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10-05-2013, 10:58 AM | #8 |
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Join Date: Aug 2013
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October 6
Daily Reflections FACING OURSELVES . . . . and Fear says, "You dare not look!" TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 49 How often I avoided a task in my drinking days, just because it appeared so large! Is it any wonder even if I have been sober for some time, that I will act that same way when faced with what appears to be a monumental job, such as a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself? What I discover after I have arrived at the other side--when my inventory is completed--is that the illusion was greater than the reality. The fear of facing myself kept me at a standstill and, until I became willing to put pencil to paper, I was arresting my growth based on an intangible. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Is it my desire to be a big shot in A.A.? Do I always want to be up front in the limelight? Do I feel that nobody else can do as good a job as I can? Or am I willing to take a seat in the back row once in a while and let somebody else carry the ball? Part of the effectiveness of any A.A. group is the development of new members to carry on, to take over, from the older members. Am I reluctant to give up authority? Do I try to carry the load for the whole group? If so, I am not being fair to the newer members. Do I realize that no one person is essential? Do I know that A.A. could carry on without me, if it had to? Meditation For The Day The Unseen God can help to make us truly grateful and humble. Since we cannot see God, we must believe in Him without seeing. What we can see clearly is the change in a human being, when he sincerely asks God for the strength to change. We should cling to faith in God and in His power to change our faith in God and in His power to change our ways. Our faith in all Unseen God will be rewarded by a useful and serviceable life. God will not fail to show us the way we should live. When in real gratitude and true humility we turn to Him.. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may believe that God can change me. I pray that I may be always willing to be changed for the better. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It To Lighten Our Burden, p.277 Only one consideration should qualify our desire for a complete disclosure of the damage we have done. That will arise where a full revelation would seriously harm the one to whom we are making amends. Or--quite as important--other people. We cannot, for example, unload a detailed account of extramarital adventuring upon the shoulders of our unsuspecting wife or husband. It does not lighten our burden when we recklessly make the crosses of others heavy. ******************************** In making amends, we should be sensible, tactful, considerate, and humble without being servile or scraping. As God's people, we stand on our feet; we don't crawl before anyone. 1. 12 & 12, p.86 2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p.83 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places By Their fruits Inventory. An old saying reminds us that the value of any spiritual effort can be measured by how well it work: "A good tree is known by its fruits." By that standard, the 12 Step movement fares very well. Its life-changing work has won consistent praise and has had continuous success ever since it became known to the public. We can apply that same statement to new ideas as they appear in our lives. If somebody has suggestions or advice, we might ask how well such ideas are working out for them. We would not take investment advice, for example, from someone who had repeatedly lost money. We should always be wary of ideas that go counter to the basic principles of our program. some people may invite us to share their resentments, for example, but we have no obligation to do so. We will be even less inclined to do so when we look at the results they're getting from their resentments, Evaluating ideas "by their fruits" is a good test. I'll be careful to look at all the facts in connection with any idea presented today. I have a right to judge everything by results. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people. ---Virginia Woolf Working the Twelve Steps helps us learn the truth. As we struggle with Step Four, we learn the truth about ourselves. We learn even more about ourselves by doing Steps Eight and Ten. When we admit the truth about ourselves, things come into focus. Big changes happen. As a result, we can see other people more clearly. We see bad sides in people we thought were prefect. We see good sides in people we hated. We start to know that everyone has to work hard to find what’s right for them. No one knows all the answers. In short, we begin to trust others also who also are looking for the truth. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me clearly see myself and others. Action for the Day: Today, I’ll think about how doing Step Ten keeps me clear about what’s going on in my life. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning Many people are living in an emotional jail without recognizing it. --Virginia Satir Each of us is blessed with an internal guide, a source able to direct our actions if we but acknowledge it. Never are we in doubt for long about what path to take. The courage to take it might not be immediately forthcoming; however, it, too, is one of the gifts with which we've been blessed. Courage is ours for the asking. Right direction is ours for the taking. Trusting our inner selves takes practice, followed by attention to the results of our risks. Before recovery, many of us passively waited for others to orchestrate our behavior, our feelings, and our attitudes. Stepping forward as the leading lady, with our own script in hand is quite a change, but one we are being coached, daily, to make. The Steps help us to know who we are. More importantly, they help us become the women we long to be. But most important, they offer us the spiritual strength to risk listening to the message within and the strength to go forth as directed. Right results, again and again, are elicited by right action. And my knowledge of the right action is always, and forever, as close as myself. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Chapter 5 - HOW IT WORKS Many of us exclaimed, “What an order! I can’t go through with it.” Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection. Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventure before and after make clear three pertinent ideas: (a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives. (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism. (c) That God could and would if He were sought. p. 60 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." So, practicing these Steps, we had a spiritual awakening about which finally there was no question. Looking at those who were only beginning and still doubted themselves, the rest of us were able to see the change setting in. From great numbers of such experiences, we could predict that the doubter who still claimed that he hadn't got the "spiritual angle," and who still considered his well-loved A.A. group the higher power, would presently love God and call Him by name. p. 109 ************************************************** ********* I have held many things in my hands and have lost them all, but whatever I placed in God's hands I still possess. --GGDNER Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action. --Mother Teresa Live your life and forget your age. --Norman Vincent Peale In a world that is constantly changing, there is no one subject or set of subjects that will serve you for the foreseeable future, let alone for the rest of your life. The most important skill to acquire now is learning how to learn. --John Naisbitt "In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us." --Flora Edwards *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation FORGIVENESS "Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom." -- Hannah Arendt Early in sobriety I found it easy to forgive others but hard to forgive myself. This kept me sick and negative, even in recovery, because I was unable to practice self-love. I still blamed me and felt responsible for being alcoholic. I had not surrendered to the reality of alcoholism as a disease. Then a moment of sanity was granted me whereby I understood that I was not responsible for being alcoholic, but that I am responsible for my recovery. And my recovery involves a love and respect of self. This knowledge brought a tremendous joy and freedom that led to action within the recovering community. Only by loving me will I be able to love you, and in both these ways I show my love of God. May I always hold on to the spiritual power of forgiveness. ************************************************** ********* "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. I have suffered much; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your word. Accept, O LORD, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws. Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law. The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end. Psalm 119:105-112 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Be aware of the blessings of friendship and know that to have a friend you must be one in return. Lord, help me to be able to smile, to share, to listen and to be available when I am needed. God's promises are not for those who walk through life with no obstacles, but for those who overcome their obstacles. Lord, I pray, not to overpower others, but to overcome my own weaknesses and strengthen my trust in You.
__________________
"No matter what you have done up to this moment, you get 24 brand-new hours to spend every single day." --Brian Tracy
AA gives us an opportunity to recreate ourselves, with God's help, one day at a time. --Rufus K. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. --Franklin D. Roosevelt We stay sober and clean together - one day at a time! God says that each of us is worth loving. |
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