[bluidkiti]

May 15

Daily Reflections

KNOW GOD; KNOW PEACE

It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads
only to futility and unhappiness. . . . But with the alcoholic,
whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual
experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p 66

Know God;
Know peace.

No God;
No peace.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In A.A. we find a new strength and peace from the realization
that there must be a Power greater than ourselves that is
running the universe and that is on our side when we live a
good life. So the A.A. program really never ends. You begin by
overcoming drink and you go on from there to many new
opportunities for happiness and usefulness. Am I really
enjoying the full benefits of A.A.?

Meditation For The Day

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all
these things shall be added unto you." We should not seek
material things first, but seek spiritual things first and
material things will come to us, as we honestly work for them.
Many people seek material things first and think they can then
grow into knowledge of spiritual things. You cannot serve God
and Mammon at the same time. The first requisites of an abundant
life are the spiritual things: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and
love. Until you have these qualities, quantities of material things
are of little real use to you.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may put much effort into acquiring spiritual things.
I pray that I may not expect good things until I am right
spiritually.

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As Bill Sees It

Victory in Defeat, p. 135

Convinced I never could belong, and vowing I'd never settle for any
second-rate status, I felt I simply had to dominate in everything I
chose to do: work or play. As this attractive formula for the good
life began to succeed, according to my then specifications of success,
I became deliriously happy.

But when an undertaking occasionally did fail, I was filled with
resentment and depression that could be cured only by the next
triumph. Very early, therefore, I came to value everything in terms
of victory or defeat--"all or nothing." The only satisfaction I knew
was to win.

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

Only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward
liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness
finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful
lives may be built.

1. Grapevine, January 1962
2. 12 & 12, p. 21

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Walk in Dry Places

Trusting others
Personal Relationships
Some people trust others too much, while a few seem to have no trust at all. Either stance is wrong and leads to some kind of trouble.
As we grow in our Twelve Step program, we learn the truth about trust. We can trust others if our expectations aren't too high. We have to remember, however, that as human beings they can fail us. However, it's also unrealistic to be suspicious of everyone. The truth is that most people aren't out to get us or to hurt us. They are pursuing their own interests, just as we must do.
As we grow emotionally, we come to see that we have less difficulty trusting others. We no longer make outrageous demands on them or stretch their patience to the limits. We also realize that there are many times when we can work co-operatively with everybody's interest in mind.
I'll think realistically about others today, being careful not to expect either too much or too little from the. I'll certainly not expect more from them than I could reasonably expect from myself.

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Keep It Simple

That day is lost on which one has not laughed.---French proverb
For a long time, we didn't really laugh. It's surprising when we think about it: we hadn't really laughed for so long. . .we almost forgot how good we could feel. It feels so good to laugh again!
Now, our spirits come more alive each day. Now, we feel what alcohol and other drugs stuffed deep inside us. Pain, fear, and anger come up. But so do happiness and joy, thankfulness and a sense of humor. In early recovery, we work through the hard feelings. As we grow in the program, we have more and more room for happiness.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, wake me up to the joy and laughter that today hold for me. Don't let me miss it!
Action for the Day: Today, I'll spread some laughter. I will learn a joke and tell it to three people.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Difficulties, opposition, criticism--these things are meant to be overcome, and there is a special joy in facing them and in coming out on top. It is only when there is nothing but praise that life loses its charm, and I begin to wonder what I should do about it. --Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
To be alive means to experience difficulties, conflicts, challenges from many directions. What we do with adverse conditions both determines and is determined by who we are. Resistance, most of us have learned, heightens the adversity. Acceptance of the condition, trusting all the while the lesson it offers us is for our benefit, ensures that we'll "come out on top."
Difficulties are opportunities for advancement, for increased self-awareness, for self-fulfillment. So often we hear and remind one another, that we grow through pain. We can face any situation knowing we have the strength of the program to shore us up. Strangely, we need challenges in order to grow; without growth we wither. Happiness is the bounty for facing the momentarily unhappy conditions.
Any difficulty I meet today offers me a chance for even greater happiness; it guarantees my growth.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 9 - The Family Afterward

The alcoholic may find it hard to re-establish friendly relations with his children. Their young minds were impressionable while he was drinking. Without saying so, they may cordially hate him for what he has done to them and to their mother. The children are sometimes dominated by a pathetic hardness and cynicism. They cannot seem to forgive and forget. This may hang on for months, long after their mother has accepted dad’s new way of living and thinking.

p. 134

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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."

So how, exactly, can the willing person continue to turn his will and his life over to the Higher Power? He made a beginning, we have seen, when he commenced to rely upon A.A. for the solution of his alcohol problem. By now, though, the chances are that he has become convinced that he has more problems than alcohol, and that some of these refuse to be solved by all the sheer personal determination and courage he can muster. They simply will not budge; they make him desperately unhappy and threaten his newfound sobriety. Our friend is still victimized by remorse and guilt when he thinks of yesterday. Bitterness still overpowers him when he broods upon those he still envies or hates. His financial insecurity worries him sick, and panic takes over when he thinks of all the bridges to safety that alcohol burned behind him. And how shall he ever straighten out that awful jam that cost him the affection of his family and separated him from them? His lone courage and unaided will cannot do it. Surely he must now depend upon Somebody or Something else.

p. 39

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Look past the body, past the personality, past the behavior, into the
window of one another's souls. There we make a connection. The God
in me recognizes and honors the God in you.
--Mary Manin Morrissey

"One of the biggest things I've learned is that I don't always have to
be right."
--Jeffrey B. Swartz

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all
of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical
rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are
blooming outside our windows today."
--Dale Carnegie

"The future is always beginning now."
--Mark Strand

"The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a
time."
--Abraham Lincoln

Enjoy God's handiwork all around you.
--Susan D. Petropulos

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

TEACHING

"To teach is to learn."
--Japanese Proverb

The more I learn the more I know that I do not understand. Life is full
of new and wonderful information; paradoxes and confusion abound;
every new idea leads to a further truth - and the journey seems
endless.

In a sense we are all disciples; we are all learning from each other and
the role of teacher and student is forever being exchanged. In my
sobriety I am able to see how many wonderful "things" exist in the
world - so many fascinating and interesting places to visit, so many
loving and insightful people. God has given me so much, I am so
grateful to be able to learn in His garden.

Teacher, may I never stop learning and being a student in Your world.

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"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction,
so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction,
with the Comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
II Corinthians 1:3-4

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I
in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

"The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them
from all their troubles."
Psalm 34:17

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Daily Inspiration

If you are waiting to be happy, you never will be. Lord, the only moment that I can count on and be in charge of is right now. Help me choose to be happy.

One of God's greatest gifts to us is eternal life. Lord, may I daily care for the needs of my soul, grow strong in my love for You, and be an extension of You during my time on earth.