Daily Recovery Readings - 6/27

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Daily Reflections

CONFORMING TO THE A.A. WAY

We obey A.A.'s Steps and Traditions because we really want them for
ourselves. It is no longer a question of good or evil; we conform
because we genuinely want to conform. Such is our process of growth
in unity and function. Such is the evidence of God's grace and love
among us.
A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 106

It is fun to watch myself grow in A.A. I fought conformity to A.A.
principles from the moment I entered, but I learned from the pain of
my belligerence that, in choosing to live the A.A. way of life, I opened
myself to God's grace and love. Then I began to know the full
meaning of being a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

If you can take your troubles as they come, if you can maintain your
calm and composure amid pressing duties and unending engagements,
if you can rise above the distressing and disturbing circumstances in
which you are set down, you have discovered a priceless secret of
daily living. Even if you are forced to go through life weighed down by
some unescapable misfortune or handicap and yet live each day as it
comes with poise and peace of mind, you have succeeded where most
people have failed. You have wrought a greater achievement than a
person who rules a nation. Have I achieved poise and peace of mind?

Meditation For The Day

Take a blessing with you wherever you go. You have been blessed, so
bless others. Such stores of blessings are awaiting you in the months
and years that lie ahead. Pass on your blessings. Blessing can and does
go around the world, passed on from one person to another. Shed a
little blessing in the heart of one person. That person is cheered to
pass it on, and so, God's vitalizing, joy-giving message travels on. Be a
transmitter of God's blessings.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may pass on my blessings. I pray that they may flow into
the lives of others.

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As Bill Sees It

Progress Rather than Perfection, p. 167

On studying the Twelve Steps, many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go
through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain
anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints.

The point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have
set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual
perfection.

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

"We recovered alcoholics are not so much brothers in virtue as we are brothers in our
defects, and in our common strivings to overcome them."

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 60
2. Letter, 1946

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Walk In Dry Places

Have I ever been helped?
Unselfishness.
Sometimes we hear hard luck stories by people who claim they never "had a single helping hand." Everybody was against them.
It's true that certain people have had more than their share of abuse and abandonment. But it's hard to believe that helping hands haven't been extended... acts of kindness, often made by selfless but ordinary people.
Our problem has been in recognizing such helping hands. Lost in self-pity, we could hardly have recognized help when it was given. Nor were we capable of giving constructive assistance to others.
Furthermore, if people were against us, we may have provoked it. Our task is to change our thinking about the past and to be grateful for the people who were kind to us.
I realize that there are kind and decent people who have helped me. There are many such people in the world, and I want to be one of them.

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Keep It Simple

Hell is not to love anymore.---Geogre Bernanos
Someone in an AA group said, "From the first day I started this program, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven." This person had walked into a room full of love. In recovery, we are spiritual people because we believe in love. We have faith in love.
Love is respect. Love is truth with kindness. Love is being willing to forgive and help others.
Love is thinking about how our Higher Power wants us to act. Love is what we do best. We have turned our will and our life over to love.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I may love all parts of life. Higher Power, help me seek out love, not material things.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll think about what I love about recovery. I will share this with a couple of friends and my Higher Power.

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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.

Mine was the skid row of success. The physical skid row in any city is miserable. The skid row of success is just as miserable.

p. 301

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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."

"Although I asked Charlie for a little time to consider it, my own mind was about made up. Racing back to Brooklyn on the subway, I had a seeming flash of divine guidance. It was only a single sentence, but most convincing. In fact, it came right out of the Bible - a voice kept saying to me, `The laborer is worthy of his hire.' Arriving home, I found Lois cooking as usual, while three drunks looked hungrily on from the kitchen door. I drew her aside and told the glorious news. She looked interested, but not as excited as I thought she should be.

p. 137

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Set others free to achieve and experience the path that leads to their
highest good and you, too, will become free to find yours.
--Melody Beattie

Learn a lesson from the redwoods. Let them teach the power of
patience and calm. Life goes on. Things happen. People change.
Times move along. There are stories to live and stories to tell, but we
can be calm and know that, always, all is well.
--Melody Beattie

"Forgiving is not forgetting, it's letting go of the hurt."
--Mary McLeod Bethune

"Life holds so much--so much to be so happy about always. Most
people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can be felt only if
you don't set conditions."
--Artur Robinstein

Applaud others when they run. Console them when they fall. And
cheer them when they recover.
As water is to a flower so is praise to the heart of another.
--Unknown

Abundance comes from your gifts of love.
--unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

HYPOCRISY
"The devil can cite scripture for his
purpose."
--William Shakespeare

This quotation reminds me that the disease of alcoholism is "cunning,
baffling and powerful". I am aware of the need to walk like I talk, to
make the action fit the word, to live my program today rather than
talk about it for tomorrow. Why? Because the disease can talk
program! I have caught myself saying things that I do not practice in
my life. I catch myself saying things to others that I do not live out in
my own life. Today I am aware of my hypocrisy. Today I am aware of
the disease in my life.

I need to be aware of this aspect of the disease because I am such a
good talker, such a convincing talker, such a practiced manipulator!
Today I know that I am not perfect, but that should never be an
excuse to avoid dealing with my character defects. I must not "con"
myself into staying sick!

I pray that I may strive to live the message.

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If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:15-16

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is
not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices
with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

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Daily Inspiration

It is normal to make mistakes, but it is the better person who is able to grow from them. Lord, I am not perfect, but may each day bring me a little closer.

Not only must we know God's will, but we must do God's will to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Lord, I commit myself to obeying the will of my heavenly Father.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
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
In the game of musical chairs, everyone walks around a circle of chairs. When the music stops, they scramble for the nearest open chair. If we were playing this game and found the nearest chairs taken, wouldn't we quickly look around for the next open one? To remain immobilized, angry that the chair we wanted was taken, would undoubtedly lose our place in the game.
Sometimes in life, we set our sights on a particular chair. Perhaps there is an award we want to win, or we want to be the high scorer on our team. Perhaps there is a promotion or a job we would like to get. When we do not get what we want, it is easy to keep looking at what we didn't get instead of seeing all we have.
It is important to be grateful for what we have--for the open doors and empty chairs waiting and inviting our attention. Loss and disappointment are a part of life--but the music will play again and our lives can move on.
What is available to me today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
The tremor of awe is the best in man. --Goethe
We have a spiritual experience in knowing and being touched by something much larger than us, something beyond what we understand, something of mysterious dimensions. It can happen as we stand on the banks of an ageless river, listen to beautiful music, read scripture, or say a prayer with a friend. When we set aside defiance, willfulness, and our demands to subdue whatever we meet, we become receptive to a larger reality. The experience of awe brings out the best in a man because it instills a spirit of respect and gratitude. It inspires humility and expands our minds into realms we can't express in words.
The sense of awe is a kind of reverence. After we learn where our personal awe is inspired, we can return to it again and again. As we feel it more, we become more open to it in the mundane parts of our daily lives. Today we might feel the spirit in the visit of a wild bird on a branch, the spontaneous "Hi" from a small child, or the stillness before prayer at the dinner table.
Today, I will look for moments of awe in my life.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Often God shuts a door in our face, and then subsequently opens the door through which we need to go. --Catherine Marshall
We try and try to control the events of our lives. And not seldom the events in others' lives, too. The occasions are frequent when our will conflicts with God's. Then for a time we feel at a loss. Our direction is uncertain. But always, always, another door opens. A better way beckons. How stubborn we are! And how simple life would be were we to daily, fully, turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. God's help and direction in all things are always available. Turning a deaf ear is like trying to find a seat in a darkened movie theater unaided by the usher.
Every experience is softened when we face it accompanied by our higher power. Any past struggle, any present fear, is a testament to our attempts to do it alone. Too frequently we forge ahead, alone, only to have our way blocked. The detours need never be there. No door closes unless there is a better way. Divine order will prevail.
There is no need to struggle, today. I will breathe deeply and take my higher power with me, wherever I go. And the doors will be open for as far as I can see.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Achieving Harmony
When a pianist learns a new piece of music, he or she does not sit down and instantly play it perfectly. A pianist often needs to practice each hand's work separately to learn the feel, to learn the sound. One hand picks out a part until there is a rhythm and ease in playing what is difficult. Then, the musician practices with the other hand, picking through the notes, one by one, until that hand learns its tasks. When each hand has learned its part - the sound, the feel, the rhythm, and the tones - then both hands can play together.
During the time of practice, the music may not sound like much. It may sound disconnected, not particularly beautiful. But when both hands are ready to play together, music is created - a whole piece comes together in harmony and beauty.
When we begin recovery, it may feel like we spend months, even years, practicing individual, seemingly disconnected behaviors in the separate parts of our life.
We take our new skills into our work, our career, and begin to apply them slowly, making our work relationships healthier for us. We take our skills into our relationships, sometimes one relationship at a time. We struggle through our new behaviors in our love relationships.
One part at a time, we practice our new music note by note.
We work on our relationship with our Higher Power - our spirituality. We work at loving ourselves. We work at believing we deserve the best. We work on our finances. On our recreation. Sometimes on our appearance. Sometimes on our home.
We work on feelings. On beliefs. On behaviors. Letting go of the old, acquiring the new. We work and work and work. We practice. We struggle through. We go from one extreme to the other, and sometimes back through the course again. We make a little progress, go backward, and then go forward again.
It may all seem disconnected. It may not sound like a harmonious, beautiful piece of music - just isolated notes. Then one day, something happens. We become ready to play with both hands, to put the music together.
What we have been working toward, note by note, becomes a song. That song is a whole life, a complete life, and a life in harmony.
The music will come together in our life if we keep practicing the parts.
Today, I will practice my recovery behaviors through the individual parts of my life. I trust that, one day, things will come together in a full, complete song.


I have all the power I need today to say no to negative choices. The personal choices I make today are positive and healthy. I take responsibility for my life today. --Ruth Fishel

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Change And Growth

"When someone points out a shortcoming, our first reaction may be defensive. There will always be room for growth."
Basic Text, p. 35

Recovery is a process that brings about change in our lives. We need that change if we are to continue our growth toward freedom. It's important that we remain open-minded when others point out our shortcomings, for they are bringing to light opportunities for us to change and grow. Reacting defensively limits our ability to receive the help they are offering us; letting go of our defenses opens the door to change, growth, and new freedom.

Each day in the recovery process will bring an opportunity for further change and growth. The more we learn to greet change with an open mind and heart, the more we will grow and the more comfortable we will become with our recovery.

Just for today: I will greet each opportunity for growth with an open mind.
Pg. 185

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Wisdom for Today
As we become more established in the program and integrate the program into our lives, we discover the necessity to maintain balance. We find that we need to remain focused on our goal of recovery, but we also need to spend time paying attention to everything else in our lives. There is a temptation for many of us to just invest our time and energy into the program and ignore all the rest. This happens for many reasons. For some of us, we unconsciously use the program to hide from our other responsibilities. For some of us, we do this simply because we are still afraid of dealing with life on life’s terms. For others, we find the camaraderie of the fellowship so inviting that see it as a way to get all of our intimacy needs met. None of these reasons is healthy for our recovery.
Recovery is about more than simple abstinence. It is about learning to live again and we cannot do this if we are avoiding life. Our number one priority is to remain clean and sober, but we should not use this to avoid our other responsibilities. Each of us has other responsibilities in our life. We have family, occupational, financial, health, and personal responsibilities that exist outside of the meetings. We need to carry the program into each of these areas of our life and apply the principles of the program to all that we do. Here is where we practice the principles. We crawled out of the mire of addiction and we now must learn to walk through life. Walking requires that we learn balance. Have I learned to balance program and life’s responsibilities?
Meditations for the Heart
Where do I find the strength I require to find balance and accept the responsibilities I have? It is easy to become overwhelmed if we rely only on our strength. To find the strength necessary for the tasks at hand, we learn to rely on our Higher Power as the resource of our strength. We turn to God daily and ask for his ceaseless supply of strength to be added to our own. We tap into this supply of strength each day and go about doing what God wants us to do in each area of our life. As long as we rely on His strength, we find that we are able to accomplish much. When we run low, we simply return to our Higher Power and ask that our energy is renewed. God will indeed refuel our engines. Here we find the strength we seek and are filled with newness of spirit. Do I seek out His strength each day?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Sometimes I feel like I am juggling too much. Help me this day to set my priorities in the way that You would want me to. Help me to remain balanced in my walk through life. Give me the strength and energy I need for this day. Let me not use the program as a place to hide from my responsibilities, rather let me use the program as a guide to be more responsible with the activities of my life.
Amen

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You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

You Can Do It

If you really want what OA has to offer, there is nothing that can stop you from succeeding with the program. The program works if we work it. OA does not pass out recovery on a platter, but the tools for recovery are available and proven effective if we are willing to use them.

Go to a meeting today. Re-read your literature. Call another member. Call several members. Get a sponsor, if you do not already have one. Write out what is troubling you. Find a way to be of service to someone else. Abstain now.

Most important, take time to listen to your Higher Power. Ask for the spiritual insight, which you need. Remember that you are now committed to following God's will for your life, not your own way. Seek the inspiration that comes from the people and the books, which lift up your spirit and show you the way. Then follow.

Lead me, Lord.