Daily Recovery Readings - April

[bluidkiti]

April 5

Daily Reflections

TRUE BROTHERHOOD

We have not once sought to be one in a family, to be a friend among
friends, to be a worker among workers, to be a useful member of
society. Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap, or to hide
underneath it. This self-centered behavior blocked a partnership
relation with any one of those about us. Of true brotherhood we
had small comprehension.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 53

This message contained in Step Four was the first one I heard loud and clear; I hadn't seen myself in print before! Prior to my coming into
A.A., I knew of no place that could teach me how to become a person among persons. From my very first meeting, I saw people doing just that and I wanted what they had. One of the reasons that I'm a happy, sober alcoholic today is that I'm learning this most important lesson.

************************************************** *********

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

People often ask what makes the A.A. program work. One of the
answers is that A.A. works because it gets people away from
themselves as the center of the universe. And it teaches them to rely
more on the fellowship of others and on strength from God. Forgetting ourselves in fellowship, prayer, and working with others is what makes the A.A. program work. Are these things keeping me sober?

Meditation For The Day

God is the great interpreter of one human personality to another.
Even personalities who are the nearest together have much in their
natures that remains a seated book to each other. And only as God
enters and controls their lives are the mysteries of each revealed to the other. Each personality is so different. God alone understands
perfectly the language of each and can interpret between the two. Here we find the miracles of change and the true interpretation of life.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be in the right relationship to God. I pray that God
will interpret to me the personalities of other people, so that I can
understand them and help them.

************************************************** *********

As Bill Sees It

Spiritual Kindergarten, p. 95

"We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are
enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to
better effect. Each man's theology has to be his own quest, his own
affair."

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

When the Big Book was being planned, some members thought that it
ought to be Christian in the doctrinal sense. Others had no objection
to the use of the word "God", but wanted to avoid doctrinal issues.
Spirituality, yes. Religion, no. Still others wanted a psychological
book, to lure the alcoholic in. Once in, he could take God or leave
Him alone as he wished.

To the rest of us this was shocking, but happily we listened. Our
group conscience was at work to construct the most acceptable and
effective book possible.

Every voice was playing its appointed part. Our atheists and
agnostics widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass
through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.

1. Letter, 1954
2. A.A. Comes Of Age, pp. 162, 163, 167

************************************************** *********

Walk in Dry Places

Letting Go of Resentment___ Releasing the Past
How can we really put an end to festering resentments toward other people? "Pray for these people," the Old-timers said. "Go out of your way to do something good for them." This is a big order for most of us, but we are working for a big reward: Sobriety, peace of mind, and personal progress.
When we pray for others in this manner, we're practicing the noble art of forgiveness. How do we know when it's staring to work? Lewis B. Smedes, a master teacher of forgiveness, offers this thought: "You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well."
Forgiveness also is supposed to include forgetting the wrong. What we really forget is the hurt connected with it. When anything that once evoked pain comes to mind, we're growing spiritually if it no longer has the power to hurt us.
We then discover that we had been letting go our resentments hurt us again and again. We also learn that one effort to forgive is not nearly enough. Forgiveness takes the same amount of practice and emotional power we put into carrying the resentment!
Today will bring enough problems. I don't have either the time or the energy to play the old tapes that cause me pain. I'll practice praying for those who hurt me, and I'll take it for granted that my HIgher Power is removing my resentments.

************************************************** *********

Keep It Simple

Go outside, to the fields, enjoy nature and the sunshine, go out and try to recapture happiness in yourself and in God.---Anne Frank
Many of us look at the joy and beauty of the program with caution. It was different from our addictive joy. Was it to be trusted? When we started working the Steps, we found inner joy and beauty. As we let go and gave in to the program, we found more happiness. We found joy in ourselves, our friends, our Higher Power, and those around us. Our self-pity changed to self-respect. We were truly out in the sunshine. We were no longer lost in misery. We know how to walk through misery to find joy.
Prayer for the Day: May I become better friends with myself. Higher Power, let me see the world through Your innocent, yet wise and loving eyes
Action for the Day: Today I'll work to make my life and the lives of others more joyful. I'll greet myself and others with much joy.

************************************************** *********

Each Day a New Beginning

I came to the conclusion then that "continual mindfulness". . . must mean, not a sergeant-major-like drilling of thoughts, but a continual readiness to look and readiness to accept whatever came. --Joanna Field
Resistance to the events, the situations, the many people who come into our lives blocks the growth we are offered every day. Every moment of every day is offering us a gift: the gift of awareness of other persons, awareness of our natural surroundings, awareness of our own personal impact on creation. And in awareness comes our growth as women.
Living in the now, being present in the moment, guarantees us the protection of God. And in the stretches of time when we anxiously anticipate the events of the future, we cheat ourselves of the security God offers us right now.
We are always being taken care of, right here, right now. Being mindful, this minute, of what's happening and only this, eases all anxieties, erases all fears. We only struggle when we have moved our sights from the present moment. Within the now lies all peace.
The most important lesson I have to learn, the lesson that will eliminate all of my pain and struggle, is to receive fully that which is offered in each moment of my life.

************************************************** *********

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

Perhaps your husband will make a fair start on the new basis, but just as things are going beautifully he dismays you be coming home drunk. If you are satisfied he really wants to get over drinking, you need not be alarmed. Though it is infinitely better that he have no relapse at all, as has been true with many of our men, it is by no means a bad thing in some cases. Your husband will see at once that he must redouble his spiritual activities if he expects to survive. You need not remind him of his spiritual deficiency—he will know of it. Cheer him up and ask him how you can be still more helpful.

p. 120

************************************************** *********

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step One - "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable."

But upon entering A.A. we soon take quite another view of this absolute humiliation. We perceive that 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.

p. 21

************************************************** *********

You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice
because thorns have roses.
--Tom Wilson

"Not to transmit an experience is to betray it."
--Elie Wiesel

A friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.

"The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter."
--Anon.

"None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what
unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting to change all the tenor of our lives."
--Kathleen Norris

The beauty of God is evident when we work together for God's glory.
--Jacki Work

************************************************** *********

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

FAILURE

"No man is a failure who is
enjoying life."
--William Feather

Spirituality is fun. I enjoy my sobriety today and I do not take myself too seriously.

For years I thought I was a failure and this "thought" manifested the behavior of a failure. I hid, sulked, was jealous, carried resentments
and isolated myself from life - and then blamed the world.

Today because I really understand and accept that I am a child of God, I know that I am not a failure and I have a glorious future in recovery.
Today I have hope. Today I have confidence. Today I am able to
accept and forgive. Today I am able to love my neighbor because I love myself.

In my enjoyment of life may I reflect your love for the world.

************************************************** *********

"For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."
Psalm 91:11

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9

We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not
from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error.
1 John 4:6

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in a advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10

************************************************** *********

Daily Inspiration

In a day when almost everything goes right, don't ruin it by focusing on the one thing that didn't. Lord, help me to allow the good in my life to prevail.

To live with anger or resentment creates even more anger and resentment. Lord, increase my ability to forgive and free me from all that separates me from You so that I may be filled with Your peace.