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06-28-2006, 04:12 PM
Daily Reflections
A RIPPLING EFFECT
Having learned to live so happily, we'd show everyone else how. . .Yes,
we of A.A. did dream those dreams. How natural that was, since most
alcoholics are bankrupt idealists. . .So why shouldn't we share our way
of life with everyone?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 156
The great discovery of sobriety led me to feel the need to spread the
"good news" to the world around me. The grandiose thoughts of my
drinking days returned. Later, I learned that concentrating on my own
recovery was a full-time process. As I became a sober citizen in
this world, I observed a rippling effect which, without any
conscious effort on my part, reached any "related facility or outside
enterprise," without diverting me from my primary purpose of staying
sober and helping other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
The program of Alcoholics Anonymous involves a continuous striving
for improvement. There can be no long resting period. We must try to
work at it all the time. We must continually keep in mind that it is a
program not to be measured in years, because we never fully reach
our goals nor are we ever cured. Our alcoholism is only kept in
abeyance by daily living of the program. It is a timeless program in
every sense. We live it day by day, or more precisely, moment by
moment - now. Am I always striving for improvement?
Meditation For The Day
Life is all a preparation for something better to come. God has a plan
for your life and it will work out, if you try to do His will. God has
things planned for you, far beyond what you can imagine now. But you
must prepare yourself so that you will be ready for the better things to
come. Now is the time for discipline and prayer. The time of
expression will come later. Life can be flooded through and through
with joy and gladness. So prepare yourself for those better things to
come.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may prepare myself for better things that God has in
store for me. I pray that I may trust God for the future.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
"Success" in Twelfth-Stepping, p. 165
"We now see that in twelfth-stepping the immediate results are not so important.
Some people start out working with others and have immediate success. They are
likely to get cocky. Those of us who are not so successful at first get depressed.
"As a matter of fact, the successful worker differs from the unsuccessful only in
being lucky about his prospects. He simply hits newcomers who are ready and able
to stop at once. Given the same prospects, the seemingly unsuccessful person would
have produced almost the same results. You have to work on a lot of newcomers
before the law of averages commences to assert itself."
<< << << >> >> >>
All true communications must be founded on mutual need. We saw that each sponsor
would have to admit humbly his own needs as clearly as those of his prospect.
1. Letter, 1942
2. A.A. Today, p. 10
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
I don't believe in the life afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.---Woody Allen
Most of us have many questions about a Higher Power. Sometimes we have more questions than answers. No matter how much we believe about God, there are always questions. Why do bad things happen if God is good? Does God punish people?
Is God called Jesus, Buddha, the Great Spirit? Perhaps we've chosen a name for our Higher Power, or maybe we haven’t. Yet, we know there is some Power great than ourselves that's helping us in recovery.
We know what we need to know about God for today. We know how to ask for help, and how to accept help.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to know You more clearly. There's much I'm not sure about. For now, I will act as if the help I get comes from You.
Action for the Day: I'll think of three ways my Higher Power has done just the right thing for me.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
Physician, Heal Thyself
Psychiatrist and surgeon, he had lost his way until he realized that God, not he, was the Great Healer.
One the last day I was drinking, I went up to see a friend who had had a good deal of trouble with alcohol and whose wife had left him a number of times. He had come back, however, and he was on this program. In my stupid way I went to see him with the idea in the back of my mind that I would investigate Alcoholics Anonymous from a medical standpoint. Deep in my heart was the feeling that maybe I could get some help here. This friend gave me a pamphlet, and I took it home and had my wife read it to me. There were two sentences in it that struck me. One said, "Don't feel that you are a martyr because you stopped drinking, and this hit me between the eyes. The second one said, "Don't feel that you stop drinking for anyone other than yourself," and this hit me between the eyes. After my wife had read this to me, I said to her, as I had said many times in desperation, "I have got to do something." She is a good-natured, soul and said, "I wouldn't worry about it; probably something will happen." And then we went up the side of a hill where we have a little barbecue area to make the fire for the barbecue, and on the way up I thought to myself---I'll go back down to the kitchen and refill this drink. And just then, something did happen.
pp. 302-303
************************************************** *********
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."
"Almost timidly, one of my friends began to speak. `We know how hard up you are, Bill. It bothers us a lot. We've often wondered what we might do about it. But I think I speak for everyone here when I say that what you now propose bothers us an awful lot more.' The speaker's voice grew more confident. `Don't you realize,' he went on, `that you can never become a professional? As generous as Charlie has been to us, don't you see that we can't tie this thing up with his hospital or any other? You tell us that Charlie's proposal is ethical. Sure, it's ethical, but what we've got won't run on ethics only; it has to be better. Sure, Charlie's idea is good, but it isn't good enough. This is a matter of life and death, Bill, and nothing but the very best will do!' Challengingly, my friends looked at me as their spokesman continued. `Bill, haven't you often said right here in this meeting that sometimes the good is the enemy of the best? Well, this is a plain case of it. You can't do this thing to us!'
pp. 137-138
************************************************** *********
A hug is a great gift. One size fits all, it can be given for any occasion
and it's easy to exchange.
--Anon
"When you've got one foot in yesterday and the other in tomorrow,
you can only piss on today."
--unknown
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look
so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been
opened for us.
--Helen Keller
Life's short. If you don't look around once in a while you might miss it.
--unknown
The butterfly often forgets it was a caterpillar.
--Swedish Proverb
Don't reckon your eggs before they are laid.
--Italian Proverb
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
RISK
"We should be careful to get out of
an experience only the wisdom
that is in it."
--Mark Twain
I need to risk in life. I need to try again. I need to face life and not
run from it. Early in my sobriety I was scared to try new things
because I was afraid I might get hurt. I was afraid to express my
feelings. I hid in the idea of simply "not drinking".
Spirituality is about being willing to reach out into new areas, engage
in new and different relationships, enjoy the richness of God's world.
As I grow in sobriety I develop the capacity to react differently to
painful situations and overcome them. I learn that mistakes can make
for new conquests. That lasting joys and achievements are born in the
risk.
Teach me to overcome yesterday's sorrows with today's optimism.
************************************************** *********
And the LORD restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Job 42:10
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept
the faith."
2 Timothy 4:7
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in
me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:9
"For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by
the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."
Romans 8:13
"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your
heart."
Psalm 37:4
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Spend less time trying to understand the behaviors of others and more time on the reasons you do things. Lord, help me to know myself better because then it will become possible to change the habits I don't like and improve on the ones I do.
Many of God's gifts are in the form of opportunities that we must recognize and then act upon. Lord, I will never say that You don't answer my prayers, but I will pray that I will recognize Your answers.
A RIPPLING EFFECT
Having learned to live so happily, we'd show everyone else how. . .Yes,
we of A.A. did dream those dreams. How natural that was, since most
alcoholics are bankrupt idealists. . .So why shouldn't we share our way
of life with everyone?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 156
The great discovery of sobriety led me to feel the need to spread the
"good news" to the world around me. The grandiose thoughts of my
drinking days returned. Later, I learned that concentrating on my own
recovery was a full-time process. As I became a sober citizen in
this world, I observed a rippling effect which, without any
conscious effort on my part, reached any "related facility or outside
enterprise," without diverting me from my primary purpose of staying
sober and helping other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
The program of Alcoholics Anonymous involves a continuous striving
for improvement. There can be no long resting period. We must try to
work at it all the time. We must continually keep in mind that it is a
program not to be measured in years, because we never fully reach
our goals nor are we ever cured. Our alcoholism is only kept in
abeyance by daily living of the program. It is a timeless program in
every sense. We live it day by day, or more precisely, moment by
moment - now. Am I always striving for improvement?
Meditation For The Day
Life is all a preparation for something better to come. God has a plan
for your life and it will work out, if you try to do His will. God has
things planned for you, far beyond what you can imagine now. But you
must prepare yourself so that you will be ready for the better things to
come. Now is the time for discipline and prayer. The time of
expression will come later. Life can be flooded through and through
with joy and gladness. So prepare yourself for those better things to
come.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may prepare myself for better things that God has in
store for me. I pray that I may trust God for the future.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
"Success" in Twelfth-Stepping, p. 165
"We now see that in twelfth-stepping the immediate results are not so important.
Some people start out working with others and have immediate success. They are
likely to get cocky. Those of us who are not so successful at first get depressed.
"As a matter of fact, the successful worker differs from the unsuccessful only in
being lucky about his prospects. He simply hits newcomers who are ready and able
to stop at once. Given the same prospects, the seemingly unsuccessful person would
have produced almost the same results. You have to work on a lot of newcomers
before the law of averages commences to assert itself."
<< << << >> >> >>
All true communications must be founded on mutual need. We saw that each sponsor
would have to admit humbly his own needs as clearly as those of his prospect.
1. Letter, 1942
2. A.A. Today, p. 10
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
I don't believe in the life afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.---Woody Allen
Most of us have many questions about a Higher Power. Sometimes we have more questions than answers. No matter how much we believe about God, there are always questions. Why do bad things happen if God is good? Does God punish people?
Is God called Jesus, Buddha, the Great Spirit? Perhaps we've chosen a name for our Higher Power, or maybe we haven’t. Yet, we know there is some Power great than ourselves that's helping us in recovery.
We know what we need to know about God for today. We know how to ask for help, and how to accept help.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to know You more clearly. There's much I'm not sure about. For now, I will act as if the help I get comes from You.
Action for the Day: I'll think of three ways my Higher Power has done just the right thing for me.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
Physician, Heal Thyself
Psychiatrist and surgeon, he had lost his way until he realized that God, not he, was the Great Healer.
One the last day I was drinking, I went up to see a friend who had had a good deal of trouble with alcohol and whose wife had left him a number of times. He had come back, however, and he was on this program. In my stupid way I went to see him with the idea in the back of my mind that I would investigate Alcoholics Anonymous from a medical standpoint. Deep in my heart was the feeling that maybe I could get some help here. This friend gave me a pamphlet, and I took it home and had my wife read it to me. There were two sentences in it that struck me. One said, "Don't feel that you are a martyr because you stopped drinking, and this hit me between the eyes. The second one said, "Don't feel that you stop drinking for anyone other than yourself," and this hit me between the eyes. After my wife had read this to me, I said to her, as I had said many times in desperation, "I have got to do something." She is a good-natured, soul and said, "I wouldn't worry about it; probably something will happen." And then we went up the side of a hill where we have a little barbecue area to make the fire for the barbecue, and on the way up I thought to myself---I'll go back down to the kitchen and refill this drink. And just then, something did happen.
pp. 302-303
************************************************** *********
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."
"Almost timidly, one of my friends began to speak. `We know how hard up you are, Bill. It bothers us a lot. We've often wondered what we might do about it. But I think I speak for everyone here when I say that what you now propose bothers us an awful lot more.' The speaker's voice grew more confident. `Don't you realize,' he went on, `that you can never become a professional? As generous as Charlie has been to us, don't you see that we can't tie this thing up with his hospital or any other? You tell us that Charlie's proposal is ethical. Sure, it's ethical, but what we've got won't run on ethics only; it has to be better. Sure, Charlie's idea is good, but it isn't good enough. This is a matter of life and death, Bill, and nothing but the very best will do!' Challengingly, my friends looked at me as their spokesman continued. `Bill, haven't you often said right here in this meeting that sometimes the good is the enemy of the best? Well, this is a plain case of it. You can't do this thing to us!'
pp. 137-138
************************************************** *********
A hug is a great gift. One size fits all, it can be given for any occasion
and it's easy to exchange.
--Anon
"When you've got one foot in yesterday and the other in tomorrow,
you can only piss on today."
--unknown
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look
so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been
opened for us.
--Helen Keller
Life's short. If you don't look around once in a while you might miss it.
--unknown
The butterfly often forgets it was a caterpillar.
--Swedish Proverb
Don't reckon your eggs before they are laid.
--Italian Proverb
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
RISK
"We should be careful to get out of
an experience only the wisdom
that is in it."
--Mark Twain
I need to risk in life. I need to try again. I need to face life and not
run from it. Early in my sobriety I was scared to try new things
because I was afraid I might get hurt. I was afraid to express my
feelings. I hid in the idea of simply "not drinking".
Spirituality is about being willing to reach out into new areas, engage
in new and different relationships, enjoy the richness of God's world.
As I grow in sobriety I develop the capacity to react differently to
painful situations and overcome them. I learn that mistakes can make
for new conquests. That lasting joys and achievements are born in the
risk.
Teach me to overcome yesterday's sorrows with today's optimism.
************************************************** *********
And the LORD restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Job 42:10
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept
the faith."
2 Timothy 4:7
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in
me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:9
"For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by
the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."
Romans 8:13
"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your
heart."
Psalm 37:4
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Spend less time trying to understand the behaviors of others and more time on the reasons you do things. Lord, help me to know myself better because then it will become possible to change the habits I don't like and improve on the ones I do.
Many of God's gifts are in the form of opportunities that we must recognize and then act upon. Lord, I will never say that You don't answer my prayers, but I will pray that I will recognize Your answers.