admin
12-26-2007, 07:08 PM
Daily Reflections
PROBLEM SOLVING
"Quite as important was the discovery that spiritual
principles would solve all my problems."
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 42
Through the recovery process described in the Big Book,
I have come to realize that the same instructions that
work on my alcoholism, work on much more. Whenever I
am angry or frustrated, I consider the matter a
manifestation of the main problem within me,
alcoholism. As I "walk" through the Steps, my
difficulty is usually dealt with long before I reach
the Twelfth "suggestion," and those difficulties that
persist are remedied when I make an effort to carry
the message to someone else. These principles do
solve my problems! I have not encountered an exception,
and I have been brought to a way of living which is
satisfying and useful.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
I need the A.A. principles for the development of the
buried life within me, that good life, which I had
misplaced, but which I found again in this fellowship.
This life within me is developing slowly but surely,
with many set-backs, many mistakes, many failures, but
still developing. As long as I stick close to A.A., my
life will go on developing, and I cannot yet know what
it will be, but I know that it will be good. That's
all I want to know. It will be good. Am I thanking God for A.A.?
Meditation For The Day
Build your life on the firm foundation of true gratitude
to God for all His blessings and true humility because of
your unworthiness of these blessings. Build the frame of
your life out of self-discipline, never let yourself get
selfish or lazy or contented with yourself. Build the
walls of your life out of service to others,
helping others find the way to live. Build the roof of
your life out of prayer and quiet times, waiting for
God's guidance from above. Build a garden around your
life out of peace of mind and serenity and a sure faith.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may build my life on A.A. principles. I
pray that it may be a good building when my work is finished.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
FALSE PRIDE, p. 285
The alarming thing about pride-blindness is the ease with which it is
justified. But we need not look far to see that self-justification is a
universal destroyer of harmony and of love. It sets man against man,
nation against nation. By it, every form of folly and violence can be
made to look right, and even respectable.
*******************************
It would be a product of false pride to claim that A.A. is a cure-all,
even for alcoholism.
1. GRAPEVINE, JUNE 1961
2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 232
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Limiting Gossip
No harm to others.
"When you've told me their names, do not tell me their faults," a person said at an AA meeting. She was explaining how careful we must be to keep gossip within tight limits. However, it is possible to identify people in gossip without actually speaking their names. We can give so many facts that the listener can identify whom we're discussing. This is no less malicious and thoughtless than actually naming the person.
We can avoid these dangers by giving up both the desire to gossip and the wish to listen to gossip. We will always have matters to gossip about; we can always find weaknesses in those we envy, faults in people we want to see taken down a notch or two. But if we persist in the program, we should find ourselves moving out of this limited way of thinking. We'll put severe limits on gossip at the same time.
I'll sidestep gossip if it starts to find a way into my life today. Under God's guidance, I have better things to do.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Reading is to the Mind, what exercise is to the body.
Good ideas are the seeds that start our growth. We hear things at meetings. We listen to our sponsor.
Maybe we listen to program tapes. And we read. Reading is special because we do it when we're alone.
We read in quiet times, when we can think. We can read as fast or as slow as we want. We can mark special words and come back to them again and again. We'll figure things out in our way, but we need help to get started. That's why we read. It gives us good ideas to think about.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, speak to me through helpful readings and help me learn at my best pace.
Action for the Day: Reading is easier the more I do it. Today I'll feel proud that I've read program ideas to get my mind thinking in a healthy way.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
ON THE MOVE - Working the A.A. program showed this alcoholic how to get from geographics to gratitude.
When I reached the Ninth Step, I began to hesitate in my enthusiasm. One morning I woke up covered in sweat and could not get over a nightmare I had--that this was my last day of sobriety. After calling friends and my sponsor, I knew what had to be done. I spent the entire day, more than eight or nine hours, going into people's offices and making my amends. Some were thrilled to see me. One woman called the police. When they arrived, it turned out the policeman was in A.A. and he convinced the woman not to press charges. I even ran into someone who I had thought was dead, so I took a "dead guy" to lunch and made my amends to him also. For the first time I thought, and actually felt, as if I was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, with something to share at meetings.
pp. 491-492
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Three - "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."
But suppose that instinct still cries out, as it certainly will, "Yes, respecting alcohol, I guess I have to be dependent upon A.A., but in all other matters I must still maintain my independence. Nothing is going to turn me into a nonentity. If I keep on turning my life and my will over to the care of Something or Somebody else, what will become of me? I'll look like the hole in the doughnut." This, of course, is the process by which instinct and logic always seek to bolster egotism, and so frustrate spiritual development. The trouble is that this kind of thinking takes no real account of the facts. And the facts seem to be these: The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore dependence, as A.A. practices it, is really a means of gaining true independence of the spirit.
pp. 35-36
************************************************** *********
A person who possesses true peace is not one whose life is without problems and
turmoil but is rather a person who has peace in spite of it.
--unknown
"You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns
have roses."
--Tom Wilson
Everyone has a gift for something, even if it is the gift of being a good friend.
--Marian Anderson
Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret.
--Mary Kay Ash
The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and
beginning the work of becoming yourself.
--Anna Quindlen
It's never too late — in fiction or in life — to revise.
--Nancy Thayer
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
LIES
"Sin has many tools, but a lie is
the handle that fits them all."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes
To lie is to rob life of meaning. In my addiction I was a liar, not just by what I said but
by what I did, what I left unsaid and by my manipulation with half-truths. All lies shut
out truth making us prisoners of fantasy and illusion. The world becomes what we
want it to be rather than what it is and reality is lost. The liar is forced into the
prison of loneliness, despair and isolation because nobody can know him, nobody can
understand him. His language and communication are ego-centered. The liar is not living
in the real world. He is living in his own world, with his own rules and definitions. The lies
are the killing wounds, and they are self-inflicted.
Today I prefer the pain of truth to the passing satisfaction of the lie and the habit of
telling the truth is growing in me!
God of Truth, may You ever be reflected in the life I seek to live.
************************************************** *********
Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:2
"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus."
Philippians 3:14
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this
kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict
with the law.
Galatians 5:22-23
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
When we become aware that we possess all the spiritual treasures necessary for a productive and happy life, we will never want for anything. Lord, You are a limitless source of abundance and love.
There is not one moment that we are separated from God's care unless we choose to be. Lord, You provide for my daily needs and deliver me from evil. You are my refuge.
PROBLEM SOLVING
"Quite as important was the discovery that spiritual
principles would solve all my problems."
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 42
Through the recovery process described in the Big Book,
I have come to realize that the same instructions that
work on my alcoholism, work on much more. Whenever I
am angry or frustrated, I consider the matter a
manifestation of the main problem within me,
alcoholism. As I "walk" through the Steps, my
difficulty is usually dealt with long before I reach
the Twelfth "suggestion," and those difficulties that
persist are remedied when I make an effort to carry
the message to someone else. These principles do
solve my problems! I have not encountered an exception,
and I have been brought to a way of living which is
satisfying and useful.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
I need the A.A. principles for the development of the
buried life within me, that good life, which I had
misplaced, but which I found again in this fellowship.
This life within me is developing slowly but surely,
with many set-backs, many mistakes, many failures, but
still developing. As long as I stick close to A.A., my
life will go on developing, and I cannot yet know what
it will be, but I know that it will be good. That's
all I want to know. It will be good. Am I thanking God for A.A.?
Meditation For The Day
Build your life on the firm foundation of true gratitude
to God for all His blessings and true humility because of
your unworthiness of these blessings. Build the frame of
your life out of self-discipline, never let yourself get
selfish or lazy or contented with yourself. Build the
walls of your life out of service to others,
helping others find the way to live. Build the roof of
your life out of prayer and quiet times, waiting for
God's guidance from above. Build a garden around your
life out of peace of mind and serenity and a sure faith.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may build my life on A.A. principles. I
pray that it may be a good building when my work is finished.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
FALSE PRIDE, p. 285
The alarming thing about pride-blindness is the ease with which it is
justified. But we need not look far to see that self-justification is a
universal destroyer of harmony and of love. It sets man against man,
nation against nation. By it, every form of folly and violence can be
made to look right, and even respectable.
*******************************
It would be a product of false pride to claim that A.A. is a cure-all,
even for alcoholism.
1. GRAPEVINE, JUNE 1961
2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 232
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Limiting Gossip
No harm to others.
"When you've told me their names, do not tell me their faults," a person said at an AA meeting. She was explaining how careful we must be to keep gossip within tight limits. However, it is possible to identify people in gossip without actually speaking their names. We can give so many facts that the listener can identify whom we're discussing. This is no less malicious and thoughtless than actually naming the person.
We can avoid these dangers by giving up both the desire to gossip and the wish to listen to gossip. We will always have matters to gossip about; we can always find weaknesses in those we envy, faults in people we want to see taken down a notch or two. But if we persist in the program, we should find ourselves moving out of this limited way of thinking. We'll put severe limits on gossip at the same time.
I'll sidestep gossip if it starts to find a way into my life today. Under God's guidance, I have better things to do.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Reading is to the Mind, what exercise is to the body.
Good ideas are the seeds that start our growth. We hear things at meetings. We listen to our sponsor.
Maybe we listen to program tapes. And we read. Reading is special because we do it when we're alone.
We read in quiet times, when we can think. We can read as fast or as slow as we want. We can mark special words and come back to them again and again. We'll figure things out in our way, but we need help to get started. That's why we read. It gives us good ideas to think about.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, speak to me through helpful readings and help me learn at my best pace.
Action for the Day: Reading is easier the more I do it. Today I'll feel proud that I've read program ideas to get my mind thinking in a healthy way.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
ON THE MOVE - Working the A.A. program showed this alcoholic how to get from geographics to gratitude.
When I reached the Ninth Step, I began to hesitate in my enthusiasm. One morning I woke up covered in sweat and could not get over a nightmare I had--that this was my last day of sobriety. After calling friends and my sponsor, I knew what had to be done. I spent the entire day, more than eight or nine hours, going into people's offices and making my amends. Some were thrilled to see me. One woman called the police. When they arrived, it turned out the policeman was in A.A. and he convinced the woman not to press charges. I even ran into someone who I had thought was dead, so I took a "dead guy" to lunch and made my amends to him also. For the first time I thought, and actually felt, as if I was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, with something to share at meetings.
pp. 491-492
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Three - "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."
But suppose that instinct still cries out, as it certainly will, "Yes, respecting alcohol, I guess I have to be dependent upon A.A., but in all other matters I must still maintain my independence. Nothing is going to turn me into a nonentity. If I keep on turning my life and my will over to the care of Something or Somebody else, what will become of me? I'll look like the hole in the doughnut." This, of course, is the process by which instinct and logic always seek to bolster egotism, and so frustrate spiritual development. The trouble is that this kind of thinking takes no real account of the facts. And the facts seem to be these: The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore dependence, as A.A. practices it, is really a means of gaining true independence of the spirit.
pp. 35-36
************************************************** *********
A person who possesses true peace is not one whose life is without problems and
turmoil but is rather a person who has peace in spite of it.
--unknown
"You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns
have roses."
--Tom Wilson
Everyone has a gift for something, even if it is the gift of being a good friend.
--Marian Anderson
Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret.
--Mary Kay Ash
The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and
beginning the work of becoming yourself.
--Anna Quindlen
It's never too late — in fiction or in life — to revise.
--Nancy Thayer
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
LIES
"Sin has many tools, but a lie is
the handle that fits them all."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes
To lie is to rob life of meaning. In my addiction I was a liar, not just by what I said but
by what I did, what I left unsaid and by my manipulation with half-truths. All lies shut
out truth making us prisoners of fantasy and illusion. The world becomes what we
want it to be rather than what it is and reality is lost. The liar is forced into the
prison of loneliness, despair and isolation because nobody can know him, nobody can
understand him. His language and communication are ego-centered. The liar is not living
in the real world. He is living in his own world, with his own rules and definitions. The lies
are the killing wounds, and they are self-inflicted.
Today I prefer the pain of truth to the passing satisfaction of the lie and the habit of
telling the truth is growing in me!
God of Truth, may You ever be reflected in the life I seek to live.
************************************************** *********
Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:2
"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus."
Philippians 3:14
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this
kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict
with the law.
Galatians 5:22-23
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
When we become aware that we possess all the spiritual treasures necessary for a productive and happy life, we will never want for anything. Lord, You are a limitless source of abundance and love.
There is not one moment that we are separated from God's care unless we choose to be. Lord, You provide for my daily needs and deliver me from evil. You are my refuge.