************************** *********
"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:24
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30
For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
Hebrews 4:10
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
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Through the power of God within me, I am stronger than any of my circumstances. Lord, I seek, I knock and I ask and You are always there and ready to give me the miracles that I need.
The first and most powerful commandment is love. Through love we unite ourselves together with God and with each other and bring ourselves closer to our desired goal. Lord, I love You with all my heart and soul and mind.