Daily Recovery Readings - April

[bluidkiti]

April 27

Daily Reflections

JOYFUL DISCOVERIES

We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose
more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what
you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers
will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you
cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your
relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to
pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for
us.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164

Sobriety is a journey of joyful discovery. Each day brings new
experience, awareness, greater hope, deeper faith, broader
tolerance. I must maintain these attributes or I will have
nothing to pass on.
Great events for this recovering alcoholic are the normal
everyday joys found in being able to live another day in
God's grace.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

By submitting to God, we're released from the power of liquor.
It has no more hold on us. We're also released from the things
that were holding us down: pride, selfishness, and fear. And
we're free to grow into a new life, which is so much better
than the old life that there's no comparison. This release
gives us serenity and peace with the world. Have I been
released from the power of alcohol?

Meditation For The Day

We know God by spiritual vision. We feel that He is beside us.
We feel His presence. Contact with God is not made by the
senses. Spirit-consciousness replaces sight. Since we cannot
see God, we have to perceive Him by spiritual perception. God
has to span the physical and the spiritual with the gift to us
of spiritual vision. Many persons, though they cannot see God,
have had a clear spiritual consciousness of Him. We are inside
a box of space and time, but we know there must be something
outside of that box, limitless space, eternity of time, and
God.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have a consciousness of God's presence. I
pray that God will give me spiritual vision.

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

As Bill Sees It

Prelude to the Program, p. 118

Few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless
they have "hit bottom," for practicing A.A.'s Steps means the
adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still
drinking can dream of taking. The average alcoholic, self-centered in
the extreme, doesn't care for this prospect--unless he has to do these
things in order to stay alive himself.

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

We know that the newcomer has to "hit bottom"; otherwise, not
much can happen. Because we are drunks who understand him, we
can use at depth the nutcracker of the-obsession-plus-the-allergy as a
tool of such power that it can shatter his ego. Only thus can he be
convinced that on his own unaided resources he has little or no
chance.

1. 12 & 12, p. 24
2. A.A. Today, p. 8

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

Walk in Dry Places

Happy People are likable.
Personal relations.
Who are the people we really like, and to be with? Most of the time, they are happy people, people who like themselves and others.
Being happy is almost the entire secret of being likable. Though no person can expect to be liked by everybody, likable people have the inside track most of the time.
How do we become happy and thus likable? We're continuously told that happiness cannot be found in property, power, and prestige. It is rooted instead in self-acceptance. In feeling loved and wanted, and in giving genuine service, maybe just in the form of very useful work.
Twelve Step programs are structured to make us happy if we persevere long enough in working the individual steps. While it may seem contradictory, even people with heavy burdens and personal sorrows can find underlying happiness in the program. A great deal of this also hinges on our belief in a Higher Power and a confidence that we have a place in the universal system.
I can be happy today in spite of things that others would consider burdensome and depressing. Happiness really comes from God, and it also serves to attract friends into my life.

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

Keep It Simple

I noticed my hopelessness was because I had lost my freedom of choice.---AA member
By doing a Fourth Step, we start to see ourselves more clearly. We see how we've acted against ourselves. Soon, we hear a little voice inside telling us to stop before we act. "Are you sure you want to say or do that?" the little voice asks. Then we make a choice: we do something the same old way, or we try a new way. One part of us will always want to do things the old, sick way. This is natural. But we're getting stronger every day. Our spirit wants to learn new ways so we can be honest and loving. Sometimes we don't know how. But we still have a choice. We can ask for help.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me listen to the little voice inside that helps me see that I have choices.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll make a choice between old ways and new ways of acting. I will call my sponsor this evening to talk about my choices.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

So much to say. And so much not to say! Some things are better left unsaid. But so many unsaid things can become a burden. --Virginia Mae Axline
The occasions are many when we'd like to share a feeling, an observation, perhaps even a criticism with someone. The risk is great, however. She might be hurt, or he might walk away, leaving us alone.
Many times, we need not share our words directly. Weighing and measuring the probable outcome and asking for some inner guidance will help us decide when to speak up and when to leave things unsaid. But if our thoughts are seriously interfering with our relationships, we can't ignore them for long.
Clearing the air is necessary sometimes, and it freshens all relationships. When to take the risk creates consternation. But within our quiet spaces, we always know when we must speak up. And the direction will come. The right moment will present itself. And within those quiet spaces the right words can be found.
If I am uncomfortable with certain people, and the feelings don't leave, I will consider what might need to be said. I will open myself to the way and ask to be shown the steps to take. Then, I will be patient.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 9 - The Family Afterwards

When father takes this tack, the family may react unfavorably. The may be jealous of a God who has stolen dad’s affections. While grateful that he drinks no more, they may not like the idea that God has accomplished the miracle where they failed. They often forget father was beyond human aid. They may not see why their love and devotion did not straighten him out. Dad is not so spiritual after all, they say. If he means to right his past wrongs, why all this concern for everyone in the world but his family? What about his talk that God will take care of them? They suspect father is a bit balmy!

p. 128

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Two - "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

"As psychiatrists have often observed, defiance is the outstanding characteristic of many an alcoholic. So it's not strange that lots of us have had our day at defying God Himself. Sometimes it's because God has not delivered us the good things of life which we specified, as a greedy child makes an impossible list for Santa Claus. More often, though, we had met up with some major calamity, and to our way of thinking lost out because God deserted us. The girl we wanted to marry had other notions; we prayed God that she'd change her mind, but she didn't. We prayed for healthy children, and were presented with sick ones, or none at all. We prayed for promotions at business, and none came. Loved ones, upon whom we heartily depended, were taken from us by so-called acts of God. Then we became drunkards, and asked God to stop that. But nothing happened. This was the unkindest cut of all. `**** this faith business!' we said.

p. 31

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

Never give up ten minutes before the miracle.
--Anonymous

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone
who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep
your mind young.
--Henry Ford

God is a never ending source of all we need.
--SweetyZee

Just as we experience joy in caring for others, they experience joy in caring for us.
--Linda Nocks Shah

"Invest the first hour of the day, the 'Golden Hour,' in yourself."
--Brian Tracy

"Pray not for lighter burdens but for stronger backs."
--Theodore Roosevelt

"The easiest way to save face is to keep the lower half shut."
--Anon

"A good laugh is sunshine in a house."
--William Makepeace Thackeray

"If you keep doing things like you've always done them, what you'll get is what you've already got."
--Anon

"Action conquers fear."
--Peter N. Zarlenga

"The best way out of a difficulty is through it"
--Anon

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

RELIGION

"All religions must be tolerated .
. . for . . . every man must get to
heaven his own way."
--Frederick the Great

There are many ways to God and I believe that Christianity is one way.
However, I am convinced that there are other ways with or without
religion. My experience of the church has been good, and I have been
encouraged to question and doubt, search for new areas of faith within
my agnosticism, explore other religions. My experience of Christianity
has been supportive of openness and compassion.

God is not a prisoner of any religion and we can all learn from each
other's experiences - but we need to listen. To dismiss arrogantly the
value that a religion can bring is, to my way of thinking, as negative and
sick as to accept what a religion says without question.

Let me find in the religions of the world the ONENESS of Your truth.

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

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn; shining brighter
till the full light of day.
Proverbs 4 :18

We love Him, because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19

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

Daily Inspiration

Rely on the strength and understanding that you possess. Each of us has more of it in us that we can imagine possible. Lord, through faith in You I can face any difficulty and conquer it.

Have the courage to forgive. Lord, may I bring myself to a place of peace by never holding a grudge.