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09-30-2008, 04:34 PM
Daily Reflections
LEST WE BECOME COMPLACENT
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 85
When I am in pain it is easy to stay close to the friends I have found in the programs. Relief from that pain is provided in the solutions contained in A.A.'s Twelve Steps. But when I am feeling good and things are going well, I can become complacent. To put it simply, I become lazy and turn into the problem instead of the solution. I need to get into action, to take stock: where am I and where am I going? A daily inventory will tell me what I must change to regain spiritual balance. Admitting what I find within myself, to God and to another human being, keeps me honest and humble.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
A.A. will lose some of its effectiveness if I do not do my share. Where am I failing? Are there some things I do not feel like doing? Am I held back by self-consciousness or fear? Self-consciousness is a form of pride. It is a fear that something may happen to you. What happens to you is not very important. The impression you make on others does not depend so much on the kind of job you do as on your sincerity and honesty of purpose. Am I holding back because I am afraid of not making a good impression?
Meditation For The Day
Look to God for the true power that will make you effective. See no other wholly dependable supply of strength. That is the secret of a truly effective life. And you, in your turn, will be used to help many others find effectiveness. Whatever spiritual help you need, whatever spiritual help you desire for others, look to God. Seek that God's will be done in your life and seek that your will conforms to His. Failures come from depending too much on your own strength.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may feel that nothing good is too much for me if I look to God for help. I pray that I may be effective through His guidance.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Maintenance and Growth, p. 5
It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility
and unhappiness. To the precise extent we permit these, do we squander
the hours that might have been worthwhile. But with the alcoholic,
whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this
business of harboring resentment is infinitely grave. For then we shut
ourselves off from the sunlight of the spirit. The insanity of alcohol
returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.
If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the
sudden rage were not for us. Anger is the dubious luxury of normal
men, but for us alcoholics it is poison.
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 66
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Thinking about Blame.
Inventory.
Which is worse: blaming ourselves or others for things that go wrong? A better question might be, Is anyone to blame?
We're really better off, in 12 Step living, to begin dropping the idea of placing blame for our thinking altogether. Even is someone's responsibility for a mistake or wrong is fully evident, we get nowhere by pointing the finger at him or her. What often happens, in fact, is that the person becomes defensive... just as we do... And retreats into denial or anger.
Another problem is that placing blame quickly becomes the sticky business of taking another person's inventory. Let's leave such matters to courts and prosecutions and focus instead on solving our own problems.
I'll not waste time today thinking about who's to blame. My focus will be on what can be done for general improvement.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Continued to take personal inventory. . .First half of Step Ten
Step Ten tells us to keep looking at who we are. We ask ourselves, “Is what I’m doing okay?”
If it is, then we take pride in the way we acting. If not, we change our behavior. Step Ten keeps us in the right direction.
Throughout time, wise persons have told us to get to know ourselves. Step Ten helps us do this.
We become our own best friend. A true friend tells us when we’re doing right and when we’re messing up. Step Ten is our teacher. Even when we want to pretend we don’t know right from wrong, Step Ten reminds us that we do know. Step Ten is our daily reminder that we now have values---good values.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, Step Ten is a lot of work. Keep me working. Help me form a habit. Let this habit be called “Step Ten.”
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll continue to take a personal inventory. I will list what is good about me today and what I don’t like.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
The Doctor's Opinion
The doctor’s theory that we have an allergy to alcohol interests us. As laymen, our opinion as to its soundness may, of course, mean little. But as exproblem drinkers, we can say that his explanation makes good sense. It explains many things for which we cannot otherwise account.
p. xxvi
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Six - "An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."
The minute we saw this compromising fact for what it was, we asked the prospective publicity director how he felt about it. "Great guns!" he said. "Of course I can't take the job. The ink wouldn't be dry on the first ad before an awful shriek would go up from the dry camp. They'd be out with lanterns looking for an honest A.A. to plump for their brand of education. A.A. would land exactly in the middle of the wet-dry controversy. Half the people in this country would think we'd signed up with the drys, the other half would think we'd joined the wets. What a mess!"
"Nevertheless," we pointed out, "you still have a legal right to take this job."
"I know that," he said. "But this is no time for legalities. Alcoholics Anonymous saved my life, and it comes first. I certainly won't be the guy to land A.A. in big-time trouble, and this would really do it!"
Concerning endorsements, our friend had said it all. We saw as never before that we could not lend the A.A. name to any cause other than our own.
pp. 158-159
************************************************** *********
"How things look on the outside of us depends on how things are on the inside of us."
--Parks Cousins
I shall continue to believe. In hope there is faith, miracles do happen, in God I trust.
--Shelley
Time is my most precious resource, I choose to use it wisely and to cherish each moment, sober.
--Bob
I have a choice, I do not have to accept unacceptable behavior.
--Shelley
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some people make the future; most wait for the future to make them.
--Cited in The Best of BITS & PIECES
There is a choice you have to make, In everything you do. And you must always keep in mind, The choice you make, makes you.
--Unknown
You can preach a better sermon with your life than you can with your lips.
--Unknown
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
LAUGHTER
"We are all here for a spell, get
all the good laughs you can."
-- Will Rogers
When I first heard recovering alcoholics laughing, I thought I was in the wrong place. I was angry that they treated the disease so lightly. Then slowly I began to see that laughter is part of joy --- a deep joy that comes from personal healing. Laughter is spiritual because it is a positive response to life. It is the noise of optimism.
And there is so much in life to laugh about --- not only the funny things we did, but also the "humor" that abounds in living. How funny is our self-righteousness! How amusing we are in courtship. How ridiculous we appear when we pretend to be serious and "in charge".
Laughter is the conversation of angels.
Let me see the miracle of humor in the gift of life --- and let me be prepared to share it.
************************************************** *********
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6
"Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs."
Proverbs 10:12
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
James 2:17
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Don't give up because your best has not yet been achieved. Lord, take away my doubts and give me courage to accept my opportunities.
Often times that which we find difficult is that which teaches. Lord, may I always be able to see the good that comes from even my trials.
LEST WE BECOME COMPLACENT
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 85
When I am in pain it is easy to stay close to the friends I have found in the programs. Relief from that pain is provided in the solutions contained in A.A.'s Twelve Steps. But when I am feeling good and things are going well, I can become complacent. To put it simply, I become lazy and turn into the problem instead of the solution. I need to get into action, to take stock: where am I and where am I going? A daily inventory will tell me what I must change to regain spiritual balance. Admitting what I find within myself, to God and to another human being, keeps me honest and humble.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
A.A. will lose some of its effectiveness if I do not do my share. Where am I failing? Are there some things I do not feel like doing? Am I held back by self-consciousness or fear? Self-consciousness is a form of pride. It is a fear that something may happen to you. What happens to you is not very important. The impression you make on others does not depend so much on the kind of job you do as on your sincerity and honesty of purpose. Am I holding back because I am afraid of not making a good impression?
Meditation For The Day
Look to God for the true power that will make you effective. See no other wholly dependable supply of strength. That is the secret of a truly effective life. And you, in your turn, will be used to help many others find effectiveness. Whatever spiritual help you need, whatever spiritual help you desire for others, look to God. Seek that God's will be done in your life and seek that your will conforms to His. Failures come from depending too much on your own strength.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may feel that nothing good is too much for me if I look to God for help. I pray that I may be effective through His guidance.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Maintenance and Growth, p. 5
It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility
and unhappiness. To the precise extent we permit these, do we squander
the hours that might have been worthwhile. But with the alcoholic,
whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this
business of harboring resentment is infinitely grave. For then we shut
ourselves off from the sunlight of the spirit. The insanity of alcohol
returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.
If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the
sudden rage were not for us. Anger is the dubious luxury of normal
men, but for us alcoholics it is poison.
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 66
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
Thinking about Blame.
Inventory.
Which is worse: blaming ourselves or others for things that go wrong? A better question might be, Is anyone to blame?
We're really better off, in 12 Step living, to begin dropping the idea of placing blame for our thinking altogether. Even is someone's responsibility for a mistake or wrong is fully evident, we get nowhere by pointing the finger at him or her. What often happens, in fact, is that the person becomes defensive... just as we do... And retreats into denial or anger.
Another problem is that placing blame quickly becomes the sticky business of taking another person's inventory. Let's leave such matters to courts and prosecutions and focus instead on solving our own problems.
I'll not waste time today thinking about who's to blame. My focus will be on what can be done for general improvement.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Continued to take personal inventory. . .First half of Step Ten
Step Ten tells us to keep looking at who we are. We ask ourselves, “Is what I’m doing okay?”
If it is, then we take pride in the way we acting. If not, we change our behavior. Step Ten keeps us in the right direction.
Throughout time, wise persons have told us to get to know ourselves. Step Ten helps us do this.
We become our own best friend. A true friend tells us when we’re doing right and when we’re messing up. Step Ten is our teacher. Even when we want to pretend we don’t know right from wrong, Step Ten reminds us that we do know. Step Ten is our daily reminder that we now have values---good values.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, Step Ten is a lot of work. Keep me working. Help me form a habit. Let this habit be called “Step Ten.”
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll continue to take a personal inventory. I will list what is good about me today and what I don’t like.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
The Doctor's Opinion
The doctor’s theory that we have an allergy to alcohol interests us. As laymen, our opinion as to its soundness may, of course, mean little. But as exproblem drinkers, we can say that his explanation makes good sense. It explains many things for which we cannot otherwise account.
p. xxvi
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Six - "An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."
The minute we saw this compromising fact for what it was, we asked the prospective publicity director how he felt about it. "Great guns!" he said. "Of course I can't take the job. The ink wouldn't be dry on the first ad before an awful shriek would go up from the dry camp. They'd be out with lanterns looking for an honest A.A. to plump for their brand of education. A.A. would land exactly in the middle of the wet-dry controversy. Half the people in this country would think we'd signed up with the drys, the other half would think we'd joined the wets. What a mess!"
"Nevertheless," we pointed out, "you still have a legal right to take this job."
"I know that," he said. "But this is no time for legalities. Alcoholics Anonymous saved my life, and it comes first. I certainly won't be the guy to land A.A. in big-time trouble, and this would really do it!"
Concerning endorsements, our friend had said it all. We saw as never before that we could not lend the A.A. name to any cause other than our own.
pp. 158-159
************************************************** *********
"How things look on the outside of us depends on how things are on the inside of us."
--Parks Cousins
I shall continue to believe. In hope there is faith, miracles do happen, in God I trust.
--Shelley
Time is my most precious resource, I choose to use it wisely and to cherish each moment, sober.
--Bob
I have a choice, I do not have to accept unacceptable behavior.
--Shelley
Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some people make the future; most wait for the future to make them.
--Cited in The Best of BITS & PIECES
There is a choice you have to make, In everything you do. And you must always keep in mind, The choice you make, makes you.
--Unknown
You can preach a better sermon with your life than you can with your lips.
--Unknown
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
LAUGHTER
"We are all here for a spell, get
all the good laughs you can."
-- Will Rogers
When I first heard recovering alcoholics laughing, I thought I was in the wrong place. I was angry that they treated the disease so lightly. Then slowly I began to see that laughter is part of joy --- a deep joy that comes from personal healing. Laughter is spiritual because it is a positive response to life. It is the noise of optimism.
And there is so much in life to laugh about --- not only the funny things we did, but also the "humor" that abounds in living. How funny is our self-righteousness! How amusing we are in courtship. How ridiculous we appear when we pretend to be serious and "in charge".
Laughter is the conversation of angels.
Let me see the miracle of humor in the gift of life --- and let me be prepared to share it.
************************************************** *********
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6
"Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs."
Proverbs 10:12
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
James 2:17
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Don't give up because your best has not yet been achieved. Lord, take away my doubts and give me courage to accept my opportunities.
Often times that which we find difficult is that which teaches. Lord, may I always be able to see the good that comes from even my trials.