Daily Recovery Readings - April

[bluidkiti]

April 28

Daily Reflections

TWO "MAGNIFICENT STANDARDS"

All A.A. progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words:
humility and responsibility. Our whole spiritual development
can be accurately measured by our degree of adherence to these
magnificent standards.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 271

To acknowledge and respect the views, accomplishments and
prerogatives of others and to accept being wrong shows me
the way of humility. To practice the principles of A.A. in
all my affairs guides me to be responsible. Honoring these
precepts gives credence to Tradition Four--and to all other
Traditions of the Fellowship. Alcoholics Anonymous has evolved
a philosophy of life full of valid motivations, rich in highly
relevant principles and ethical values, a view of life which
can be extended beyond the confines of the alcoholic population.
To honor these precepts I need only to pray, and care for my
fellow man as if each one were my brother.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We're so glad to be free from liquor that we do something about
it. We get into action. We come to meetings regularly. We go out
and try to help other alcoholics. We pass on the good news
whenever we get a chance. In a spirit of thankfulness to God,
we get into action. The A.A. program is simple. Submit yourself
to God, find release from liquor, and get into action. Do these
things and keep doing them and you're all set for the rest of
your life. Have I got into action?

Meditation For The Day

God's eternal quest must be the tracking down of souls. You
should join Him in His quest. Through briars, through waste
places, through glades, up mountain heights, down into valleys.
God leads you. But ever with His leadership goes your helping
hand. Glorious to follow where the Leader goes. You are seeking
lost sheep. You are bringing the good news into places where it
has not been known before. You may not know which soul you will
help, but you can leave all results to God. just go with Him in
His eternal quest for souls.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may follow God in His eternal quest for souls.
I pray that I may offer God my helping hand.

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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

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Walk in Dry Places

Expect Miracle-working Coincidences
Spiritual direction
Somebody said that a wonderful coincidence is when God acts but does not
choose to leave a signature. Wonderful coincidences are appearing every moment of the day. People who live the spiritual life are especially positioned to recognize and understand coincidences.
The founding of AA abounds with coincidences that boggle the mind. Almost by chance, the Oxford Group ideas found their way to Bill Wilson. A business trip took him to Akron where, coincidentally. An earnest group of Oxford Group people were trying to help Dr. Bob Smith to sobriety. With his business venture in collapse, Bill made the telephone call that put him in touch with Dr. Bob, eventually resulting in the launch of AA.
Such miraculous coincidences work for the fellowship, and they're also at work in our individual lives. If we look closely, we'll discover that many such coincidences helped bring about our recovery or some other blessing.
God is the guiding power behind these coincidences. What appears to be chance is really a marvelous intelligence coordinating random events for the good of all.
I'll have confidence today that God is always bringing positive results out of a number of random events.

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Keep It Simple

Unless I accept my faults I will most certainly doubt my virtues. --- Hugh Prather
Before recovery, we saw only a blurry picture of ourselves, like we were looking through an out-of-focus camera lens. We couldn't see the good in ourselves because we wouldn't look close enough.
Step Four helps us look more closely. We see a picture of ourselves, with our good points and our faults. We don't like everything we see. But we can't change until we accept ourselves as we are.
Then we can start getting ready to change.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see the good in me and love myself.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll make a list of four of my good points and four of my faults. Am I getting to have my Higher Power remove these defects of character?

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Each Day a New Beginning

. . . suffering . . . no matter how multiplied . . . is always individual. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Knowing that others have survived experiences equally devastating gives us hope, but it doesn't diminish our own personal suffering. Nor should it; out of suffering comes new understanding. Suffering also encourages our appreciation of the lighter, easier times. Pain experienced fully enhances the times of pleasure.
Our sufferings are singular, individual, and lonely. But our experiences with it can be shared, thereby lessening the power they have over us. Sharing our pain with another woman also helps her remember that her pain, too, is survivable.
Suffering softens us, helps us to feel more compassion and love toward another. Our sense of belonging to the human race, our recognition of the interdependence and kinship of us all, are the most cherished results of the gift of pain.
Each of our sufferings, sharing them as we do, strengthens me and heals my wounds of alienation.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 9 - The Family Afterwards

He is not so unbalanced as they might think. Many of us have experienced dad’s elation. We have indulged in spiritual intoxication. Like a gaunt prospector, belt drawn in over the ounce of food, our pick struck gold. Joy at our release from a lifetime frustration knew no bounds. Father feels he has struck something better than gold. For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product.

pp. 128-129

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

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

"When we encountered A.A., the fallacy of our defiance was revealed. At no time had we asked what God's will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant reliance, not; defiance. In A.A., we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions. We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay."

p. 31

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A child's life is like a piece of paper on which every person leaves a
mark.
--Anonymous

Your mind is an encyclopedia of your lessons in life. Expand it by
making memories with loved ones, reading a good book, or just
by doing something positive rather than negative.
--Anonymous

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long
and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones
which open for us.
--Alexander Graham Bell
Only God can make us whole.
--Barbara Haynes

"When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all."
--Les Brown

"The country clubs, the cars the boats, your assets may be ample, but the best inheritance you can leave your kids is to be a good example."
--Barry Spilchuk

"Next time someone tells you 'never,' remember that means 'not for at least one hour.'"
--Jeffrey Gitomer

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

PREJUDICE

"It is never too late to give up
your prejudices."
--Henry David Thoreau

Prejudice divides people and feeds upon anger, resentment and fear.
Today I can see that my prejudices stemmed from my seeing in others
what I disliked in myself. I hated people who appeared "weak" because
I knew that I was weak and vulnerable. I hated people who were
"different" because I knew there were parts of me that were different
from how I appeared. I hated the people who stood up for their
principles and talked about their feelings because, as a drunk, I never
really had any principles and I couldn't get in touch with my feelings.

Today I try to talk about my prejudices and overcome them. A
knowledge of those people I disliked has proven useful in slowly
overcoming my prejudices.

Teach me to locate myself in my criticism of others.

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"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting
life."
John 6:47

You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the
works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
James 2:18

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Daily Inspiration

Give your day to God and let Him bring out the best in you in all situations. Lord, I will use Your power within me to make the best of this day.

You are a blessed, creative, lovable and needed being created by God. Lord, may these qualities shine forth and be used to bless those around me.