Daily Recovery Readings - December

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December 13

Daily Reflections

THINKING OF OTHERS

Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our
constant thought of others and how we may help meet
their needs.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 20

Thinking of others has never come easily to me. Even when
I try to work the A.A. program, I'm prone to thinking,
"How do I feel today. Am I happy, joyous and free?" The
program tells me that my thoughts must reach out to those
around me: "Would that newcomer welcome someone to talk
to?" "That person looks a little unhappy today, maybe I
could cheer him up." It is only when I forget my problems,
and reach out to contribute something to others that I
can begin to attain the serenity and God-consciousness
I seek.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We come now to A.A. fellowship. It is partly group therapy.
It is partly spiritual fellowship. But it is even more. It is
based on a common illness, a common failure, a common problem.
It goes deep down into our personal lives and our personal
needs. It requires a full opening up to each other of our
inner most thoughts and most secret problems. All barriers
between us are swept aside. They have to be. Then we try to
help each other get well. The A.A. fellowship is based on a
sincere desire to help the other person. In A.A. we can be
sure of sympathy, understanding and real help. These things
make the A.A. fellowship the best that we know. Do I fully
appreciate the depth of the A.A. fellowship?

Meditation For The Day

The Higher Power can guide us to the right decisions if we
pray about them. We can believe that many details of our
lives are planned by God and planned with a wealth of
forgiving love for the mistakes we have made. We can pray
today to be shown the right way. We can choose the good, and
when we choose it, we can feel that the whole power of the
universe is behind us. We can achieve a real harmony with
God's purpose for our lives.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may choose aright today. I pray that I may be
shown the right way to live today.

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As Bill Sees It

Compelling Love, p.273

The life of each A.A. and of each group is built around our Twelve
Steps and Twelve Traditions. We know that the penalty for
extensive disobedience to these principles is death for the individual
and dissolution for the group. But an even greater force for
A.A.'s unity is our compelling love for our fellow members and for
our principles.

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You might think the people at A.A.'s headquarters in New York
would surely have to have some personal authority. But, long ago,
trustees and secretaries alike found they could do no more than
make very mild suggestions to the A.A. groups.

They even had to coin a couple of sentences which still go into half
the letters they write: "Of course you are at perfect liberty to
handle this matter any way you please. But the majority experience
in A.A. does seem to suggest . . ."

A.A. world headquarters is not a giver of orders. It is, instead, our
largest transmitter of the lessons of experience.

1. Twelve Concepts, p.8
2. 12 & 12, pp. 173-174

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Walk In Dry Places

Visualizing Success
Optimistic Thinking
Some people insist that we must visualize ourselves enjoying success if we ever hope to achieve it. AA says virtually the same about sobriety; in fact, "A Vision for You" is the name of a chapter in Alcoholics Anonymous.
There is a lot of talk in AA about projecting into the future and "seeing the worst." It takes far less energy.... and it's far more constructive..... to see ourselves doing our best, in sobriety and in all things.
We have rich imaginative powers. Quite often, we used gifts wrongly when we were drinking... we would create dark pictures of our future troubles, particularly in the depressed periods between drinking bouts.
In AA., we learn to use those same powers to see ourselves enjoying happy sobriety as well as a secure place in the world.
I'm confident that I'm growing in sobriety and building healthy relationships in all of my activities.

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Keep It Simple

Live and Let Live--AA slogan
In our addiction, we didn't car. We didn't care about other people, even though we wanted to. We just didn't come through for them in ways that mattered. We didn't care for ourselves. We let bad things happen to us. We didn't care about living. We set no goals, had no fun, smelled no flowers.
In our recovery, we do care. We care about others, ourselves, and life. Our spirits are on the move again.
There's life in our hearts. Our bodies are getting well. And we're daring to dream. We're living!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, put some life and energy into me today. Help me love my new life.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll focus on being alive. As I breathe in, I'll gather more and more life energy from nature.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Across the fields I can see the radiance of your smile and I know in my heart you are there. But the anguish I am feeling makes the distance so very far to cross. --Deidra Sarault
Looking down the hallway of our lives, we sense many uncomfortable corners. And they are there. But through the discomfort comes the ease of understanding. The security that we long for, we discover has been ours all along. All we needed to do was move into the corner--with trust.
As we stand before any problems, any new task, any unfamiliar environment, dread may overwhelm us. We stand there alone. But the choice available to us now and always is to invite the spirit of God to share the space we're in. In concert with God's Spirit, no problem or task can be greater than our combined abilities to handle it.
Our lives will be eased in direct proportion to our faith that God is there, caring for our every concern, putting before us the experiences we need to grow on. We can let go of our anguish, our doubts and fears. Eternal triumph is ours for the asking.
The smiling faces I encounter today--I will let them assure me that all is well.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

To Christ I conceded the certainty of a great man, not to closely followed by those who claimed Him. His moral teaching--most excellent. For myself, I had adopted those parts which seemed convenient and not too difficult; the rest I disregarded.

p. 11

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

The Vicious Cycle

How it finally broke a Southerner's obstinacy and destined this salesman to start A.A. at Philadelphia.

Here I was, thirty-nine years old and a complete washout. Nothing had worked. Mother would take me in only if I would stay locked in a small storeroom and give her my clothes and shoes. We had played this game before. That is the way Jackie found me, lying on a cot in my skivvies, with hot and cold sweats, pounding heart and that awful itchy scratchiness all over. Somehow I had always managed to avoid D.T.'s.

p. 219

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

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

Thus has it been with A.A. By faith and by works we have been able to build upon the lessons of an incredible experience. They live today in the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, which - God willing - shall sustain us in unity for so long as He may need us.

p. 131

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Everything I experience serves a purpose. Today, my past is healed; I am alive,
awake, and free. I have the courage to change.
--Glad Day by Joan Larkin

"We live by admiration, hope and love."
--William Wordsworth

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
--Mother Teresa

Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this
world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't
buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure?
--Anonymous

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.
--Friedrich Engels

Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like
you do when nobody's watching.
--Anonymous

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

SUFFERING

"Man cannot remake himself
without suffering. For he is both
the marble and the sculptor."
-- Alexis Carrel

I know that I have grown through my sufferings. I know that I am able to understand
and forgive other people because I have been there, too. I know that I am patient and
considerate because of my sufferings. My anguish keeps me "earthed". It stops me
from playing God; it teaches me the reality of life that life hurts! It is wonderful,
joyous, loving and eventful, but it also hurts. For many years I hid my sufferings and
pretended they were not there; the result was loneliness and hypocrisy.

God, may my sufferings keep me real.

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Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge!
How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods! For who can
know what the Lord is thinking? Who knows enough to be his counselor?
Romans 11:33-34

May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you
live in complete harmony with each other, each with the attitude
of Christ Jesus toward the other. Then all of you can join together
with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5-6

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is
stronger than man's strength.
1 Corinthians 1:25

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Daily Inspiration

If we focus too much on ourselves and the troubles in our lives, it is very difficult to be happy. Lord, refresh my spirit, help me let go of longing to become something I am not and show me how to be the best of who I am.

Open your mind and empty your heart of fears so that you can know and experience God to the fullest. Lord, You are my peace, my assurance and the love that I hold on to.