Daily Recovery Readings - December

[bluidkiti]

December 7

Daily Reflections

TRUE AMBITION

True ambition is not what we thought it was. True ambition
is the deep desire to live usefully and walk humbly under
the grace of God.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 124-25

During my drinking years, my one and only concern was to have my
fellow man think highly of me. My ambition in everything I did was to
have the power to be at the top. My inner self kept telling me
something else but I couldn't accept it. I didn't even allow myself to
realize that I wore a mask continually. Finally, when the mask came
off and I cried out to the only God I could conceive, the Fellowship of
A.A., my group and the Twelve Steps were there. I learned how to
change resentments into acceptance, fear into hope and anger into
love. I have learned also, through loving without undue expectations,
through sharing my concerns and caring for my fellow man, that each day
can be joyous and fruitful. I begin and end my day with thanks to God, who
has so generously shed His grace on me.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

When people come back to A.A. after having a slip, the
temptation is strong to say nothing about it. No other
A.A. member should force them to declare themselves. It is
entirely up to them. If they are well-grounded in A.A., they
will realize that it's up to them to speak up at the
next meeting and tell about their slip. There is no
possible evasion of this duty, if they are thoroughly honest
and really desirous of living the A.A. way again. When they
have done it, their old confidence returns. They are home again.
Their slip should not be mentioned again by others. They are
again a good member of A.A. Am I tolerant of other
peoples' mistakes?

Meditation For The Day

It is in the union of a soul with God that strength, new
life and spiritual power come. Bread sustains the body but
we cannot live by bread alone. To try to do God's will is
the meat and support of true living. We feed on that
spiritual food. Soul starvation comes from failing to do
so. The world talks about bodies that are undernourished.
What of the souls that are undernourished? Strength and
peace come from partaking of spiritual food.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may not try to live by bread alone.
I pray that my spirit may live by trying to do the will
of God as I understand it.

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As Bill Sees It

Foundation For Life, p. 33

We discover that we receive guidance for our lives to just about the
extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on
order and on our terms.

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

In praying, we ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the
best understanding of His will that we can have for that day, and that
we be given the grace by which we may carry it out.

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

There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and
prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and
benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result
is an unshakable foundation for life.

12 & 12
1. p. 104
2. p. 102
3. p. 98

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Walk In Dry Places

What rather than who
Principles before Personalities.
We're sometimes led to do something because a persuasive or important person recommends it. This is, in fact, the strategy behind endorsement advertising.
We learn in AA that it's more important to ask what is right that who is offering a course of action. If a course of action is right, it matters not who recommends it. If it is wrong, a dozen important poeole cannot make it right by endorsing it.
There are, indeed, many important people whom we can know and trust. But we should always remember that every human being will turn out to have clay feet if he or she is set up as a god. Our trust must always be in our Higher Power and in principles that never fail.
I'll not be unduly impressed today by persuasive, charismatic people. I'll follow their ideas only if I believe them to be right. Principles have a precedence over personality.

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Keep It Simple

We are here to add what we can to, not to get what we can get from, Life. Sir William Osler
Service is a word we hear in our recovery program. Service means work we do for others. It's the backbone of our program. The reason is simple. Service to our Higher Power and to others breaks down our wanting to be self-centered. Service brings us back into the world. We really are part of the group when we pitch in to make coffee, set up chairs, or talk in meetings. We really feel like part of the family when we run errands and help with meals and housework. We really connect with our Higher Power when we pray, "Use me today to help others." Service breaks down the feeling of being alone that being self -centered brings.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to be of service to You and others. Show me what is needed.
Action for the Day: Today will be a service day. I'll see how valued I am. I'll give to others, knowing that I, too, will receive.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Promises that you make to yourself are often like the Japanese plum tree--they bear no fruit. --Frances Marion
The resolve to fulfill commitments we make to ourselves and others may be lacking until we learn to rely on the wisdom and strength offered by our higher power--strength that will make us confident in any situation; wisdom that will insure our right actions. What is difficult alone is always eased in partnership.
We promise ourselves changed behavior, new habits, perhaps, or a positive attitude. But then we proceed to focus on our liabilities, giving them even more power, a greater hold over us. We can practice our assets, and they'll foster the promises we want to keep.
No longer need we shame ourselves about unfulfilled promises. Whatever our desires, whatever our commitments, if for the good of others and ourselves, they will come to fruition. We can ask for direction. We can ask for resolve, and each worthy hope and unrealized promise will become reality.
My assets, when strengthened through use, pave the way for God's help. Any promise can bear fruit when I make it in partnership with God.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

My musing was interrupted by the telephone. The cheery voice of an old school friend asked if he might come over. HE WAS SOBER. It was years since I could remember his coming to New York in that condition. I was amazed. Rumor had it that he had been committed for alcoholic insanity. I wondered how he had escaped. Of course he would have dinner, and then I could drink openly with him. Unmindful of his welfare, I thought only of recapturing the spirit of other days. There was that time we had chartered an airplane to complete a jag! His coming was an oasis in this dreary desert of futility. The very thing - an oasis! Drinkers are like that.

pp. 8-9

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

Our Southern Friend

Pioneer A.A., minister's son, and southern farmer, he asked, "Who am I to say there is no God?"

My wife hears my voice and knows I have found the answer to life. She comes to New York. I get out of the hospital and we visit some of these new-found friends. What a glorious time we have!

p. 216

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition One - "Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. Unity."

"Does this mean," some will anxiously ask, "that in A.A. the individual doesn't count for much? Is he to be dominated by his group and swallowed up in it?"
We may certainly answer this question with a loud "No!" We believe there isn't a fellowship on earth which lavishes more devoted care upon its individual members; surely there is none which more jealously guards the individual's right to think, talk, and act as he wishes. No A.A. can compel another to do anything; nobody can be punished or expelled. Our Twelve Steps to recovery are suggestions; the Twelve Traditions which guarantee A.A.'s unity contain not a single "Don't." They repeatedly say "We ought . . ." but never "You must!"

p. 129

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The heart is wiser than the intellect.
--Josiah Holland (1819-1881)

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that
you truly give.
--Kahlil Gibran

The human contribution is the essential ingredient. It is only in the giving of oneself
to others that we truly live.
--Ethel Percy Andrus

One of the great gifts of sobriety is learning to see beauty in things not always with
the eyes, but with the feeling of the heart.
--Shelley

"When you get in a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though
you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and
time that the tide will turn."
--Harriet Beecher Stowe

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
--Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

REALITY

"Man is a complex being: he
makes deserts bloom and lakes
die."
-- Gil Stern

I am a mixture of good and bad. When I was drinking I could be cruel, sarcastic and
violent and at other times loving, sensitive and thoughtful. Today in my recovery I
know I can be honest, humble and creative, but I also carry within me a dark and
destructive side that often hurts, lies and seeks negative power. What a mixture I
was and what a mixture I still am! From all my many conversations with a variety of
people I have discovered that this is what it is to be human.

Today I am able to accept this and develop my spiritual life. I am not perfect, but I try
to improve my attitude and behavior. I am not God, but I can aspire to be the best that
I can be.

Today I own the sickness in my life, but I also accept the responsibility for recovery.

With my feet in the dirt, I look to the stars.

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“To you, O lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: ‘What gain is
there in my destruction, in my going down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will
it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be
merciful to me; O Lord, be my help.’ You turned my wailing into dancing; you
removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not
be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.”
Psalms 30: 8-12

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me."
Psalm 51:10

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Daily Inspiration

For everyone there is a way to serve and honor God in this life on earth. Lord, let me seize every opportunity, no matter how small, to glorify You, make you better known and always bring myself and others closer to You.

Part with what you cherish if it separates you or leads you away from God. Lord, help me place my heart in the right place so that I am not distracted in my journey to Eternal Life.