Daily Recovery Readings - December

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December 24

Daily Reflections

A "SANE AND HAPPY USEFULNESS"
We have come to believe He would like us to keep our
heads in the clouds with Him, but that our feet ought
to be firmly planted on earth. That is where our
fellow travelers are, and that is where our work must
be done. These are the realities for us. We have found
nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual
experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 130

All the prayer and meditation in the world will not
help me unless they are accompanied by action.
Practicing the principles in all my affairs shows me
the care that God takes in all parts of my life. God
appears in my world when I move aside, and allow Him
to step into it.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We have been given a new life, just because we happened to become alcoholics. We
certainly don't deserve the new life that has been given us. There is little in our past to
warrant the life we have now. Many people live good lives from their youth on, not getting
into serious trouble, being well adjusted to life, and yet they have not found all that
we drunks have found. We had the good fortune to find Alcoholics Anonymous and with it
a new life. We are among the lucky few in the world who have learned a new way of life.
Am I deeply grateful for the new life that I have learned in A.A.?

Meditation For The Day

A deep gratitude to the Higher Power for all the blessings which we have and which we
don't deserve has come to us. We thank God and mean it. Then comes service to our
fellow men, out of gratitude for what we have received. This entails some sacrifice of
ourselves and our own affairs. But we are glad to do it. Gratitude, service, and then
sacrifice are the steps that lead to good A.A. work. They open the door to a new life for
us.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may gladly serve others, out of deep gratitude for what I have received. I
pray that I may keep a deep sense of obligation.

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As Bill Sees It

Individual Responsibilities, p.262

Let us emphasize that our reluctance to fight one another, or
anybody else, is not counted as some special virtue which entitles us
A.A.'s to feel superior to other people. Nor does this reluctance
mean that the members of A.A. are going to back away from their
individual responsibilities as citizens. Here they should feel free to
act as they see the right upon the public issues of our times.

But when it comes to A.A. as a whole, that's quite a different matter.
As a group we do not enter into public controversy, because we are
sure that our Society will perish if we do.

12 & 12, p.177

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Walk In Dry Places

Jealousy toward loved ones
Feeling
Though resentment gets more attention in AA than jealousy, both of these ugly emotions can plague us in sobriety. Some of us can be very distressed and ashamed when the green demon of jealousy suddenly assaults us. Does this mean we're not working our program?
No, because the purpose of our program is to bring honesty and healing into our lives, not denial of basic human emotions. It's very understandable that we have pangs of jealousy even in sobriety. Quite often, this jealousy will be felt toward loved ones and close friends.
One young AA father disclosed he was jealous of his wife when their infant son seemed more responsive to her than to him. We can also experience jealousy when others close to us receive things we'd like to have. It's even possible to be jealous of another's standing in AA.
When such feelings arise, we always have the answer: We must discuss our feelings with certain AA friends and turn these problems over to our Higher Power. This, not denial, is always the solution.
If the green demon of envy and jealousy arises today, I'll let the healing power of the Twelve Steps go to work on it.

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Keep It Simple

We must all hang together or we will hang separately.---Ben Franklin
We didn't get ourselves sober. And we don't keep ourselves sober. Our program does this. That is why the Twelfth Step is important. We must be willing to give service to our program whenever it's needed. When a friend calls and say he or she feels like using, we don't say we're sorry. We get our friend and take him or her to a meeting. Our survival depends on this kind of action. We are to carry the message. We carry the message by deeds, not words. We are part of a fellowship based on action. A fellowship guided by love. It is not words that keep us sober--it is action.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me be ready whenever there's a need. Help me be ready to put my self-will aside. Give me strength.
Action for the Day: I will think of my group members. Who could use a supportive call or visit? I will call or visit those who need my help.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Follow your dream . .
if you stumble, don't stop
and lose sight of your goal,
press on to the top.
For only on top
Can we see the whole view . . .
--Amanda Bradley
Today, we can, each of us, look back on our lives and get a glimmering of why something happened and how it fit into the larger mosaic of our lives. And this will continue to be true for us. We have stumbled. We will stumble. And we learn about ourselves, about what makes us stumble and about the methods of picking ourselves up.
Life is a process, a learning process that needs those stumbles to increase our awareness of the steps we need to take to find our dream at the top. None of us could realize the part our stumbling played in the past. But now we see. When we fall, we need to trust that, as before, our falls are "up," not down.
I will see the whole view in time. I see part of it daily. My mosaic is right and good and needs my stumbles.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 6 - INTO ACTION

In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. we relax and take it easy. We don’t struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while. What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it.

pp. 86-87

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

Of course, there was a promoter in the deal - a super-promoter. By his eloquence he allayed all fears, despite advice from the Foundation that it could issue no charter, and that ventures which mixed an A.A. group with medication and education had come to sticky ends elsewhere. To make things safer, the promoter organized three corporations and became president of them all. Freshly painted, the new center shone. The warmth of it all spread through the town. Soon things began to hum. to insure foolproof, continuous operation, sixty-one rules and regulations were adopted.

p. 148

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Sharing our experiences with other people gives them hope.
--unknown

What I am is God's gift to me.
What I make of myself is my gift to Him.
--unknown

"An apology is the superglue of life: it can repair just about anything."
--Unknown

A man's true wealth is the good he does in the world. Beauty is eternity gazing at
itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror.
--Kahlil Gibran

"Joy is not in things; It is in us"
--Richard Wagner

"Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To
a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good
example. To yourself, respect."
--Oren Arnold

"At this time of the year, we need to remind ourselves that what we give from deep within
has a much greater worth than what we give from our wallets. Some attempt to impress
others with their contributions, but the real acts of kindness are when we give our time,
our talents, and gifts that are a reflection of our hearts.
-*Neil Eskelinn

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

BROTHERHOOD

"I am a citizen, not of Athens or
Greece, but of the world."
-- Socrates

My recovery has enabled me to see that I belong; I belong not simply to a race or
nation but to the world. The freedom experienced in my recovery enables me to
embrace different cultures, races and religions. Spirituality has brought harmony into
my life.

Today I can go where I please. I can learn languages and communicate with people in
foreign lands. I can listen to ideas and philosophies that enrich God "as I understand
Him". The healing that I have experienced in my recovery is more than discovering
my choice around alcohol, it is discovering my choice around life. Today I am not
content to exist in my life, I choose to live it. Welcome to my world!

May I always choose to see and appreciate the richness of my life.

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He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the
LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.
Psalm 25 9-10

"Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level
ground."
Psalm 143:10

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Daily Inspiration

As you draw closer and closer to God, you won't have to tell anyone because it will show in your face. Lord, teach me Your ways as I am ready and let Your love and peace flow through me even in my difficult moments.

When you live in the spirit of God you will always feel the love within you. Lord, may I seek peace in You and not from the outside world.