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01-03-2009, 04:23 PM
Daily Reflections
BEGIN WHERE YOU ARE
We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a
beginning. A much more important demonstration of our
principles lies before us in our respective homes,
occupations and affairs.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.19
It's usually pretty easy for me to be pleasant to the
people in an A.A. setting. While I'm working to stay
sober, I'm celebrating with my fellow A.A.s our common
release from the hell of drinking. It's often not so
hard to spread glad tidings to my old and new friends
in the program. At home or at work, though, it can be
a difference story. It is in situations arising in
both of those areas that the little day-to-day
frustrations are most evident, and where it can be
tough to smile or reach out with a kind word or an
attentive ear. It's outside of the A.A. rooms that
I face the real test of the effectiveness of my walk
through A.A.'s Twelve Steps.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Have I admitted I am an alcoholic? Have I swallowed my
pride and admitted I was different from other drinkers?
Have I accepted the fact that I must spend the rest of
my life without liquor? Have I any more reservations, any
idea in the back of my mind that some day I'll be able to
drink safely? Am I absolutely honest with myself and with
other people? Have I taken an inventory of myself and
admitted the wrong I have done? Have I come clean with my
friends? Have I tried to make it up to them for the way I
have treated them?
Meditation For The Day
I will believe that fundamentally all is well. Good things
will happen to me. I believe that God cares for me and will
provide for me. I will not try to plan ahead. I know that
the way will unfold, step by step. I will leave tomorrow's
burden to God, because He is the great burden-bearer. He
only expects me to carry my one-day's share.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Can We Choose?, p. 4
We must never be blinded by the futile philosophy that we are just the
hapless victims of our inheritance, of our life experience, and of our
surroundings--that these are the sole forces that make our decisions for
us. This is not the road to freedom. We have to believe that we can
really choose.
<< << << >> >> >>
"As active alcoholics, we lost our ability to choose whether we would
drink. We were the victims of a compulsion which seemed to decree
that we must go on with our own destruction.
"Yet we finally did make choices that brought about our recovery. We
came to believe that alone we were powerless over alcohol. This was
surely a choice, and a most difficult one. We came to believe that a
Higher Power could restore us to sanity when we became willing to
practice A.A.'s Twelve Steps.
"In short, we chose to 'become willing,' and no better choice did we ever
make."
1. Grapevine, November 1960
2. Letter, 1966
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
God's will for us
Higher Will
More than one alcoholic has trouble learning and accepting God's will. This difficulty may grow out of the old belief that God's will is going to be something unpleasant or dull. "I was afraid of learning God's will, because I thought I might have to go off to Africa as a missionary," one young person said at a meeting.
But God only intends what is best for us; therefore, the only real happiness and security comes from learning and carrying out God's will. God's plan is always better and greater than anything we might produce when depending solely on human reason. Our own view and understandings are limited, but God can see a breathtaking sweep of wonderful activities and opportunities for us.
Most of us, by yielding to self-will, lose out in the search for real joy, true success, and genuine happiness. Our alcoholism was perhaps the best example of self-will in action. It was only when we turned to a Higher Power that we began to find the things that we had been vainly seeking in the bottle. God has brought us this far and will not fail us when we ask for guidance and understanding in other matters.
I will keep in mind today that God's will for me is good, and that God gives me the power to live in peace and harmony with others.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
He who is swift to believe is swift to forget.----Abraham Joshua Herschel
Life is full of questions. Many people tell us they have the answers. We have to be careful of who and what we believe. Other people's ideas may not fit us. The program doesn't tell us much about what to believe. It teaches us how to believe. How well the program works for us depends on what we believe and how well we live it. When we face all the facts, we can really believe. We believe we are powerless over our addiction. We believe we must and can change some things in our lives. We believe we can trust a Higher Power to care for us. When we choose to believe, we want to choose the best beliefs we can. And once we believe, we must not forget.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me know You, and help me know the truth.
Action for the Day: Today I'll think about my First Step. Do I truly believe I'm powerless over my disease?
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM
We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing a making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn’t done so yet.
pp. 30-31
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Two - "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
Any number of A.A.'s can say to the drifter, "Yes, we were diverted from our childhood faith, too. The overconfidence of youth was too much for us. Of course, we were glad that good home and religious training had given us certain values. We were still sure that we ought to be fairly honest, tolerant, and just, that we ought to be ambitious and hardworking. We became convinced that such simple rules of fair play and decency would be enough.
pp. 28-29
************************************************** *********
Situations I fear are rarely as bad as the fear itself. --unknown
"Growl all day and you'll feel dog tired at night." --Anonymous
"Laughter is as good as jogging for our heart, lungs, and brain." --Gail Grenier Sweet
If you touch, you feel. If you ask, you learn. If you look, you see. If you love, you live. --unknown
People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering. --St. Augustine of Hippo
The heart of AA is the act of one person giving to another.
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
FREEDOM
"A hungry man is not a free man."
-- Adlai Stevenson
For years I craved food. It was my escape from reality. It stopped the pain, loneliness
and anger --- for a moment. It felt good. Eventually I began to feel bad --- but I could
not stop. I was addicted to sugar and sodium. My freedom was being exchanged for
doughnuts!
I heard a man talk about his compulsion around cocaine and gambling. I asked how he
managed to abstain and he replied: "Talk about it, a day at a time!"
Today I am compulsive about getting well, and I talk about my disease every day. The
price of freedom is vulnerability. God is in the risk. I have taken it.
God, let me experience freedom in the choices I make today.
************************************************** *********
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:16
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving towards all He has made. Psalm 145:13
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
It is you, not where you are or what you have, that makes the difference. Lord, may I always blossom where I am planted.
Kindness can accomplish that which force won't. Lord, may I pause when I am about to react to irritations and respond as though it is You to whom I speak.
BEGIN WHERE YOU ARE
We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a
beginning. A much more important demonstration of our
principles lies before us in our respective homes,
occupations and affairs.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.19
It's usually pretty easy for me to be pleasant to the
people in an A.A. setting. While I'm working to stay
sober, I'm celebrating with my fellow A.A.s our common
release from the hell of drinking. It's often not so
hard to spread glad tidings to my old and new friends
in the program. At home or at work, though, it can be
a difference story. It is in situations arising in
both of those areas that the little day-to-day
frustrations are most evident, and where it can be
tough to smile or reach out with a kind word or an
attentive ear. It's outside of the A.A. rooms that
I face the real test of the effectiveness of my walk
through A.A.'s Twelve Steps.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Have I admitted I am an alcoholic? Have I swallowed my
pride and admitted I was different from other drinkers?
Have I accepted the fact that I must spend the rest of
my life without liquor? Have I any more reservations, any
idea in the back of my mind that some day I'll be able to
drink safely? Am I absolutely honest with myself and with
other people? Have I taken an inventory of myself and
admitted the wrong I have done? Have I come clean with my
friends? Have I tried to make it up to them for the way I
have treated them?
Meditation For The Day
I will believe that fundamentally all is well. Good things
will happen to me. I believe that God cares for me and will
provide for me. I will not try to plan ahead. I know that
the way will unfold, step by step. I will leave tomorrow's
burden to God, because He is the great burden-bearer. He
only expects me to carry my one-day's share.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Can We Choose?, p. 4
We must never be blinded by the futile philosophy that we are just the
hapless victims of our inheritance, of our life experience, and of our
surroundings--that these are the sole forces that make our decisions for
us. This is not the road to freedom. We have to believe that we can
really choose.
<< << << >> >> >>
"As active alcoholics, we lost our ability to choose whether we would
drink. We were the victims of a compulsion which seemed to decree
that we must go on with our own destruction.
"Yet we finally did make choices that brought about our recovery. We
came to believe that alone we were powerless over alcohol. This was
surely a choice, and a most difficult one. We came to believe that a
Higher Power could restore us to sanity when we became willing to
practice A.A.'s Twelve Steps.
"In short, we chose to 'become willing,' and no better choice did we ever
make."
1. Grapevine, November 1960
2. Letter, 1966
************************************************** *********
Walk In Dry Places
God's will for us
Higher Will
More than one alcoholic has trouble learning and accepting God's will. This difficulty may grow out of the old belief that God's will is going to be something unpleasant or dull. "I was afraid of learning God's will, because I thought I might have to go off to Africa as a missionary," one young person said at a meeting.
But God only intends what is best for us; therefore, the only real happiness and security comes from learning and carrying out God's will. God's plan is always better and greater than anything we might produce when depending solely on human reason. Our own view and understandings are limited, but God can see a breathtaking sweep of wonderful activities and opportunities for us.
Most of us, by yielding to self-will, lose out in the search for real joy, true success, and genuine happiness. Our alcoholism was perhaps the best example of self-will in action. It was only when we turned to a Higher Power that we began to find the things that we had been vainly seeking in the bottle. God has brought us this far and will not fail us when we ask for guidance and understanding in other matters.
I will keep in mind today that God's will for me is good, and that God gives me the power to live in peace and harmony with others.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
He who is swift to believe is swift to forget.----Abraham Joshua Herschel
Life is full of questions. Many people tell us they have the answers. We have to be careful of who and what we believe. Other people's ideas may not fit us. The program doesn't tell us much about what to believe. It teaches us how to believe. How well the program works for us depends on what we believe and how well we live it. When we face all the facts, we can really believe. We believe we are powerless over our addiction. We believe we must and can change some things in our lives. We believe we can trust a Higher Power to care for us. When we choose to believe, we want to choose the best beliefs we can. And once we believe, we must not forget.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me know You, and help me know the truth.
Action for the Day: Today I'll think about my First Step. Do I truly believe I'm powerless over my disease?
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM
We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing a making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn’t done so yet.
pp. 30-31
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Two - "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
Any number of A.A.'s can say to the drifter, "Yes, we were diverted from our childhood faith, too. The overconfidence of youth was too much for us. Of course, we were glad that good home and religious training had given us certain values. We were still sure that we ought to be fairly honest, tolerant, and just, that we ought to be ambitious and hardworking. We became convinced that such simple rules of fair play and decency would be enough.
pp. 28-29
************************************************** *********
Situations I fear are rarely as bad as the fear itself. --unknown
"Growl all day and you'll feel dog tired at night." --Anonymous
"Laughter is as good as jogging for our heart, lungs, and brain." --Gail Grenier Sweet
If you touch, you feel. If you ask, you learn. If you look, you see. If you love, you live. --unknown
People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering. --St. Augustine of Hippo
The heart of AA is the act of one person giving to another.
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
FREEDOM
"A hungry man is not a free man."
-- Adlai Stevenson
For years I craved food. It was my escape from reality. It stopped the pain, loneliness
and anger --- for a moment. It felt good. Eventually I began to feel bad --- but I could
not stop. I was addicted to sugar and sodium. My freedom was being exchanged for
doughnuts!
I heard a man talk about his compulsion around cocaine and gambling. I asked how he
managed to abstain and he replied: "Talk about it, a day at a time!"
Today I am compulsive about getting well, and I talk about my disease every day. The
price of freedom is vulnerability. God is in the risk. I have taken it.
God, let me experience freedom in the choices I make today.
************************************************** *********
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:16
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving towards all He has made. Psalm 145:13
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
It is you, not where you are or what you have, that makes the difference. Lord, may I always blossom where I am planted.
Kindness can accomplish that which force won't. Lord, may I pause when I am about to react to irritations and respond as though it is You to whom I speak.