Daily Recovery Readings - 1/3

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Daily Reflections

POWERLESS

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become
unmanageable.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 21

It is no coincidence that the very first Step mentions powerlessness: An
admission of personal powerlessness over alcohol is a cornerstone of
the foundation of recovery. I've learned that I do not have the power
and control I once thought I had. I am powerless over what people
think about me. I am powerless over having just missed the bus. I am
powerless over how other people work (or don't work) the Steps. But
I've also learned I am not powerless over some things. I am not
powerless over my attitudes. I am not powerless over negativity. I am
not powerless over assuming responsibility for my own recovery. I
have the power to exert a positive influence on myself, my loved ones,
and the world in which I live.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

When I came into A.A., I learned what an alcoholic was and then I
applied this knowledge to myself to see if I was an alcoholic. When I
was convinced that I was an alcoholic, I admitted it openly. Since then,
have I been learning to live accordingly? Have I read the book
Alcoholics Anonymous? Have I applied the knowledge gained to
myself? Have I admitted openly that I am an alcoholic? Am I ready to
admit it at any time when I can be of help?

Meditation For The Day

I will be renewed. I will be remade. In this, I need God's help. His spirit
shall flow through me and, in flowing through me, it shall sweep away
all the bitter past. I will take heart. The way will open for me. Each day
will unfold something good, as long as I am trying to live the way I
believe God wants me to live.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be taught, just as a child would be taught. I pray that
I may never question God's plans, but accept them gladly.

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As Bill Sees It

Learning To Trust, p. 310

Our entire A.A. program rests upon the principle of mutual trust. We
trust God, we trust A.A., and we trust each other. Therefore, we trust
our leaders in world service. The "Right of Decision" that we offer
them is not only the practical means by which they may act and lead
effectively, but it is also the symbol of our implicit confidence.

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

If you arrive at A.A. with no religious convictions, you can, if you wish,
make A.A. itself or even your A.A. group of people your "Higher
Power." Here's a large group of people who have solved their alcohol
problem. In this respect they are certainly a power greater than you.
Even this minimum of faith will be enough.

Many members who have crossed the threshold just this way will tell
you that, once across, their faith broadened and deepened. Relieved
of the alcohol obsession, their lives unaccountably transformed, they
came to believe in a Higher Power, and most of them began to talk of
God.

1. Twelve Concepts, p. 16
2. 12 & 12, pp. 27-28

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Walk in Dry Places

Forgiving others___Releasing the past
There is a general reluctance on the part of most people to forgive old injuries. Some of us wasted lots of time brooding about old wrongs done to us or trying to get even for some past injuries.
But the only way we can ever really get even is to forgive others completely and without the slightest hidden reservation. If we haven't forgiven others, the old resentments are a poison in our own lives. We continue to feel the pain of the original injury, and the ensuing resentment destroys our peace of mind and endangers our relationships.
In forgiving others, we do not grant a favor to them, but to ourselves. By extending forgiveness, we release thoughts and feelings that have been like a cancer in our lives. We are not giving up a possession or a right; instead, we are freeing ourselves from a burden that nobody needs to carry. We are letting go of garbage that we do not need in our lives. When we forgive others, we also realize that we are forgiven. As it is stated in closing meetings, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
I will not review past hurts and injuries this day. I will go through the day knowing that God forgives me to the extent that I forgive others.

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Keep It Simple

Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.---Unknown
As we work Step One, we accept that alcohol and other drugs are poison to us. We accept our limits.
This means we know that hanging around our using "buddies" can remind us of "the good old days."
Hanging around "slippery places" means we could "slip" back into our old ways. This isn't testing our sobriety; it's being reckless with it. So let's accept our limits. Everybody has limits. When we know our limits, we protect our recovery against the people and places that pull us from our spiritual center. This is what true acceptance means.
Prayer for the Day: I pray for true acceptance. Higher Power, help me to stay away from slippery places. I will protect the gift You've given me.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list the people and places that are risky for me to be around. I will share this list with my sponsor, my group, and my sober friends.

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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.

The last few months were filled with fear and self-pity. I began to comtemplate suicide with increasing regularity, yet I was afraid of dying. I remember thinking that this life would go on and on, never getting better and slowly fading away to nothing.

p. 363

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

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

To avoid falling into confusion over the names these defects should be called, let's take a universally recognized list of major human failings--the Seven Deadly Sins of pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. It is not by accident that pride heads the procession. For pride, leading to self-justification, and always spurred by conscious or unconscious fears, is the basic breeder of most human difficulties, the chief block to true progress. Pride lures us into making demands upon ourselves or upon others which cannot be met without perverting or misusing our God-given instincts. When the satisfaction of our instincts for sex, security, and society becomes the sole object of our lives,
then pride steps in to justify our excesses.

pp. 48-49

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Serenity isn't freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm. --unknown

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry
about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely
and earnestly. --Buddha (B.C. 568-488)

"The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes." --Amy Grant

Envy shoots at others and wounds herself. --Costa Rican Proverb

If you dig a grave for others, you might fall into it yourself. --Irish Proverb

I embrace the beauty of life, and depend deeply upon God. --Shelley

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

ISOLATION

"No man is an island, entire of
itself; every man is a piece of
the continent, a part of the
main."
-- John Donne

For years I thought that I was alone; lost isolated and afraid. Today I understand this
to be a symptom of my alcoholism, an aspect of my disease. Alcoholism is "cunning,
baffling and powerful"; it is a mystery that we have only begun to understand. One
thing we know, the disease, the "ism" of alcoholism, involves more than the act
of drinking. Feelings of inadequacy, isolation and fear keep us from recovering until
we discover the spiritual strength to confront the disease in our lives. The initial risk of
"letting go" and trusting others is an essential part of the recovery process.

When we discover that we are not alone, then relationships and hope are reactivated;
life is worth living again.

O Lord, I believe I am part of this world and an important part of You.

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"But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with
God all things are possible." Mark 10:27

Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Matthew 6:34

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

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Daily Inspiration

It is good to know where you are, but better to know where you are going. Lord, may I use every day to grow closer to You.

When you feel you aren't as blessed as your neighbor, consider the troubles that you have been spared. Lord, thank You for the trials that I do not have to endure.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations. --Faith Baldwin
Change surrounds us. It lies within us, too. The trees in the yard have changed. They've grown taller. Their leaves die and scatter on the ground in the fall. We don't resemble our baby pictures much anymore, either. Like trees, we've grown up. As babies, we couldn't walk. But we learned to run, ride bikes, go out alone to movies and parties. Some changes we don't notice while they're going on. The snow melts; the birds fly south; our hair grows a little every day. Other changes startle us. A best friend moves away. Perhaps a favorite grandparent dies. These changes we wish hadn't happened, and we have to remember that change is as natural as breathing. We can't keep it from happening, but we can trust that change never means to harm us. It's a sign we're growing up.


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Love doesn't just sit there like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new. - Ursula K. Le Guin
Our relationships are alive. We don't control them and neither do the other people involved. We certainly influence our relationships - and if we are aware, we see they also have their own yeast. Whether we are talking of a love relationship with our spouse, lover, children, friends, or parents, it is a very fluid and dynamic affair. If we are actively involved with the other person and give time and nourishment to the relationship, it will grow. But if we are passive and only waiting, the relationship will grow stale.
God speaks to us through other people. Our relationship with our Higher Power influences our relationships with all the people in our lives. Today we can nurture our relationships with time, tolerance, and honesty. In turn, we will be nourished.
May this day be one in which I give attention to those I love.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Like an old gold-panning prospector, you must resign yourself to digging up a lot of sand from which you will later patiently wash out a few minute particles of gold ore. --Dorothy Bryant
Sometimes we feel buried in sand, blocked, clogged, unable to move. Then we must remember that we are not alone. Help is at hand, if only we will ask for it. If we invoke our higher power, our source of spiritual strength can help us to believe that there is gold somewhere in all this sand, and that the sand itself is useful.
No one and no thing is good all the time. Let us remember that if we expect nothing but gold, we are distorting life, getting in our own way. We don't want to falsify the texture of our lives; the homespun quality helps us to appreciate the gold when it appears.
I will find some gold among the sand, today.


You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Nurturing Self Care
.. .there isn't a guidebook for setting boundaries. Each of us has our own guide inside ourselves. If we continue to work at recovery, our boundaries will develop. They will get healthy and sensitive. Our selves will tell us what we need to know,' and we'll love ourselves enough to listen.
--Beyond Codependency
What do we need to do to take care of ourselves?
Listen to that voice inside. What makes you angry? What have you had enough of? What don't you trust? What doesn't feel right? What can't you stand? What makes you uncomfortable? What do you want? Need? What don't you want and need? What do you like? What would feel good?
In recovery, we learn that self care leads us on the path to God's will and plan for our life. Self-care never leads away from our highest good; it leads toward it.
Learn to nurture that voice inside. We can trust ourselves. We can take care of ourselves. We are wiser than we think. Our guide is within, ever present. Listen to, trust, and nurture that guide.
Today, I will affirm that lama gift to the Universe and myself. I will remember that nurturing self care delivers that gift in its highest form.

Today my body guides me to refocus and God heals me deep within as I again become strong and free. --Ruth Fishel

[admin]

You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Responding

Many of us find it difficult to accept the OA program at the beginning. Many of us cannot believe or are afraid to believe the good news at first. All we need to start is the desire to stop eating compulsively.

If we will be open to the program, we will find that it gradually unfolds. What we do not understand at the beginning becomes clear as we become ready to accept it. We shall never achieve perfection, but we can make progress every day.

When we are willing to grow and to change, God can work His miracles. OA is filled with members whose stories attest to the Power that has changed their lives.

I open myself to Your power, Lord.

[admin]

Wisdom for Today
There is a song that goes, "You can't always get what you want, you can't always get what you want, you can't always get what you want; but if you try sometime, you just might find you get what you need." This has certainly been the case for me in the program. In fact, I have come to accept that I have little or no control over the outcome. I am only responsible for the effort. When I look back at my drinking and my drug use, I rarely if ever got what I wanted. Sure, maybe in the beginning, I got high like I wanted; but it didn't take long for me to start chasing that ever-elusive high.
In recovery, however, I find that I get out of the program what I put into it. And if I put faith in a Higher Power into my program, I am amazed at how often I get what I need. Yes, I don't always get what I want; but I do get what I need. When I am faced with my own weakness, I am given strength and patience. When I am faced with fear, I am given courage. When I am faced with truth, I am given choices for positive change. Am I putting what I need to into the program?
Meditations for the Heart
One of the things I needed most in early recovery were friends, friends who would be willing to be honest with me and who genuinely cared for me. I knew how to make using buddies, but had no real idea how to make friends. If I was going to get what I needed, I had to become willing to put some effort into it. I had to become friendly, if I was going to make friends. This meant that I would have to talk to others in the program and begin to show a genuine interest in their life. I would need to strive to be helpful to those who were near me. I needed to search for something in every person I met that I could like. I had to stop looking at how others were different than I was and start looking for similarities. I had to stop making judgments about others. I needed to work on accepting them for who they were. I found that when I started to treat others with respect, I began to respect myself more. I found that when I cared enough to be honest with others, I could be more honest with myself. Am I putting effort into getting what I need?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
You have given me this day all I need and continue to provide for my needs. Grant me strength to reach out to others and to put effort into getting what I need. Help me this day to see things in a new light and to take advantage of the opportunities for growth that You give to me. Help me to seek out Your will for me this day.
Amen.