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09-24-2014, 10:14 AM | #25 |
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Join Date: Aug 2013
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September 25
Daily Reflections FIRST THINGS FIRST Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job -- wife or no wife -- we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 98 Before coming to A.A., I always had excuses for taking a drink: "She said . . . , " "He said . . . ," "I got fired yesterday," "I got a great job today." No area of my life could be good if I drank again. In sobriety my life gets better each day. I must always remember not to drink, to trust God, and to stay active in A.A. Am I putting anything before my sobriety, God, and A.A. today? ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Let us consider the term "spiritual experience" as given in Appendix II of the Big Book: "A spiritual experience is something that brings about a personality change. By surrendering our lives to God as we understand Him, we are changed. The nature of this change is evident in recovered alcoholics. This personality change is not necessarily in the nature of a sudden and spectacular upheaval. We do no need to acquire an immediate and overwhelming God-consciousness followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook. In most cases, the change is gradual." Do I see a gradual and continuing change in myself? Meditation For The Day "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." For rest from the care of life, you can turn to God each day in prayer and communion. Real relaxation and serenity comes from a deep sense of the fundamental goodness of the universe. God's everlasting arms are underneath all and will support you. Commune with God, not so much for petitions to be granted as for the rest that comes from relying on His will and His purposes for your life. Be sure of God's strength available to you, be conscious of His support, and wait quietly until that true rest from God fills your being. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may be conscious of God's support today. I pray that I may rest safe and sure therein. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It Behind Our Excuses, p.267 As excuse-makers and rationalizers, we drunks are champions. It is the business of the psychiatrist to find the deeper causes for our conduct. Though uninstructed in psychiatry, we can, after a little time in A.A., see that our motives have not been what we thought they were, and that we have been motivated by forces previously unknown to us. Therefore we ought to look, with the deepest respect, interest, and profit, upon the example set us by psychiatry. ******************************** "Spiritual growth through the practice of A.A.'s Twelve Steps, plus the aid of a good sponsor, can usually reveal most of the deeper reasons for our character defects, at least to a degree that meets our practical needs. Nevertheless, we should be grateful that our friends in psychiatry have so strongly emphasized the necessity to search for false and often unconscious motivations." 1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p.236 2. Letter, 1966 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Willingness to listen Willingness Why is it that we'll accept information from some people but not from others? Many people tried to advise us while we were drinking; why would we listen only to recovering alcoholics? We can't answer that question, except to say that most human beings are willing to listen only to certain people at certain times. That's why business organizations have to select sales people carefully; customers will respond to some people, but not to others. As we grow in sobriety, however, we develop the willingness to listen to people we would have once avoided. We can find wonderful ideas in all sorts of places and from all types of people. As we become more open-minded and willing, we can listen more and learn more. My prejudices and fears of the past kept me from listening to people who would have helped me. I'll be more open-minded and willing today. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Martyrs set bad examples---David Russell Sometimes we call people “martyrs.” We sometimes think of them as victims. They suffer, but sometimes not for a cause. They play “poor me.” They want people to notice how much they suffer. They are afraid to really live. These are the people who set bad examples. True martyrs died for causes they believed in. We remember them because they were so full of energy and spirit. Recovery helps us live better. Let’s go for it! Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thanks for giving me energy and for healing my spirit. Help me live fully by putting my life in Your care. Action for the Day: What kind of example do I set? Does my life reflect joy for life and recovery? ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning ...we do not always like what is good for us in this world. --Eleanor Roosevelt Most of us can look back and recall how we fought a particular change. How certain we were that we wouldn't survive the upheaval! Perhaps we lost a love or were forced to leave a home or a job. Retrospect allows us to see the good of the change, and we can see the necessary part each change has played in our development as recovering women. We've had to change to cover the distances we've traveled. And we'll have to continue changing. The program and its structure, and our faith in that structure, can ease the harsh consequences of change. Our higher power wants only the best for us, of that we can be sure. However, the best may not always "fit" when first we try it. Patience, trust, and prayer are a winning combination when the time comes for us to accept a change. We'll know when it's coming. Our present circumstances will begin to pinch. Change means growth. It's a time for celebration, not dread. It means I am ready to move ahead--that I have "passed" the current test. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Foreword to First Edition This is the Foreword as it appeared in the first printing of the first edition in 1939 We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. For them, we hope these pages will prove so convincing that no further authentication will be necessary. We think this account of our experiences will help everyone to better understand the alcoholic. Many do not comprehend that the alcoholic is a very sick person. And besides, we are sure that our way of living had its advantages for all. p. xiii ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition - Stories Alcoholic Anonymous Number Three Pioneer member of Akron's Group No. 1, the first A.A. group in the world. He kept the faith; therefore, he and countless others found a new life. One of the fellows, I think it was Doc, said, "Well, you want to quit?" I said, "Yes, Doc, I would like to quit, at least for five, six, or eight months, until I get things straightened up, and begin to get the respect of my wife and some other people back, and get my finances fixed up and so on." And they both laughed very heartily, and said, "That's better than you've been doing, isn't it?" Which of course was true. They said, "We've got some bad news for you. It was bad news for us, and it will probably be bad news for you. Weather you quit six days, months, or years, if you go out and take a drink or two you'll end up in the hospital tied down, just like you have been in these past six months. You are an alcoholic." As far as I know that was the first time I had ever paid any attention to that word. I figured I was a drunk. And they said, " No, you have a disease, and it doesn't make any difference how long you do without it, after a drink or two you'll end up just like you are now." That certainly was real disheartening news, at the time. pp. 187-188 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Ten - "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." Such a radical change in our outlook will take time, maybe a lot of time. Not many people can truthfully assert that they love everybody. Most of us must admit that we have loved but a few; that we have been quite indifferent to the many so long as none of them gave us trouble; and as for the remainder--well, we have really disliked or hated them. Although these attitudes are common enough, we A.A.'s find we need something much better in order to keep our balance. We can't stand it if we hate deeply. The idea that we can be possessively loving of a few, can ignore the many, and can continue to fear or hate anybody, has to be abandoned, if only a little at a time. pp. 92-93 ************************************************** ********* One should not give up, neglect, or forget for a moment his inner life, but he must learn to work in it, with it, and out of it, so that the unity of his soul may break out in all his activities. --Meister Eckhart All people, have goodness in their hearts and greatness in their souls. --Shelley The more I let go of my own suffering and self-pity, I can see those around me with the eyes of love and compassion. I am becoming more aware of other people's pain and unhappiness today and I will reach out to them in loving ways that heal me while helping them to heal. --Ruth Fishel Today I am living in the moment, instead of living for a moment. "Don't go through life, GROW through life." --Eric Butterworth If you hang out in a barber shop long enough, you are going to get a haircut. *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation PRAYER "Prayer is not asking. It is a language of the soul." -- Mohandas Gandhi At school I was told that prayer is "talking to God". Then I discovered that prayer is more than this -- prayer is a relationship with God. It is a two-way system -- I talk to God but I must also listen to Him. Like any relationship that is going to work and grow, it needs time. I must spend time developing my relationship with God. I must create an awareness of his presence in my life because I believe He is always there for me. But more than this, prayer is a yearning for truth within the center of my being. In prayer I get in touch with that part of me that will be forever restless until it finds rest, eternal rest, in Him. O God, prayer is my journey into You. ************************************************** ********* How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony. Psalm 133:1 "Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called ... bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3 "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord." Romans 12:9-11 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Every decision we make is not critical nor is every mistake fatal. Lord, help me keep things in perspective and avoid the panic such thinking creates. Take time to learn from the mistakes of others. We don't have time to make all of them ourselves. Lord, guide me onto paths that lead me to You.
__________________
"No matter what you have done up to this moment, you get 24 brand-new hours to spend every single day." --Brian Tracy
AA gives us an opportunity to recreate ourselves, with God's help, one day at a time. --Rufus K. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. --Franklin D. Roosevelt We stay sober and clean together - one day at a time! God says that each of us is worth loving. |
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