[bluidkiti]

May 10

Daily Reflections

FREE AT LAST

Another great dividend we may expect from confiding our defects
to another human being is humility - a word often
misunderstood. . . . it amounts to a clear recognition of
what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to
become what we could be.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 58

I knew deep inside that if I were ever to be joyous, happy and
free, I had to share my past life with some other individual.
The joy and relief I experienced after doing so were beyond
description. Almost immediately after taking the Fifth Step,
I felt free from the bondage of self and the bondage of
alcohol. That freedom remains after 36 years, a day at a
time. I found that God could do for me what I couldn't do
for myself.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

One thing that keeps me sober is a feeling of loyalty to the
other members of the group. I know I'd be letting them down
if I ever took a drink. When I was drinking, I wasn't loyal
to anybody. I should have been loyal to my family, but I
wasn't. I let them down by my drinking. When I came into
A.A., I found a group of people who were not only helping
each other to stay sober, but who were loyal to each other
by staying sober themselves. Am I loyal to my group?

Meditation For The Day

Calmness is constructive of good. Agitation is destructive
of good. I should not rush into action. I should first "be
still and know that He is God." Then I should act only as
God directs me through my conscience. Only trust, perfect
trust in God, can keep me calm when all around me are
agitated. Calmness is trust in action. I should seek all
things that can help me to cultivate calmness. To attain
material things, the world learns to attain speed. To
attain spiritual things, I have to learn to attain a state
of calm.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may learn how to have inner peace. I pray that
I may be calm, so that God can work through me.

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As Bill Sees It

Our Problem Centers In The Mind, p. 130

We know that as long as the alcoholic keeps away from drink, he
usually reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that
once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something
happens, in both the bodily and the mental sense, which makes it
virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic
will abundantly confirm this.

These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend
never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in
motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his
mind, rather than in his body.

Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 22-23

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Walk In Dry Places

Doing the impossible things
Achievements.
One of our friends became critical of our AA group, suggesting that we were limiting ourselves by focusing solely on recovery when so many other accomplishments waited on the horizon. After all, isn't it written that "with God, all things are possible?"
It is indeed true that we should place no limits at all on our Higher Power. Even nonbelievers will admit that nature and the universe show power and intelligence that are far beyond our understanding.
What limits us is our own ability to receive and use our Higher Power in proper ways. Even if our journey in the program gives us boundless self-confidence, we must always deal with our own selfish tendencies and the temptation to seek personal gain rather than personal improvement. Certain kinds of success can be fully as toxic as any drug. Some of us, in fact, can deal with disappointments more effectively than we can with too much success.
The Idea of "doing impossible things" is fully covered in the Steps. We seek knowledge of "God's will for us and the Power to carry that out." This means that we'll find the where-withdrawal to do anything that belongs in our lives. Anything else is needless and perhaps even dangerous.
I'll not feel that I lack faith simply because I haven't been able to reach certain goals. My Higher Power will show me how to balance my life so I can accept what is rightfully mine. There is no need to do the seemingly "impossible" unless it is in the order of things.

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Keep It Simple

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.---Andrew Carnegie
Doing something with our lives, not just talking about it, is important. When we were sick with our addiction, what we did was drink or use other drugs. We only talked about what we wanted to do. Now that we are sober, we can really live our lives.
We've already done a lot. we've gotten help for our chemical dependency. We've facing the harm we did to our families. We've let other people into our lives.
Before recovery, we didn't have to tell people we were alcoholics and addicts. Our actions showed it, if people knew what to look for. Now we don't have to tell people we were recovering, because our actions will show it.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, let my actions show that I am getting better every day.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll let my actions speak louder than words. I'll do one thing that I have been saying I want to do.

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Each Day a New Beginning

To wait for someone else, or to expect someone else to make my life richer, or fuller, or more satisfying, puts me in a constant state of suspension; and I miss all those moments that pass. They never come back to be experienced again. --Kathleen Tierney Crilly
The steps we are taking today will never again be taken in exactly the same way. The thoughts we are thinking are fresh, never to be repeated. All that these moments offer will never pass our way again.
We each have to grab our own happiness, create our own richness through experiences. We may share what we capture with loved ones, but like us, they too must search their own avenues for the satisfaction that lasts. We can neither give happiness to another, like a gift, nor expect it in return.
The fullness of life we all long for is the natural byproduct of living every moment as fully as possible. Our higher power will never direct us into waters too deep. When we have willingly turned our lives and our wills over, we'll find an abundance of the rich, the full, the satisfying. Faith in God answers all questions, solves all problems.
I will cherish every moment today. Each one is special and will not visit me again.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 9 - The Family Afterward

Everybody knows that those in bad health, and those who seldom play, do not laugh much. So let each family play together or separately as much as their circumstances warrant. We are sure God wants us to be happy, joyous, and free. We cannot subscribe to the belief that his life is a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of us. But it is clear that we made our own misery. God didn’t do it. Avoid then, the deliberate manufacture of misery, but if trouble comes, cheerfully capitalize it as an opportunity to demonstrate His omnipotence.

pp. 132-133

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Three - "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."

Let's examine for a moment this idea of dependence at the level of everyday living. In this area it is startling to discover how dependent we really are, and how unconscious of that dependence. Every modern house has electric wiring carrying power and light to its interior. We are delighted with this dependence; our main hope is that nothing will ever cut off the supply of current. By so accepting our dependence upon this marvel of science, we find ourselves more independent personally. Not only are we more independent, we are even more comfortable and secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently and surely, electricity, that strange energy so few people understand, meets our simplest daily needs, and our most desperate ones, too. Ask the polio sufferer confined to an iron lung who depends with complete trust upon a motor to keep the breath of life in him.

p. 36

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The bonds of matrimony aren't worth much unless the interest is kept up.
--Cited in Even More of...The Best of BITS & PIECES

No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I
would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this
trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be
less hygienic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I
would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would
watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I
would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had
my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of
them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after
another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do
all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start
barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. and I
would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet
more people and pick more flowers and dance more often...
--Jose Luis Borges

"Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift
whatever the day brings forth."
--Horace

Today, I will have some fun with life, with recovery, with people, and
with my day.
--The Language Of Letting Go

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

CREATIVITY

"When one is painting, one does
not think."
--Raphael Sanzio

An artist is predominantly a person who feels rather than thinks; he is
molding his most inner experiences into the finished product.

I am doing the same in my sobriety. Today I am molding something good
and wholesome from a life that was negative and destructive. I am
rediscovering God, not just in thoughts and ideas, but in the daily
happenings of my life. God is not only an idea but He is alive in my
relationships, behavior and daily acts of kindness.

God is a process in which I am involved. He is at the center of my life,
regardless of the ordinariness of the event. Art is part of my life because
I am a creative human being.

Teach me to look beyond the painting into myself.

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Do everything without complaining or arguing. . .
Phillipians 2:14

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Colossians 4:2

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under
heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to
uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time
to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time
to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to
embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a
time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to
mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to
hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

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Daily Inspiration

If you find only defects when you look into a mirror, you are definitely missing something. Lord, may I take comfort in my good points and use them as a foundation to grow.

God did not talk about how much He loves us. He showed us by sending us His Son. Lord, may I learn to love selflessly and speak through my actions.