Daily Recovery Readings - 12/31

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Daily Reflections

Daily Resolutions

The idea of "twenty-four-hour" living applies primarily to the
emotional life of the individual. Emotionally speaking, we must not
live in yesterday, nor in tomorrow.
As Bill Sees It, p. 284

A New year: 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600
minutes--a time to consider directions, goals, and actions. I must
make some plans to live a normal life, but also I must live emotionally
within a twenty-four hour frame, for if I do, I don't have to make
New Year's resolutions! I can make every day a New Year's day! I
can decide, "Today I will do this . . . Today I will do that." Each day
I can measure my life by trying to a little better, by deciding to follow
God's will and making an effort to put the principles of our A.A.
program into action.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

I shall be loyal in my attendance, generous in my giving, kind in my criticism, creative
in my suggestions, loving in my attitudes. I shall give A.A. my interest, my
enthusiasm, my devotion, and most of all, myself. The Lord's Prayer has become part
of my A.A. thoughts for each day: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Have I given myself?

Meditation For The Day

As we look back over the year just gone, it has been a good year to the extent that
we have put good thoughts, good words, and good deeds into it. None of what we have
thought, said, or done need be wasted. Both the good and the bad experiences can be
profited by. In a sense, the past is not entirely gone. The result of it, for good or
evil, is with us at the present moment. We can only learn by experience and none of our
experience is completely wasted. We can humbly thank God for the good things of the
year that has gone.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may carry good things into the year ahead. I pray that I may carry on
with faith, with prayer, and with hope.

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As Bill Sees It

In The Sunlight At Last, p. 313

When the thought was expressed that there might be a God personal
to me, I didn't like the idea. So my friend Ebby made what then
seemed a novel suggestion. He said, "Why don't you choose your own
conception of God?"

That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in
whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the
sunlight at last.

<< << << >> >> >>

It may be possible to find explanations of spiritual experiences such as
ours, but I have often tried to explain my own and have succeeded only
in giving the story of it. I know the feeling it gave me and the results
it has brought, but I realize I may never fully understand its deeper
why and now.

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 12
2. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 45

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Walk In Dry Places

Has it been a Year of Growth?
Growth
As any year draws to a close, we should reflect on how we have grown in sobriety. We should also identify changes during the year that enabled us to overcome bad habits and to move closer to better patterns of living.
Though we never are guaranteed favorable outcomes, we should always remember that sobriety is its own reward. We want a full life of course, but it must begin with a decision to seek and to maintain sobriety at all costs.
We find that with sobriety, lots of other problems seem to solve themselves. Even if they don't we have the tools to move forward and to achieve goals that always eluded us while we were drinking. Every year in sobriety is a year of growth.
I'll be conscious today of recent improvements I've made in my life and all my affairs. With sobriety, these improvements will go on for a lifetime.

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Keep It Simple

May you live all the days of your life'--Jonathan Swift.
Tonight, at midnight, a New Year will begin. None of us know what the New Year will hold. But we can trust ourselves to hold on to the spirit of recovery as we go through the year. As a New Year is about to begin, we can rejoice in our new way of life. We can give our will and our life to our HP. By doing these things, we'll be ready for the New Year.
PRAYER: Higher Power, I pray that I'll start the New Year safe in Your loving arms. I pray that I'll keep working my program.
ACTION: Tonight, at midnight, I'll say the Serenity Prayer. I will think of all the others who have read this meditation book and who will join me in this prayer. We are a recovering community.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

TIGHTROPE
Trying to separate worlds was a lonely charade that ended when this gay alcoholic finally landed in A.A.

In consequence, I made the seemingly logical decision not to drink outside the house. Instead, most of my drinking was now solitary. When I left work, I would have a few stiff drinks at dinner and then go home. I would stop off at the kitchen to pick up a glass, some ice, and some mixer. I would go to my bedroom, where I kept a half-gallon bottle of gin and vodka, and "read" while the ice melted, the mixer ran out, and sometimes the glass broke. Every night was black out drinking. The really bad times were when I would have to struggle outside to a liquor store or bar late at night, weaving and trying not to stagger, because I had miscalculated and run out of alcohol.

pp. 362-363

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Four - "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."

To see how erratic emotions victimized us often took a long time. We could perceive them quickly in others, but only slowly in ourselves. First of all, we had to admit that we had many of these defects, even though such disclosures were painful and humiliating. Where other people were concerned, we had to drop the word "blame" from our speech and thought. This required great willingness even to begin. But once over the first two or three high hurdles, the course ahead began to look easier. For we had started to get perspective on ourselves, which is another way of saying that we were gaining in humility.

pp. 47-48

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"Wherever you go, whomever you meet, look for an opportunity to help, to inspire, to
lend support."
--Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Most people search high and wide for the keys to success. If they only knew, the key to
their dreams lies within.
--George Washington Carver

Look for the Good.
--unknown

The traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous help me play well with others,
when what I really want to do is take my toys and go home!
--unknown

"You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do."
--Henry Ford

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

CHANGE

"It is not necessary to get away
from human nature but to alter
its inner attitude of heart and
mind."
-- J. F. Newton

An understanding of sobriety and serenity that has proved helpful to me is that we
are not only changing but involved in change. We determine the results of the
change.

I can change for good or bad. I can stay sober or drink. I can be cheerful and creative
or negative and destructive. My attitude determines the results of my changing life.

Spirituality has been given, but it also needs to be nurtured. I need to surround myself
with loving and honest people if I am to allow my spirituality to grow in my life. My
continued willingness is essential to my sobriety and serenity.

Thank You for making me with a mind and heart that together create the action.

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I believe that I am now a child of God .
1 John 3:1-3

I believe that I was saved by the grace of God through faith, that it was a gift and not
the result of any works on my part.
Ephesians 2:8

I choose to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Ephesians 6:10

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Daily Inspiration

To have courage, think courageous, act courageous, and pray to God for courage. Lord, You are full of love for all who come to You.

Abundance is God's to give, so shut out all limited thoughts. Lord, my faith in You and my faith in the talents and abilities You have given me makes me able to achieve my goals.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Finish each day and be done with it. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
Two of the most useless phrases in the English language are "what if" and "if only." We waste so much time and energy thinking about what we might have done and wishing we had acted or reacted differently. We imagine how things might have turned out "if only . . ."
All of us make mistakes. To go back and wonder and wish about our yesterdays prevents us from living fully today. Each day is a fresh chance; a new beginning. We can only squeeze what we can out of the moment and let the drops fall where they may. Some will evaporate and some will form rainbows.
Can I forget about yesterday and start a fresh new day?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Dawns another year,
Open it aright;
Thou shalt have no fear
In its fading light.
--Joseph Krauskopf
New Year's Eve is a good time to reflect upon the closing year and set our direction for the year ahead. This day reminds us that every day of the year is lived just one at a time. Looking back, we can see a year's change in ourselves. We see the progress we have made as men on our journey. Perhaps we see how much stronger we are emotionally. Maybe we see relationships that have developed because of our growing ability to love. Certainly all of us have some things we regret and some changes we mourn. They too have their place today.
As we begin the coming year, let us review our relationship with each of the Steps. We may perceive aspects of our program that call for more attention. One or two particular Steps may speak to our needs at this time or may have been overlooked in this past year. On this last day of the year, we can again turn our lives and will over to the care of a loving God.
I look to the New Year with a renewed commitment to the Steps.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
In the process of growing to spiritual maturity, we all go through many adolescent stages. --Miki L. Bowen
Progress, not perfection, is our goal in this recovery program. And many days we'll be haunted by the feeling that we've regressed. We will display old behavior. We will feel unable to change, to go on, to make gains once again. But these periods will pass, and soon progress will be evident again.
We must be wary of our need for perfection. It's this need that makes normal progress seem not good enough. And yet, that's all we're capable of--and all we'll ever need to be capable of. The program, its Steps and the promises offered, provide the tools we have lacked, yet need to use in order to accept ourselves wholly and imperfectly.
Daily attention to our spiritual side will foster the spiritual and emotional health we long for. Prayer and meditation, combined with honest inventory-taking, can show us the personal progress needed, the personal progress made. However, we will falter on occasion. We will neglect our program some days. But it won't ever be beyond our reach. And each day is a new beginning.
Today is before me, and I can make progress. I will begin with a quiet prayer and a moment of meditation.


You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Affirming the Good
Fun becomes fun, love becomes love, life becomes worth living. And we become grateful. --Beyond Codependency
Wait, and expect good things - for yourself and your loved ones.
When you wonder what is coming, tell yourself the best is coming, the very best life and love have to offer, the best God and His universe have to send. Then open your hands to receive it. Claim it, and it is yours.
See the best in your mind; envision what it will look like, what it will feel like. Focus, until you can see it clearly. Let your whole being, body and soul, enter into and hold onto the image for a moment.
Then, let it go. Come back into today, the present moment. Do not obsess. Do not become fearful. Become excited. Live today fully, expressing gratitude for all you have been, all you are, and all you will become.
Wait, and expect good things.
Today, when I think abut the year ahead, I will focus on the good that is coming.


Today I have all the willingness... all the energy and all the guidance to continue to choose the path of peace and love and joy. --Ruth Fishel

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You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

No Exceptions

Abstinence is the most important thing in my life without exception. Since I am a compulsive overeater, any exception would mean that I might lose control. If I do not control my disease, it controls me. Therefore, there are no exceptions to the rule that abstinence is the most important thing in my life.

In order to follow this rule, I need to depend on a Power greater than myself. Alone, I am not strong enough to maintain abstinence at all times and in all places, but through the grace of God and the support of the OA fellowship, I can do it.

With abstinence, the rest of my life falls into place. I have an incurable illness, but one which can be controlled day by day through following the OA program, working the Twelve Steps, and staying in contact with my Higher Power. There are good days and bad days. but there is always abstinence. I am grateful to be an abstaining, recovering, compulsive overeater.

May I remember each day there are no exceptions to abstinence.

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Wisdom for Today
Admitting to God that indeed I had done much wrong in my life was no easy task. I had to get past this concept that God was a punishing God. I had learned this concept growing up. I could not get all those Bible stories out of my head where people were punished for the wrongs they had done. I was fearful that I also would be punished. Then the recovering pastor I was to do my Fifth Step with spoke up. I guess he could see the fear in my eyes. He suggested that we begin with a prayer. I figured fire and brimstone would likely follow. But I was wrong.
The prayer that was spoken was a Third Step prayer. It reminded me that I had made a decision to turn over my will and my life to the "care" of my Higher Power. “Turn it over to His care” – these words rang loudly in my ears as the pastor continued to pray. I am not sure that I heard anything else that he said. All I remember was a period of silence that followed the prayer. I looked up from the floor, took a deep breath and began to speak. Amazingly the words flowed from my mouth as I began to recount my past and what I had learned about myself in completing my Fourth Step. Do I trust that God will show me His care when I need it most?
Meditations for the Heart
In the presence of my Higher Power I can find safety, and I can find security. I used to turn to alcohol and drugs to cover up my insecurity. I never felt comfortable even in my own skin. It seemed as though I was always anxious. Yet in recovery I have discovered a new place to feel secure. I often times imagine myself walking down a path with God at my side. I believe that this is what the journey in recovery is all about. What is even more exciting is that God not only walks beside me, but also behind me and in front of me. He watches over me each step of the way. Have I found a safe place in the presence of God?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
I place my life in Your care. I know that You will walk with me on this journey called recovery. Give me courage to always walk with You. Let me seek out Your will for me this day, and grant me the power and strength I need to follow Your will. Let me know true security in and with You.
Amen.