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01-15-2007, 05:07 PM
Daily Reflections
HITTING BOTTOM
Why all this insistence that every A.A. must hit bottom
first? The answer is that few people will sincerely try
to practice the A.A. program unless they have hit
bottom. For practicing A.A.'s remaining eleven Steps
means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost
no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 24
Hitting bottom opened my mind and I became willing to
try something different. What I tried was A.A. My new
life in the Fellowship was a little like learning how
to ride a bike for the first time: A.A. became my
training wheels and my supporting hand. It's not that
I wanted the help so much at the time; I simply did
not want to hurt like that again. My desire to avoid
hitting bottom again was more powerful than my desire
to drink. In the beginning that was what kept me sober.
But after a while I found myself working the Steps to
the best of my ability. I soon realized that my
attitudes and actions were changing - if ever so
slightly. One Day at a Time, I became comfortable with
myself, and others, and my hurting started to heal.
Thank God for the training wheels and supporting hand
that I choose to call Alcoholics Anonymous.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
The A.A. program is more a way of building a new life
than just a way of getting over drinking, because in A.A.
we don't just stop drinking. We did that plenty of times
in the old days when we went "on the wagon." And, of
course, we always started to drink again, because we were
only waiting for the time when we could fall off. Once
we've gotten sober through the A.A. program, we start
going uphill. In our drinking days, we were going downhill,
getting worse and worse. We either go down or up. Am I
going uphill, getting better and better?
Meditation For The Day
I will try to obey God's will day in and day out, in the
wilderness plains as well as on the mountaintops of
experience. It is in the daily strivings that perseverance
counts. I believe that God is Lord of little things, the
Divine Controller of little happenings. I will persevere
in this new way of life. I know that nothing in the day
is too small to be a part of God's scheme.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that the little stones which I put into the mosaic
of my life may make a worthwhile pattern. I pray that I
may persevere and so find harmony and beauty.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
A VISION OF THE WHOLE, p. 297
"Though many of us have had to struggle for sobriety, never yet
has this Fellowship had to struggle for lost unity. Consequently,
we sometimes take this one great gift for granted. We forget that,
should we lose our unity, the millions of alcoholics who still 'do not
know' might never get their chance.
********************************
"We used to be skeptical about large A.A. gatherings like conventions,
thinking they might prove too exhibitionistic. But, on balance, their
benefit is huge. While each A.A.'s interest should center principally in
those about him and upon his own group, it is both necessary and
desirable that we all get a larger vision of the whole.
"The General Service Conference in New York also produces this
effect upon those who attend. It is a vision-stretching process."
1. Letter, 1949
2. Letter, 1956
************************************************** *********
Walk in Dry Places
Material things matter
The Money Problem
Now and then we have heated discussions about the role of material things in sobriety. Someone is bound to say that money can't buy happiness and that the spiritual has to come first.
But material things do matter in our lives, and we share with others the same desire to get ahead in life. We usually like good clothes, new cars, and steady pay checks. It is somewhat hypocritical to say that money and material things don't matter when we obviously need money and would like to have more of it.
Our problem with money and material things occurred when we made a god of them, when we saw worldly success as the end-all and be-all of life. The proper function of money is to provide for smooth exchange of the goods and services we must use in order to live. Far from denouncing spiritual gifts that should be used properly, but not worshipped. More than likely, we can appreciate material things far more than we did while drinking, despite the exaggerated love we had then for worldly things.
I will neither despise material things nor make a god of them today. I will view them as part of God's plan, as things to use.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.---Eric Hoffer
It's tempting to blame others for our problems. Recovery asks us to answer for our actions. Admitting we are powerless over our actions. Admitting we are powerless over our alcohol and other drugs is a start.
Each of the Twelve Steps asks us to answer for our actions in some way. And the program shows us how to do this. Over time, we see that being responsible for our actions is the best way to live. Our self-confidence grows as we become more responsible. We start to see just how much we can do. We have gone from being drunks to being responsible people. If we can do this, then we can do anything!
Prayer for the Day: I pray to remember that I'm responsible for my actions. Blaming puts distance between me and other people. Higher Power, help me to play fair.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list four times I've blamed someone else for a problem that was really my problem.
************************************************** *********
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 all these positions I never felt obligated to conceal or deny my sexuality. I have always felt that the representatives of groups in my area were concerned only with how we carried the message of recovery, not with what I might do in my personal life.
pp. 367-368
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Five - "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."
All of A.A.'s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires . . . they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few Steps are harder to take than Five. But scarcely any Step is more necessary to longtime sobriety and peace of mind than this one.
p. 55
************************************************** *********
"Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by traffic from both sides." --Margaret Thatcher
"Sharing what you have is more important than what you have." --Albert M. Wells, Jr.
"Oh...I listen a lot and talk less. You can't learn anything when you're talking." --Bing Crosby
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul. --Saint Augustine
The alcoholic is in no greater peril than when he takes sobriety for granted.
F E A R = Face Everything And Recover.
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
PROCRASTINATION
"You cannot build a reputation
on things you are going to do."
-- Mabel Newcomber
Procrastination is the addicts' game. I will give up alcohol tomorrow.
Soon I will take an inventory of my eating habits. Later I will talk to
him about my anger and pain. Tomorrow and tomorrow --- but it
never happens!
The tragedy is that we not only bring pain and problems into our lives
but we keep them there. Recovery requires action; sobriety and the
spiritual program demand movement.
Today I will talk about my pain.
************************************************** *********
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. Psalm 146:8
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
When we hand over what we can't handle to the One who can, miracles happen. Keep me free of stress, Lord, and in the best possible place to receive Your help.
There is no personal problem that you cannot solve. Lord, Your presence within me is all power. You are my help in every need.
HITTING BOTTOM
Why all this insistence that every A.A. must hit bottom
first? The answer is that few people will sincerely try
to practice the A.A. program unless they have hit
bottom. For practicing A.A.'s remaining eleven Steps
means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost
no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 24
Hitting bottom opened my mind and I became willing to
try something different. What I tried was A.A. My new
life in the Fellowship was a little like learning how
to ride a bike for the first time: A.A. became my
training wheels and my supporting hand. It's not that
I wanted the help so much at the time; I simply did
not want to hurt like that again. My desire to avoid
hitting bottom again was more powerful than my desire
to drink. In the beginning that was what kept me sober.
But after a while I found myself working the Steps to
the best of my ability. I soon realized that my
attitudes and actions were changing - if ever so
slightly. One Day at a Time, I became comfortable with
myself, and others, and my hurting started to heal.
Thank God for the training wheels and supporting hand
that I choose to call Alcoholics Anonymous.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
The A.A. program is more a way of building a new life
than just a way of getting over drinking, because in A.A.
we don't just stop drinking. We did that plenty of times
in the old days when we went "on the wagon." And, of
course, we always started to drink again, because we were
only waiting for the time when we could fall off. Once
we've gotten sober through the A.A. program, we start
going uphill. In our drinking days, we were going downhill,
getting worse and worse. We either go down or up. Am I
going uphill, getting better and better?
Meditation For The Day
I will try to obey God's will day in and day out, in the
wilderness plains as well as on the mountaintops of
experience. It is in the daily strivings that perseverance
counts. I believe that God is Lord of little things, the
Divine Controller of little happenings. I will persevere
in this new way of life. I know that nothing in the day
is too small to be a part of God's scheme.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that the little stones which I put into the mosaic
of my life may make a worthwhile pattern. I pray that I
may persevere and so find harmony and beauty.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
A VISION OF THE WHOLE, p. 297
"Though many of us have had to struggle for sobriety, never yet
has this Fellowship had to struggle for lost unity. Consequently,
we sometimes take this one great gift for granted. We forget that,
should we lose our unity, the millions of alcoholics who still 'do not
know' might never get their chance.
********************************
"We used to be skeptical about large A.A. gatherings like conventions,
thinking they might prove too exhibitionistic. But, on balance, their
benefit is huge. While each A.A.'s interest should center principally in
those about him and upon his own group, it is both necessary and
desirable that we all get a larger vision of the whole.
"The General Service Conference in New York also produces this
effect upon those who attend. It is a vision-stretching process."
1. Letter, 1949
2. Letter, 1956
************************************************** *********
Walk in Dry Places
Material things matter
The Money Problem
Now and then we have heated discussions about the role of material things in sobriety. Someone is bound to say that money can't buy happiness and that the spiritual has to come first.
But material things do matter in our lives, and we share with others the same desire to get ahead in life. We usually like good clothes, new cars, and steady pay checks. It is somewhat hypocritical to say that money and material things don't matter when we obviously need money and would like to have more of it.
Our problem with money and material things occurred when we made a god of them, when we saw worldly success as the end-all and be-all of life. The proper function of money is to provide for smooth exchange of the goods and services we must use in order to live. Far from denouncing spiritual gifts that should be used properly, but not worshipped. More than likely, we can appreciate material things far more than we did while drinking, despite the exaggerated love we had then for worldly things.
I will neither despise material things nor make a god of them today. I will view them as part of God's plan, as things to use.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.---Eric Hoffer
It's tempting to blame others for our problems. Recovery asks us to answer for our actions. Admitting we are powerless over our actions. Admitting we are powerless over our alcohol and other drugs is a start.
Each of the Twelve Steps asks us to answer for our actions in some way. And the program shows us how to do this. Over time, we see that being responsible for our actions is the best way to live. Our self-confidence grows as we become more responsible. We start to see just how much we can do. We have gone from being drunks to being responsible people. If we can do this, then we can do anything!
Prayer for the Day: I pray to remember that I'm responsible for my actions. Blaming puts distance between me and other people. Higher Power, help me to play fair.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list four times I've blamed someone else for a problem that was really my problem.
************************************************** *********
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 all these positions I never felt obligated to conceal or deny my sexuality. I have always felt that the representatives of groups in my area were concerned only with how we carried the message of recovery, not with what I might do in my personal life.
pp. 367-368
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Five - "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."
All of A.A.'s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires . . . they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few Steps are harder to take than Five. But scarcely any Step is more necessary to longtime sobriety and peace of mind than this one.
p. 55
************************************************** *********
"Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by traffic from both sides." --Margaret Thatcher
"Sharing what you have is more important than what you have." --Albert M. Wells, Jr.
"Oh...I listen a lot and talk less. You can't learn anything when you're talking." --Bing Crosby
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul. --Saint Augustine
The alcoholic is in no greater peril than when he takes sobriety for granted.
F E A R = Face Everything And Recover.
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
PROCRASTINATION
"You cannot build a reputation
on things you are going to do."
-- Mabel Newcomber
Procrastination is the addicts' game. I will give up alcohol tomorrow.
Soon I will take an inventory of my eating habits. Later I will talk to
him about my anger and pain. Tomorrow and tomorrow --- but it
never happens!
The tragedy is that we not only bring pain and problems into our lives
but we keep them there. Recovery requires action; sobriety and the
spiritual program demand movement.
Today I will talk about my pain.
************************************************** *********
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. Psalm 146:8
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
When we hand over what we can't handle to the One who can, miracles happen. Keep me free of stress, Lord, and in the best possible place to receive Your help.
There is no personal problem that you cannot solve. Lord, Your presence within me is all power. You are my help in every need.