Daily Recovery Readings - 6/21

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Daily Reflections

FEAR AND FAITH

The achievement of freedom from fear is a lifetime
undertaking, one that can never be wholly completed.
When under heavy attack, acute illness, or in other
condition of insecurity, we shall all react to this
emotion - well or badly, as the case may be. Only the
self-deceived will claim perfect freedom from fear.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 263

Fear has caused suffering when I could have had more
faith. There are times when fear suddenly tears me apart,
just when I'm experiencing feelings of joy, happiness
and a lightness of heart. Faith--and a feeling of
self-worth toward a Higher Power -helps me endure
tragedy and ecstasy. When I choose to give all of my
fears over to my Higher Power, I will be free.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Intelligent faith in that Power greater than ourselves can
be counted on to stabilize our emotions. It has an
incomparable capacity to help us look at life in balanced
perspective. We look up, around, and away from ourselves,
and we see that nine out of ten things that at the moment
upset us will shortly disappear. Problems solve themselves,
criticism and unkindness vanish as though they had never
been. Have I got the proper perspective toward life?

Meditation For The Day

A truly spiritual man or woman would like to have a serene
mind. The only way to keep calm in this troubled world is to
have a serene mind. The calm and sane mind sees spiritual
things as the true realities and material things as only
temporary and fleeting. That sort of mind you can never obtain
by reasoning, because your reasoning powers are limited by
space and time. That kind of a mind you can never obtain by
reading, because other minds are also limited in the same way.
You can only have that mind by an act of faith, by making the
venture of belief.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have a calm and sane mind. I pray that I may
look up, around, and away from myself.

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As Bill Sees It

This Matter of Honesty, p. 172

"Only God can fully know what absolute honesty is. Therefore, each of us has to
conceive what this great ideal may be--to the best of our ability.

"Fallible as we all are, and will be in this life, it would be presumption to suppose that
we could ever really achieve absolute honesty. The best we can do is to strive for a
better quality of honesty.

"Sometimes we need to place love ahead of indiscriminate 'factual honesty.' We
cannot, under the guise of 'perfect honesty,' cruelly and unnecessarily hurt others.
Always one must ask, 'What is the best and most loving thing I can do?'"

Letter, 1966

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Walk In Dry Places

Remember the Golden Key
Living in the Spirit
Whenever trouble arises, the first thing to do is to turn it over to our Higher Power. We can take all necessary practical steps to solve a problem, but we don't need to decide what the answer may be. Do this, and you'll soon be out of your difficulty.
This is essentially the formula of the Gold Key as taught by Emmet Fox. It is also the core idea os Steps three and Eleven. It is a manner of living one's life iwht the constant knowledge that a Higher Power is always part of it.
We should also condition ourselves to believe that our Higher Power has been with us all along and will continue to show us the way. Nothing depends on our being "spiritual" or "saintly" or perfect in behavior. With all our shortcomings, we are and ever will be children of God.
My Higher Power is always with me today, supplying whatever I need for the accomplishment of any good purpose.

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Keep It Simple

The future is much like the present, only longer.---Dan Quisenberry
In many way we don't know what the future holds. But in terms of recovery, we know the future holds the Twelve steps. They will be with us for life.
We should never fall into the trap of thinking we "know" the program. We'll never know all the truth and love the Steps hold for us. "Knowing the Steps" is a project we'll never finish. As we change , the Steps change. As the seasons come and go, the same field or the same tree becomes a different picture.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I pray for Your help as I work the Steps and continue my recovery. Help me discover new treasures.
Action for the Day: I will ask long-time members of my program how they keep the program fresh and alive.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

The Housewife Who Drank At Home

She hid her bottles in clothes hampers and dresser drawers. In A.A., she discovered she had lost nothing and had found everything.

I became one of the most active women in the community, what with P.T.A., other community organizations, and drives. I'd go into an organization, and it wasn't long before I was on the committee, and if I was in a group, I'd soon be treasurer or secretary of the group. But I wasn't happy. I became a Jekyll-and-Hyde person. As long as I worked, as long as I got out, I didn't drink. But I had to get back to that first drink somehow. And when I took that first drink, I was off on the usual merry-go-round. And it was my home that suffered.

p. 299

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Two - "For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience."

Growing pains now beset the group. Panhandlers panhandle. Lonely hearts pine. Problems descend like an avalanche. Still more important, murmurs are heard in the body politic, which swell into a loud cry: "Do these oldtimers think they can run this group forever? Let's have an election!" The founder and his friends are hurt and depressed. They rush from crisis to crisis and from member to member, pleading; but it's no use, the revolution is on. The group conscience is about to take over.

pp. 133-134

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Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
--Art Linkletter

It is in the silence of the heart that God speaks.
--Mother Teresa

"Our entire life--consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are."

--Jean Anouilh

"You are infinitely lovable, infinitely desirable, because the One who
most desires and loves you is also infinite."
--Deepak Chopra

You will find that the spiritual energy will permit you to perform tasks
far beyond your conditioned capacity in terms of time and
accomplishment.
--John-Roger

Gratitude is the memory of the heart.
--Italian Proverb

God, help me stay serene, confident, and joyful as I go through my
day.
--Melody Beattie

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

LIES

"The cruelest lies are often told in
silence."
--Robert Louis Stevenson

In treatment I said that I did not "tell" many lies - and although this
was not true (hence a lie), it missed the fact that most of my lies were
"lies of silence". It was what I did not say that produced the
confusion; the pretended self-confidence that hid the pain and shame;
the half-spoken truth that harbored the disease.

Communication is the key to any spiritual relationship and a sick
silence creates the ultimate blasphemy. God created you and me to
relate. In the interchange of our ideas is the miracle born. A sick,
angry and ego-centered silence is our shouted "no" to God.

O Lord of the paradox, let me see how the lie of silence can be used to
destroy my world.

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"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
Ephesians 6:11

"For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."
I John 3:20b

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13

"But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who
hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully
use you."
Luke 6:27-28

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends."
John 15:13

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Daily Inspiration

Set aside time for quiet because it is here that you will come to know yourself and to know God. Lord, the distractions and interruptions of my day are many, but for a few moments each day we will talk.

When life seems hard and filled with troubles, look for reasons to be thankful. Lord, Your beautiful presence is always with me.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
To be able to invite pain to join in my experience and not have to control my life to avoid pain is such a freedom!
--Christina Baldwin
If we really stopped to think about it, we would be astounded to discover how much of our time is spent trying to avoid pain. We are afraid to say what we think or tell others our needs because we fear rejection. We are afraid to face the pain of our own anger. We are afraid of telling others who we are. When we are afraid of opening up to others for fear they will hurt us, we are not free, we are prisoners of our own fears.
Pain is a natural part of life, and we are gifted with the ability to feel it. Pain teaches us, makes us work harder sometimes, and it helps us appreciate pleasure.
When we accept pain, and stop exhausting ourselves trying to avoid it, we will be free to live life more fully and without so much worry.
How has my own fear limited my freedom?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
In the life of the Indian there is only one inevitable duty - the duty of prayer - the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. He sees no need for setting apart one day in seven as a holy day, since to him all days are God's. --Ohiyesa, Santee Dakota
Some of our past troubles came from our naive arrogance. We failed to acknowledge anything beyond ourselves. Whatever was unseen or eternal remained invisible to us. We were skeptical, scientific, task-oriented, self-centered, and unreflective. It's like we had been racing down a country highway at top speed, hardly tuned in to the rich vitality of life that surrounded us. When we stopped the car and explored the road banks, we could suddenly smell the grasses, hear birds singing, perhaps see a whole community in an anthill, or watch a darting squirrel.
Coming to believe in a Power greater than ourselves is not something we create on our own. It is largely a matter of shifting our attention, of being open to the spiritual. We don't need to force it. We need only be willing to quiet ourselves and notice. Ultimately, every moment is sacred.
Today, may I live from moment to moment.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are interesting monologues, that is all. --Rebecca West
How often we want to be heard, to be truly listened to by our spouse, our children, friends and co-workers. And we deserve to be fully attended to. So do the other persons in our lives who come to us to be heard. We let our minds wander in the midst of important messages. And we may miss the very phrase that we need to hear--the answer to a problem, perhaps. Our minds wander, randomly, looking for a place to light, unconsciously searching for peace, the serenity promised by the Twelve Steps.
Living fully in the present, soaking up all the responses of the life we are immersed in for the moment, is the closest we can get to our higher power, our God. Being there--fully--is conversation with God. How can we know all that God intends for us to know if we don't take advantage of God's many messages? Every moment of every day offers us information, divine information. Each time we turn our minds away to self-centered thoughts, we're refusing the chance to grow.
As I come together with friends and family today, I will remember to listen for God's message. I will hear what I need to hear if I will but listen.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
The Good Feelings
Let yourself feel the good feelings too.
Yes, sometimes-good feelings can be as distracting as the painful, more difficult ones. Yes, good feelings can be anxiety producing to those of us unaccustomed to them. But go ahead and feel the good feelings anyway.
Feel and accept the joy. The love. The warmth. The excitement. The pleasure. The satisfaction. The elation. The tenderness. The comfort.
Let yourself feel the victory, the delight.
Let yourself feel cared for.
Let yourself feel respected, important, and special.
These are only feelings, but they feel good. They are full of positive, upbeat energy - and we deserve to feel that when it comes our way.
We don't have to repress. We don't have to talk ourselves out of feeling good--not for a moment.
If we feel it, it's ours for the moment. Own it. If it's good, enjoy it.
Today, God, help me be open to the joy and good feelings available to me.


"Faith is the thread we hang on to when our life is falling apart" --Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse
Sometimes faith is right there, holding us up, keeping us light so that hard times feel manageable. And other times we have to 'act as if' we have faith to get through the tough times. We have to pray for faith. It feels so good to know that no matter what is going on today, I have the faith to know that my Higher Power is guiding and supporting me. --Ruth Fishel

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New Levels Of Honesty

"We have been experts at self-deception and rationalization."
Basic Text, p. 27

When we come to our first meeting and hear that we must be honest, we may think, "Well now, that shouldn't be too difficult. All I have to do is stop lying." To some of us, this comes easily. We no longer have to lie to our employers about our absence from work. We no longer have to lie to our families about where we were the night before. By not using drugs anymore, we find we have less to lie about. Some of us may have difficulty even with this kind of honesty, but at least learning not to lie is simple - you just don't do it, no matter what. With courage, determined practice, the support of our fellow NA members, and the help of our Higher Power, most of us eventually succeed at this kind of honesty.

Honesty, though, means more than just not lying. The kind of honesty that is truly indispensable in recovery is self-honesty, which is neither easy nor simple to achieve. In our addiction, we created a storm of self-deception and rationalization, a whirlwind of lies in which the small, quiet voice of self-honesty could not be heard. To become honest with ourselves, we first must stop lying to ourselves. In our Eleventh Step meditations, we must become quiet. Then, in the resulting stillness, we must listen for truth. When we become silent, self-honesty will be there for us to find.

Just for today: I will be quiet and still, listening for the voice of truth within myself. I will honor the truth I find.
pg. 179

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Wisdom for Today
Making restitution is the next principle of the program. This is something that is not always easy, and many of us want to avoid. We must swallow our pride and go to the people we have harmed and attempt to undo the damage and repair what we can. Here again we do inventory, not of ourselves, but of how our attitude, behavior and beliefs have affected others. We make a list and then set about to rectify the problems we have caused. We pay back what we have taken, and we let others know how we have wronged them. We make a genuine attempt to rebuild the bridges we have burned.
As difficult as this process may be, the rewards we gain are even greater. Even when the apology is not accepted, it is important that we extend the effort. All of these efforts are made not just to repair the damage done, but also to relieve us from the burdens or guilt and shame we carry. Often times we find that this process if genuine and done in humility can change years of anger, frustration and even hate by others we have harmed into friendship and reconciliation. Here we often find forgiveness. Here we find love reborn. Here mending broken fences makes good neighbors. But most of all we find our conscience is cleared. Have I done my best at making restitution to those I have wronged?
Meditations for the Heart
Living a spiritual life brings joy and peace of mind. If these are not present in your life there is still spiritual growth to be done. Here we must stretch our faith and learn to grow along spiritual lines. This growth may come slowly or happen quite rapidly. We look to remove any roadblocks that stand in the way of expanding our spiritual growth. We remove self-reliance and replace it with reliance on a Higher Power. We remove doubt and replace it with trust. We remove grandiosity and replace it with humility. We remove fear and replace it with the security of knowing that we have a strong foundation in the program. Over time as we work the steps and live the program, we experience a spiritual awakening. The sleep of addiction is replaced by a brilliant awareness of a new light in our life. Have I found joy and peace of mind?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Give me the courage this day that I might need to do the repair work still needed in my life. Help me to find a genuine desire to fix the brokenness of the lives I have harmed along the road of destruction that addiction is. Let me become willing to make any restitution I may need to. Give me strength in this part of my journey in recovery.
Amen

[admin]

You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Discipline

If we think of discipline in terms of punishment, we miss the more constructive meanings of the word. Discipline is order, training, practice, study. Without it, our lives are ineffective and full of chaos. Before we came to OA, our eating patterns were probably chaotic. We may have been short of order in other areas, too.

Discipline is a tool which produces self-respect and a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. When we discipline ourselves to eat three measured meals a day, we achieve physical and emotional results which make our spirits sing! The discipline of the OA program liberates us from the tyranny of self-will and self-indulgence.

As we develop trust in our Higher Power, we begin to see that the hardships and difficulties we face are means to spiritual development. Through them, we acquire self-discipline and strength. Our lives become ordered according to God's plan.

Make me willing, Lord, to accept the discipline of an ordered life.