Daily Recovery Readings - March

[bluidkiti]

March 1

Daily Reflections

IT WORKS

It works -- it really does.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 88

When I got sober I initially had faith only in the program of Alcoholics
Anonymous. Desperation and fear kept me sober (and maybe a caring
and/or tough sponsor helped!). Faith in a Higher Power came much
later. This faith came slowly at first, after I began listening to
others share at meetings about their experiences -- experiences that
I had never faced sober, but that they were facing with strength from
a Higher Power. Out of their sharing came hope that I too would --
and could -- "get" a Higher Power. In time, I learned that a Higher
Power -- a faith that works under all conditions -- is possible. Today
this faith, plus the honesty, openmindedness and willingness to work
the Steps of the program, gives me the serenity that I seek. It works
-- it really does.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

When I find myself thinking about taking a drink, I say to myself.
"Don't reach out and take that problem back. You've given it to God
and there's nothing you can do about it." So I forget about the
drink. One of the most important parts of the A.A. program is to give
our drink problem to God honestly and fully and never to reach out
and take the problem back to ourselves. If we let God have it and
keep it for good and then cooperate with Him, we'll stay sober. Have
I determined not to take the drink problem back to myself?

Meditation For The Day

Constant effort is necessary if I am to grow spiritually and develop
my spiritual life. I must keep the spiritual rules persistently,
perseveringly, lovingly, patiently, and hopefully. By keeping them, every
mountain of difficulty shall be laid low, the rough places of poverty of
spirit shall be made smooth, and all who know me shall know that God is
the Lord of all my ways. To get close to the spirit of God is to find
life and healing and strength.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that God's spirit may be everything to my soul. I pray that
God's spirit may grow within me.

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As Bill Sees It

Brain Power Alone?, p. 60

To the intellectually self-sufficient man or woman, many A.A.'s can
say, "Yes, we were like you--far too smart for our own good. We
loved to have people call us precocious. We used our education to
blow ourselves up into prideful balloons, though we were careful to
hide this from others. Secretly, we felt we could float above the rest
of the folks on our brain power alone.

"Scientific progress told us there was nothing man couldn't do.
Knowledge was all powerful. Intellect could conquer nature. Since
we were brighter than most folks (so we thought), the spoils of
victory would be ours for the thinking. The god of intellect displaced
God of our fathers.

"But John Barleycorn had other ideas. We who had won so
handsomely in a walk turned into all-time losers. We saw that we had
to reconsider or die."

12 & 12, pp. 29-30

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Walk in Dry Places

Danger in excitement____Mood alterations
The lure of excitement is hard to understand. While we may think of ourselves as sensible, practical people, the hard truth is that many alcoholics have a strong need to feel excited. This excitement can take many forms, and some of them are dangerous.
One lure of excitement comes through the impulsive need for change. Some of us have had weird habits of suddenly quitting jobs and pulling up stakes for no reason other than being bored. An even more destructive attraction is the belief that a new romance can restore our zest for living and bring new joys and happiness.
The sober truth is that nobody can live sensibly and sanely by seeking continuous excitement and stimulation. We are better off with steady growth in the patterns we know best than with seeking excitement that finally leads to destruction.
At the same time, we should not belittle the pleasures and joys we get through ordinary living. If we earn those pleasures and joys through responsible actions, they will give us far more happiness than momentary feelings of excitement.
In quietness and confidence is our strength. I do not need to be excited in any way today. I am more effective and more in control when I am not being swayed by feverish emotion that distorts my judgment.

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Keep It Simple

Made the decision to turn our will and lives over to God as we understand Him.--Step Three
Care. This is what turn our will and lives over to care of our Higher Power. What peace follows! We see our God as caring, as loving. We turn everything over to this Higher Power, who can take better care of us than we can by ourselves. Care can guide us. If we want to do something, we can ask ourselves, "Would my Higher Power see this as an act of care?" If the answer is yes, then we go ahead. If the answer is no, we don't it. If we can't be sure, we wait and talk it over with our friends and sponsor. We wait until we know whether it would be an act of care or not. What wonderful guidance!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I give to You my will. I give to you my life. I gladly jump into Your loving arms.
Action for the day: Today, I'll care about others. I'll find as many as I can to care for others.

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Each Day a New Beginning

What a strange pattern the shuttle of life can weave. --Frances Marion
Each experience we have plays its part in the total picture of our lives. The steps we have taken, the path we travel today, and our direction tomorrow are not by chance. There is a pattern. We each have a destiny. We may have veered off the path in the past, and we may veer off it again. But we'll be guided back, and our paths intersect. None of us is traveling alone. We have each other and the creative force that is at the helm.
When we look around us and reflect on how our lives are influenced by the persons close to us, we become aware that our presence affects their lives as well. Most of us could never have predicted the events that have influenced us. Nor can we anticipate what the future may hold. We can be certain, however, that we are safe; a power greater than ourselves is orchestrating our affairs.
There were times we feared we'd never survive an experience. Perhaps we still struggle with fears about new experiences. But every experience adds a necessary thread to the pattern our life is weaving. We have the gift of reflection. We can understand, today, the importance of particular events of the past. Next month, next year, we'll understand today.
I shall enjoy the richness of today. My life is weaving an intricate, necessary pattern that is uniquely mine.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

Try not to condemn your alcoholic husband no matter what he says or does. He is just another very sick, unreasonable person. Treat him, when you can, as though he had pneumonia. When he angers you, remember that he is very ill.

p. 108

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

Let's see how these two contrasting ideas--attraction and promotion--work out. A political party wishes to win an election, so it advertises the virtues of its leadership to draw votes. A worthy charity wants to raise money; forthwith, its letterhead shows the name of every distinguished person who support can be obtained. Much of the political, economic, and religious life of the world is dependent upon publicized leadership. People who symbolize causes and ideas fill a deep human need. We of A.A. do not question that. But we do have to soberly face the fact that being in the public eye is hazardous, especially for us. By temperament, nearly every one of us had been an irrepressible promoter, and the prospect of a society composed almost entirely of promoters was frightening. Considering this explosive factor, we knew we had to exercise self-restraint.

p. 181

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Those who laugh...last.
--Cited in BITS & PIECES

Don't give up before the miracle happens.

"When I dig another out of trouble, the hole from which I lift him
is the place where I bury my own."
--Chinese proverb

"Winners do what they have to do and losers do what they want."

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo
or willow survives by bending with the wind.
--Bruce Lee

"The spiritual journey, the path of recovery and personal growth,
is a detoxification process in which we bring up and out the negative
beliefs we have carried with us from the past and that now poison the
present."
--Marianne Williamson

"The principles you live by create the world you live in; if you change
the principles you live by, you will change your world."
-- Blaine Lee

Sometimes there are no answers, there are only examples.
--Mark Kostew

Part of intimacy with God is listening.
--Lori Sweety

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

UNDERSTANDING

"Understanding is the reward of
faith. Therefore seek not to
understand that thou mayest
believe, but believe that thou
mayest understand."
-- Saint Augustine

Today I understand that God is love and that it makes more sense to
live my life with love than with anger, resentment and despair. I know
that the answer to life, with all the problems that may arise, is love.
Not simply loving those people who love me, but beginning to love and
understand those who dislike or hate me. Being imperfect people in
an imperfect world produces enemies. Today I love my world by
listening to my critics, changing unreasonable attitudes, growing in
the humility that comes from silence. Change is part of God's blessing
of love.

This I believe. This I understand. And step by step it is beginning to
work in my life.

May my love for the world give me an understanding of self.

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"Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord."
Psalm 31:24

"See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause
trouble and defile many."
Hebrews 12:15

"Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with
wings like eagles."
Isaiah 40:31.

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more
than those who watch for the morning.
Psalm 130:5-6

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Daily Inspiration

If you look for things that make you happy, those are the things that you'll find. Lord, help me remember how lucky I am to be alive and how much goodness surrounds me.

Determination and faith will carry you through to your goals. Lord, You and I together can accomplish my dreams.

[bluidkiti]

March 2, 2014

Daily Reflections

HOPE

Do not be discouraged.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 60

Few experiences are of less value to me than fast sobriety. Too
many times discouragement has been the bonus for unrealistic
expectations, not to mention self-pity or fatigue from my wanting to
change the world by the weekend. Discouragement is a warning
signal that I may have wandered across the God line. The secret of
fulfilling my potential is in acknowledging my limitations and believing
that time is a gift, not a threat.

Hope is the key that unlocks the door of discouragement. The
program promises me that if I do not pick up the first drink today, I
will always have hope. Having come to believe that I keep what I
share, every time I encourage, I receive courage. It is with others
that, with the grace of God and the Fellowship of A.A., I trudge the road
of happy destiny. May I always remember that the power within me is
far greater than any fear before me. May I always have patience, for
I am on the right road.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Over a period of drinking years, we've proved to ourselves and to
everybody else that we can't stop drinking by our own willpower. We
have been proved helpless before the power of alcohol. So the only
way we could stop drinking was by turning to a Power greater than
ourselves. We call that Power God. The time that you really get this
program is when you get down on your knees and surrender yourself
to God, as you understand Him. Surrender means putting your life
into God's hands. Have I made a promise to God that I will try to live
the way He wants me to live?

Meditation For The Day

Spirit-power comes from communication with God in prayer and
times of quiet meditation. I must constantly seek
spirit-communication with God. This is a matter directly between me
and God. Those who seek it through the medium of the church do not
always get the joy and the wonder of spirit communication with God.
>From this communication comes life, joy, peace, and healing. Many
people do not realize the power that can come to them from direct
spirit-communication.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may feel that God's power is mine. I pray that I may be
able to face anything through that power.

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As Bill Sees It

Resolving Fear, p. 61

Fear somehow touched about every aspect of our lives. It was an evil
and corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through
with it. It set in motion trains of circumstances which brought us
misfortune we felt we didn't deserve. But did we not often set the
ball rolling ourselves?

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

The problem of resolving fear has two aspects. We shall have to try
for all the freedom from fear that is possible for us to attain. Then
we shall need to find both the courage and the grace to deal
constructively with whatever fears remain.

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 67-68
2. Grapevine, January 1962

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Walk in Dry Places

Do we need some Fear?
Courage
It's easy to get into an argument about the role of fear in our lives. Some say that we need some fear…. It helps us get out of the path of an oncoming truck.
Is that really true? If it is, it's still not like the fear that was present with alcoholism. This fear was more likely to make us freeze and lose all power of action in the face of a threat. It was the sort of fear that paralyzes us, making us unable to move out of the way when the truck is bearing down on us.
Fear is even more destructive when it keeps us from doing the simple things we need to function in our lives. Fear certainly can't be helpful when it makes us unable to face a new customer or ride in an airplane for necessary business travel. Some people even put off medical exams simply because they fear bad news… and thus delay treatment, so that their condition becomes worse.
We might not need to get rid of all fear, but we do need to dispose of the unhealthy kind that keeps us from necessary actions on our own behalf.
A really strong sense of the program can help me deal with fear today. One good idea for coping with fear is to remember that if God is for us, nobody can really be against us. Keeping that thought in mind can help stabilize our feelings in the face of threatening situations.

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Keep It Simple

Love conquers all; let us surrender to love.---Virgil
In Step Three, we turn our lives over to God's care, God love. If we turn our lives over to a loving God, we can conquer all. If you need proof, look around at your next meeting. The room will be full of people who know that love conquers addiction. Like them, we've surrendered to love. Once we've done this, we can't use again. For us, using alcohol or others drugs is an act of hate, not love. To Face the hard things in life,
we'll need a lot of love. We'll find love in our Higher Power, groups, and friends .We're all working at turning our lives over to love.
Prayer for the Day: There was a time that love scared me. It still does, at times. Higher Power, help me see that You are love, and I must follow where love takes me.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. --Erica Jong
There was a time when we didn't believe we had any talents. We couldn't imagine we had any purpose or any gift to give to the world. But it's true: We all have talents, many of them. If we each haven't yet discovered ours, we soon will. With time and the Steps and friends, we will be encouraged to recognize them, to celebrate them, to cultivate them, to dare to give them away.
Utilizing our talents fully, which is part of life's bigger plan, may lead us to new jobs, new friends, to places presently unknown. The prospect of new horizons may excite us. It may also elicit dread. We can trust that, just as we are given no problems too big to handle, we are given no talents too great to develop. The strength to move ahead will always be available if we have faith. And the program offers us faith.
I will look for my talents today. I will also look for talents in my friends. I can celebrate them, and soon the way to use them will become clear.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - First Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

There is an important exception to the foregoing. We realize some men are thoroughly bad-intentioned, that no amount of patience will make any difference. An alcoholic of this temperament may be quick to use this chapter as a club over your head. Don't let him get away with it. If you are positive he is one of this type you may feel you had better leave him. Is it right to let him ruin your life and the lives of your children? Especially when he has before him a way to stop his drinking and abuse if he really wants to pay the price.

p. 108

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

Therefore, a great responsibility fell upon us to develop the best possible public relations policy for Alcoholics Anonymous. Through many painful experiences, we think we have arrived at what that policy ought to be. It is the opposite in many ways of usual promotional practice. We found that we had to rely upon the principle of attraction rather than of promotion.

pp. 180-181

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The alcoholic is in no greater peril than when he takes sobriety for
granted.

God, help me remember that letting go is a powerful behavior, one
that can change my life and impact the lives of others. Help me be
patient with others and myself as letting go becomes a way of life.
--Melody Beattie

Laughter, like a drenching rain, settles the dust, cleans and brightens
the world around us, and changes our whole perspective.
--Jan Pishok

A big part of my "conversion" has been full acceptance of myself,
warts and all.
--Mary Zink

God is all around us, all the time.
--Martha Leonard

"Let us always be open to the miracle of the second chance."
--Reverend David Stier

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

INTEGRITY

"Men of integrity, by their very
existence, rekindle the belief
that as a people we can live
above the level of moral
squalor."
-- John Gardner

I understand integrity to be a willingness to make sacrifices for what
we believe to be true. The living of a spiritual program must lead to
integrity.

Not so many years ago integrity was not an understood word in my
vocabulary because of my unwillingness to make sacrifices. I was so
selfishly preoccupied with my "wants" that I gave little thought to
the needs of others. The more I lost myself in "self", the greater was
the emotional pain.

Today I live the paradox that it is only in giving that I truly receive.

May I daily express the paradox of sacrifice in my life.

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But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His
own special people, that you may proclaim the praises
of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Of Him
1 Peter 2:9

"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your
heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" Psalms 27:14

"We can rejoice when we run into problems... they help us learn to be
patient. And patience develops strength of character in us
and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope
and faith are strong and steady." Romans 5:3-4

In quietness and in trust shall be your strength. Isaiah 30:15

[God] is not far from each of us. Acts 17:27

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Daily Inspiration

Speak to God openly and honestly from your heart and then do not allow yourself to worry. Lord, You are my protection and my provider when I put my trust in you.

Keep yourself young in spirit always by thinking new thoughts and getting rid of old habits. Lord, may my spirit never become frail and my abilities never become barren.

[bluidkiti]

March 3, 2014

Daily Reflections

OVERCOMING SELF-WILL

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our
own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the
alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run
riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above
everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this
selfishness. We must, or it kills us!
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 62

For so many years my life revolved solely around
myself. I was consumed with self in all forms--
self-centeredness, self-pity, self-seeking, all
of which stemmed from pride. Today I have been
given the gift, through the Fellowship of Alcoholics
Anonymous, of practicing the Steps and Traditions
in my daily life, of my group and sponsor, and the
capacity--if I so choose--to put my pride aside in
all situations which arise in my life. Until I could
honestly look at myself and see that I was the problem
in many situations and react appropriately inside and
out; until I could discard my expectations and
understand that my serenity was directly proportional
to them, I could not experience serenity and sound
sobriety.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

After we've made a surrender, the drink problem is out
of our hands and in the hands of God. The thing we have
to do is to be sure that we never reach out and take the
problem back into our own hands. Leave it in God's hands.
Whenever I'm tempted to take a drink, I must say to
myself: "I can't do that. I've made a bargain with God not
to drink. I know God doesn't want me to drink and so I
won't do it." At the same time I say a little prayer to
God for the strength needed to keep the bargain with Him.
Am I going to keep my bargain with God?

Meditation For The Day

I will try to grow in this new life. I will think of
spiritual things often and unconsciously I will grow. The
nearer I get to the new life, the more I will see my
unfitness. My sense of failure is a sure sign that I am
growing in the new life. It is only struggle that hurts.
In sloth--physical, mental or spiritual--there is no sense
of failure or discomfort. But with struggle and effort, I
am conscious not of strength but of weakness, until I am
really living the new life. But in the struggle, I can
always rely on the power of God to help me.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may see signs of my growth in the new life.
I pray that I may always keep trying to grow.

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As Bill Sees It

A Different Swinging Door, p. 62

When a drunk shows up among us and says that he doesn't like the
A.A. principles, people, or service management, when he declares that
he can do better somewhere else--we are not worried. We simply say,
"Maybe your case really is different. Why don't you try something
else?"

If an A.A. member says he doesn't like his own group, we are not
disturbed. We simply say, "Why don't you try another one? Or start
one of your own."

To those who wish to secede from A.A. altogether, we extend a cheerful
invitation to do just that. If they can do better by other means, we are
glad. If after trial they cannot do better, we know they face a choice:
They can go mad or die or they can return to A.A. The decision is
wholly theirs. (As a matter of fact, most of them do come back.)

Twelve Conceptions, p. 72

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Walk in Dry Places

What will this change bring? ____ Change
When facing change, it's not unusual to feel both apprehension and expectancy. We are apprehensive because we know that change includes risk. We feel expectancy, however, because we know that improvement can come only through some kind of change.
The way to handle change is to see it as part of the higher plan working in our lives. If we believe that our lives are in the care and keeping of our Higher Power, we have to know that everything is in good hands. As change occurs, it is simply part of a plan that is unfolding in order to bring more good into our lives.
We should not expect change without temporary disruptions or even surprises that appear to be setbacks. All that's necessary is to know that change is good if we maintain the right attitude toward it.
It's also helpful to review the past changes that have been so important in our lives. Once change has occurred, we come to accept it as normal, forgetting that it involved a lot of anxiety at one time. So it is with any change that is unfolding now. It's part of a wonderful plan that cannot fail.
I accept change without fear or superstition. Change is built into the nature of things, and will always be part of our lives. I accept it as readily as I accept change of the seasons.

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Keep It Simple

But the alcoholic . . . will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. Alcoholics Anonymous
Our program says three things are more important than knowing ourselves: (1) admitting we have no control over our addiction, (2) believing in a Higher Power, and (3) turning our lives over to the care of that Higher Power. knowing ourselves makes our lives better in recovery. But it does not give us sobriety. Sobriety starts with surrender to our Higher Power. We now know we need faith and strength we get from a Higher Power. We also need the support of others in our program.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thanks you for my sobriety today. Teach me what I need to know about myself to do Your will today.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll talk with my sponsor about the change in my spirit that keeps me sober.

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Each Day A New Beginning

Most kids hear what you say; some kids do what you say; but all kids do what you do. --Kathleen Casey Theisen
We are role models for many people: our children, our co-workers, other women in the program. Step Twelve encourages us to set good examples for anyone who might be looking on. Living a principled life takes practice, and progress, not perfection, is hoped for.
Abstinence has offered is a new set of tools for shaping our behavior. No longer must we regret what we did yesterday or last week. We are learning to monitor our actions, but even more importantly, we are defining our values. They, in turn, influence what we say and do.
Thoughtful responses to the situations we encounter require conscious attention to those events. We need reminding, perhaps, that our behavior is continuously telling others who we are, what we value, and how we view people close to us. All of us, consciously or otherwise, imitate behavior patterns of persons we admire. Unfortunately, we sometimes mimic unfavorable behavior, too.
There are those casting their attentions our way. The opportunity to model favorable behavior awaits us.
People will follow my lead. I shall walk softly, humbly and lovingly.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - First Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

The problem with which you struggle usually falls within one of four categories:
One: Your husband may be only a heavy drinker.
His drinking may be constant or it may be heavy only on certain occasions. Perhaps he spends too much money for liquor. It may be slowing him up mentally and physically, but he does not see it. Sometimes he is a source of embarrassment to you and his friends. He is positive he can handle his liquor, that it does him no harm, that drinking is necessary in his business. He would probably be insulted if he were called an alcoholic. This world is full of people like him. Some will moderate or stop altogether, and some will not. Of those who keep on, a good number will become true alcoholics after a while.
Two: Your husband is showing lack of control, for he is unable to stay on the water wagon even when he wants to. He often gets entirely out of hand when drinking. He admits this is true, but is positive that he will do better. He has begun to try, with or without your cooperation, various means of moderating or staying dry. Maybe he is beginning to lose his friends. His business may suffer somewhat. He is worried at times, and is becoming aware that he cannot drink like other people. He sometimes drinks in the morning and through the day also, to hold his nervousness in check. He is remorseful after serious drinking bouts and tells you he wants to stop. But when he gets over the spree, he begins to think once more how he can drink moderately next time. We think this person is in danger. These are the earmarks of a real alcoholic. Perhaps he can still tend to business fairly well. He has by no means ruined everything. As we say among ourselves, "He wants to want to stop."
Three: This husband has gone much further than husband number two. Though once like number two he became worse. His friends have slipped away, his home is a near-wreck and he cannot hold a position. Maybe the doctor has been called in, and the weary round of sanitariums and hospitals has begun. He admits he cannot drink like other people, but does not see why. He clings to the notion that he will yet find a way to do so. He may have come to the point where he desperately wants to stop but cannot. His case presents additional questions which we shall try to answer for you. You can be quite hopeful of a situation like this.
Four: You may have a husband of whom you completely despair. He has been placed in one institution after another. He is violent, or appears definitely insane when drunk. Sometimes he drinks on the way home from the hospital. Perhaps he has had delirium tremens. Doctors may shake their heads and advise you to have him committed. Maybe you have already been obliged to put him away. This picture may not be as dark as it looks. Many of our husbands were just as far gone. Yet they got well.

pp. 108 -110

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

Let's see how these two contrasting ideas--attraction and promotion--work out. A political party wishes to win an election, so it advertises the virtues of its leadership to draw votes. A worthy charity wants to raise money; forthwith, its letterhead shows the name of every distinguished person who support can be obtained. Much of the political, economic, and religious life of the world is dependent upon publicized leadership. People who symbolize causes and ideas fill a deep human need. We of A.A. do not question that. But we do have to soberly face the fact that being in the public eye is hazardous, especially for us. By temperament, nearly every one of us had been an irrepressible promoter, and the prospect of a society composed almost entirely of promoters was frightening. Considering this explosive factor, we knew we had to exercise self-restraint.

p. 181

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Let us always love the best in others - and never fear their worst.

"In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light,
and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal
clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth."
--Mahatma Gandhi

Whenever you fail or miss out on something you always have
tomorrow.
Every dawn is a symbol of renewal, telling you to get up, go out and
try again.

The night of fear has passed, the light of God defines my pathway.

God, help me let go of my unreasonable fears, the ones that are
preventing me from living my life.
--Melody Beattie

Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

We surrender to win.

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

GENIUS

"The principal mark of genius is
not perfection but originality,
the opening of new frontiers."
-- Arthur Koestler

I need to remember that genius is often simplicity itself. The original
thought need not be abstract, intellectual or technical; the thought
exists to transmit the message.

In the slogans "Keep it Simple", "One Day at a Time", and "Don't
Pick up the First Drink", wisdom combines with simplicity to produce
sobriety. God is at work outside of His church and the spiritual
message always brings healing. A.A. is more than a "fellowship of
genius", it is divinity set to a program. What began with a group of
alcoholics will cross new frontiers into the healing of the world.

Lord of Truth, let us always be open and receptive to Your voice.

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The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and
no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.
Isaiah 57:1

"Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths."
Psalms 25:4

Physical birth only gains us physical life. Spiritual life, the eternal life Christ promises to
those who come to Him, is only gained through spiritual birth.
John 3:36

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Daily Inspiration

Know that you make a difference, so choose to make your contribution one of goodness. Lord, help me to touch my world in a positive manner.

Each day has a new door. It is up to you to open it. Lord, help me to remember that my life is my choice. Bless me with wisdom and give me guidance as I make my choices.

[bluidkiti]

March 4, 2014

Daily Reflections

WEEDING THE GARDEN

The essence of all growth is a willingness to make a
change for the better and then an unremitting
willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this
entails.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 115

By the time I had reached Step Three I had been freed
of my dependence on alcohol, but bitter experience has
shown me that continuous sobriety requires continuous
effort. Every now and then I pause to take a good look
at my progress. More and more of my garden is weeded
each time I look, but each time I also find new weeds
sprouting where I thought I had made my final pass with
the blade. As I head back to get the newly sprouted
weed (it's easier when they are young), I take a moment
to admire how lush the growing vegetables and flowers
are, and my labors are rewarded. My sobriety grows and
bears fruit.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Having surrendered our lives to God and put our drink
problem in His Hands doesn't mean that we'll never be
tempted to drink. So we must build up strength for the
time when temptation will come. In this quiet time, we
read and pray and get our minds in the right mood for
the day. Starting the day right is a great help in keeping
sober. As the days go by and we get used to the sober
life, it gets easier and easier. We begin to develop a
deep gratitude to God for saving us from that old life.
And we begin to enjoy peace and serenity and real quiet
happiness. Am I trying to live the way God wants me to live?

Meditation For The Day

The elimination of selfishness is the key to happiness
and can only be accomplished with God's help. We start
out with a spark of the Divine Spirit but a large amount
of selfishness. As we grow and come in contact with other
people, we can take one of two paths. We can become more
and more selfish and practically extinguish the Divine
Spark within us or we can become more unselfish and develop
our spirituality until it becomes the most important thing
in our lives.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may grow more and more unselfish, honest, pure
and loving. I pray that I may take the right path every day.

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As Bill Sees It

Free Of Dependence, p. 63

I asked myself, "Why can't the Twelve Steps work to release me
from this unbearable depression?" By the hour, I stared at the St.
Francis Prayer: "It is better to comfort than to be comforted."

Suddenly I realized what the answer might be. My basic flaw had
always been dependence on people or circumstances to supply me
with prestige, security, and confidence. Failing to get these things
according to my perfectionists dreams and specifications, I fought for
them. And when defeat came, so did my depression.

Reinforced by what grace I could find in prayer, I had to exert every
ounce of will and action to cut off these faulty emotional
dependencies upon people and upon circumstances. Then only could I
be free to love as Francis had loved.

Grapevine, January 1958

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Walk in Dry Places

Don't feed the Habit _____ Enhancing Sobriety
We quickly learn that it's wrong to do anything that "feeds" a drinking habit. A recovering person would be foolish, for example, to spend time in a drinking environment simply to "be with friends."
It's constructive to take that same approach toward other problems we'd like to get out of our lives. If gossip has been my problem, I should not feed it by listening to gossip or even by reading gossipy articles and books. IF I have accumulated debts through overspending, I should cut off window shopping and other practices that may bring on more unnecessary debt. And if I want to rid my life of self-pity, I should not spend a single moment brooding over the bad breaks I have had in the past.
Bad habits have a life of their own. They are somewhat like rodents that have found their way into the house and have become star borders. One way to control rodents is to eliminate their food supply. That same principle applies to bad habits we want to eliminate from our own lives.
I'll make a strong effort to cut off any line of thinking that feeds my bad habits, whatever they are. This might include avoiding practices that others see as harmless and trivial. However, nothing is harmless or trivial if it has become destructive in my life.

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Keep It Simple

Better bend than break.-------Scottish proverb
Our program is based on bending. We call it "surrender." We surrender our self-will to the care of God. We do what we believe our Higher Power want us to do. We learn this as an act of love.
Many of us believed surrender was a sign of weakness. We tried to control everything. But we change as we're in the program longer and longer. We learn to bend. We start to see that what is important is learning. We learn to do what's best for us and others. To learn, we need an open mind. To bend, we must stay open. Love and care become the center of our lives.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, teach me that strength comes from knowing how and when to bend.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll check myself. How open am I? Do I bend when I need to?

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Each Day a New Beginning

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. --Ursula K. LeGuin
Goals give direction to our lives. We need to know who we are and where we want to go. But the trip itself, the steps we travel, offer us daily satisfaction moment by moment--fulfillment, if we'd but realize it. Too often we keep our sights on the goal's completion, rather than the process--the day-to-day living that makes the completion possible.
How often do we think, "When I finish college, I'll feel stronger." Or, "After the divorce is final, I can get back to work." Or even, "When I land that promotion, my troubles are over." Life will begin "when"--or so it seems in our minds. And when this attitude controls our thinking, we pass up our opportunity to live, altogether.
Looking back on goals already completed in our lives, what so quickly follows the end of a job well done is a let-down. And how sad that the hours, the days, the weeks, maybe even the months we toiled are gone, with little sense of all they could have meant.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - First Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

Let's now go back to number one. Oddly enough, he is often difficult to deal with. He enjoys drinking. It stirs his imagination. His friends feel closer over a highball. Perhaps you enjoy drinking with him yourself when he doesn't go too far. You have passed happy evenings together chatting and drinking before your fire. Perhaps you both like parties which would be dull without liquor. We have enjoyed such evenings ourselves; we had a good time. We know all about liquor as a social lubricant. Some, but not all of us, think it has its advantages when reasonably used.

p. 110

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

The way this restraint paid off was startling. It resulted in more favorable publicity of Alcoholics Anonymous than could possibly have been obtained through all the arts and abilities of A.A.'s best press agents. Obviously, A.A. had to be publicized somehow, so we resorted to the idea that it would be far better to let our friends do this for us. Precisely that has happened, to an unbelievable extent. Veteran newsmen, trained doubters that they are, have gone all out to carry A.A.'s message. To them, we are something more than the source of good stories. On almost every newsfront, the men and women of the press have attached themselves to us as friends.

p. 181

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God, help me find and create true joy and peace in my world.
--Melody Beattie

I have been given a quiet place in bright sunshine.

It doesn't matter what we have done in the past.
--Melody Beattie

Learning and maturation in the life of the spirit cannot be hurried,
and as in physical and intellectual development, a great deal depends
on our readiness.
--Mary McDermott Shideler

God's will never takes me where his grace will not sustain me.
--Ruth Humlecker

Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door to everlasting love.

Antidote for stress:
Take a deep breath and think of something that pleases you.

An argument had with a spouse is a loving moment lost forever.

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

HELL

"The hottest places in Hell are
reserved for those, who in time
of great moral crises, maintain
their neutrality."
-- Dante Alighieri

Each human being makes a personal hell here on earth. Often we do
it not by what we perpetrate but in what we allow to happen. So much
of the loneliness and isolation that many addicts and their families
experience is caused by them remaining hidden and silent. The
pretense that everything is okay is not only untrue but deadly.
Silence and compliance kills more addicts than a thousand needles!

Today I choose not to be neutral in my life. I speak about my
alcoholism so that I can on a daily basis make war on the disease that
nearly killed me. I speak out about the disease of addiction so that
society cannot say that it did not know what was happening. I speak
up for treatment and recovery because I know it can work in the vast
majority of cases. I am not neutral when it comes to addiction
because I am fighting for my life.

God, give me the courage to speak up in the crowd; let me live the
message I was privileged to receive.

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"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be
dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9

God is not unjust, he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you
have helped people and continue to help them.
Hebrews 6:10

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we
do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially
to those who belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6:9-10

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Daily Inspiration

Life isn't always fair, but don't let that stop you from making the world a better place every chance you get. Lord, help me to serve You where I am right now.

The first and most powerful commandment is love. Through love we unite ourselves together with God and with each other and bring ourselves closer to our desired goal. Lord, I love You with all my heart and soul and mind.

[bluidkiti]

March 5, 2014

Daily Reflections

A LIFELONG TASK

"But just how, in these circumstances, does a fellow 'take it easy?'
That's what I want to know."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 26

I was never known for my patience. How many times have I asked,
"Why should I wait, when I can have it all right now?" Indeed, when
I was first presented the Twelve Steps, I was like the proverbial "kid
in a candy store." I couldn't wait to get to Step Twelve; it was surely
just a few months' work, or so I thought! I realize now that living
the Twelve Steps of A.A. is a lifelong undertaking.


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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Sometimes we try too hard to get this program. It is better to relax
and accept it. It will be given to us, with no effort on our part, if we
stop trying too hard to get it. Sobriety can be a free gift of God,
which he gives us by His grace when He knows we are ready for it.
But we have to be ready. Then we must relax, take it easy, and
accept the gift with gratitude and humility. We must put ourselves in
God's hands. We must say to God: "Here I am and here are all my
troubles. I've made a mess of things and can't do anything about it.
You take me and all my troubles and do anything you want with me."
Do I believe that the grace of God can do for me what I could never
do for myself?

Meditation For The Day

Fear is the curse of the world. Many are our fears. Fear is
everywhere. I must fight fear as I would a plague. I must turn it out
of my life. There is no room for fear in the heart in which God
dwells. Fear cannot exist where true love is or where faith abides.
So I must have no fear. Fear is evil, but "perfect love casteth out all
fear." Fear destroys hope and hope is necessary for all of humanity.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have no fear. I pray that I may cast all fear out of
my life.

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As Bill Sees It

Search For Motives, p. 64

Some of us clung to the claim that when drinking we never hurt
anybody but ourselves. Our families didn't suffer, because we always
paid the bills and seldom drank at home. Our business associates
didn't suffer, because we were usually on the job. Our reputations
didn't suffer, because we were certain few knew of our drinking.
Those who did would sometimes assure us that, after all, a lively
bender was only a good man's fault. What real harm, therefore, had
we done? No more, surely, than we could easily mend with a few
casual apologies.

This attitude, of course, is the end result of purposeful forgetting. It
is an attitude which can be changed only by a deep and honest search
of our motives and actions.

12 & 12, p. 79

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Walk in Dry Places

A vision for you___A Positive attitude
One of the methods that helps in recovery is to see yourself as a sober person living a clean life. This is the "vision for you" that society's founders offered in AA's early days, and it's still powerful today.
While being careful to avoid self-will, we can use this method with great success in living each day. Along with seeing ourselves sober, we can see ourselves living and working according to the best principles we know. We can see a business relationship improving. We can see some long-standing problems being solved. We can see a brighter side to negative situations that have persisted in spite of our best efforts to change them.
One author also talked about "seeing God on both sides of the table in any business negotiation." We desire success, of course, but it's also important to know that any negotiation ought to be successful for both parties. If we're really practicing spiritual principles in all our affairs, there should be no desire to outmaneuver another person in any negotiation. There is always a price that is fair and satisfactory for both parties, and there are always terms suitable for both sides.
I will go through this day visualizing it as I think it should be according to the highest and best principles I know. I will put aside self-will and see everybody benefiting fro any negotiations in which I am involved.

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Keep It Simple

I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.---William Allen White
Big changes are happening to us, but we can trust that changes will bring good things. After all, what have we got to lose? We have lived through the days and years of our addiction. Now, with the help of our Higher Power, the pain of those days has ended. We have no reason to worry.
Yet, recovery won't make our lives perfect. Hard things still happened. But we never have to lose hope again. We never have to feel alone with our problems. What will come next? We don't know the details, but we can be sure the future will be good if we stay on our path of recovery.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I know life holds many new things for me. Help me and protect me as I live in Your care today.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll trust that each day of my life will bring me good. I will share this idea with one friend.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Loving, like prayer, is a power as well as a process. It's curative. It is creative. --Zona Gale
The expression of love softens us and the ones we love. It opens a channel between us. It invites an intimate response that closes the distance.
It feels good to express love, whether through a smile, a touch, or a prayer. It heightens our sense of being alive. Acknowledging another's presence means that we, too, are acknowledged. Each of us is familiar with feeling forgotten, unnoticed, or taken for granted, and recognition assures us all that we haven't been overlooked.
Knowing we are loved may be the key to our doing the things we fear. Love supports us to charge ahead, and we can support others to charge ahead. We know that if we fail, we have someone to turn to.
Love heals. It strengthens, making us courageous both when we receive it and when we give it. Knowing we are loved makes our existence special. It affirms that we count in another's life. We need to honor our friends by assuring them of their specialness, too.
I need others. I need to strengthen my supports, my connections to others for the security, even success, of each of us. I can express my love today, and assure my loved ones that they are needed. Then, they and I will surge ahead with new life.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

The first principle of success is that you should never be angry. Even though your husband becomes unbearable and you have to leave him temporarily, you should, if you can, go without rancor. Patience and good temper are most necessary.

p. 111

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

In the beginning, the press could not understand our refusal of all personal publicity. They were genuinely baffled by our insistence upon anonymity. Then they got the point. Here was something rare in the world--a society which said it wished to publicize its principles and its work, but not its individual members. The press was delighted with this attitude. Ever since, these friends have reported A.A. with an enthusiasm which the most ardent members would find hard to match.

p. 182

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Today I will ignore "what might have been," and concentrate on
"what is..."

"Forget regret, or life is yours to miss."
-Jonathan Larson

It is never too late to be what you might have been.
--George Eliot

God, help me welcome all the new experiences in my life. Give me
the courage to calmly walk my path today, knowing I'm right where I
need to be.
--Melody Beattie

When hate, anger, fear, attack, victimization is thrown at us, we find
solace in returning to Spiritual sanity. These emotions only harm us if
we embrace them, rather than embrace Gods love.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

The past and the future are great places to visit, but you don't want to live there.
--Tom Payne

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

DENTITY

"Without freedom, no one really
has a name."
-- Milton Acorda

Part of my identity involves my disease. I am an alcoholic and my
name is . . . And with this recognition of who I am comes the liberty
and freedom to live and create in God's world. Who I am involves
what I am; in the fusion of the two is my spiritual identity.

For years I ran from myself because I wanted to be different. I felt
that I would not be acceptable or good enough for you. In running
from me, I lost my identity; the seed of low self-esteem was sown.

With the spiritual recognition that I can only be who I am came the
freedom of existence and identity. I am what I am!

Lord, You said once, "I am who I am." Well, so am I!

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Turn your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding.
Proverbs 2 : 2

"But surely, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life."
Psalm 54:4

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Daily Inspiration

Shine and give praise and it will encourage others to do the same. Lord, may my actions show those in my life that I appreciate and love them.

When we give in to fears and worries they will take charge of our lives. Lord, I place my trust in You so that I may experience every opportunity and not miss in life that which is meant for me.

[bluidkiti]

March 6, 2014

Daily Reflections

THE IDEA OF FAITH

Do not let any prejudice you might have against
spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself
what they mean to you.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 47

The idea of faith is a very large chunk to swallow when
fear, doubt and anger abound in and around me. Sometimes
just the idea of doing something different, something I
am not accustomed to doing, can eventually become an act
of faith if I do it regularly, and do it without
debating whether it's the right thing to do. When a bad
day comes along and everything is going wrong, a meeting
or a talk with another drunk often distracts me just
enough to persuade me that everything is not quite as
impossible, as overwhelming as I had thought. In the
same way, going to a meeting or talking to a fellow
alcoholic are acts of faith; I believe I'm arresting
my disease. These are ways I slowly move toward faith
in a Higher Power.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In A.A., we must surrender, give up, admit that we're
helpless. We surrender our lives to God and ask Him for
help. When He knows that we're ready, He gives us
by His grace the free gift of sobriety. And we can't take
any credit for having stopped drinking, because we didn't
do it by our own willpower. There's no place for pride or
boasting. We can only be grateful to God for doing for us
what we could never do for ourselves. Do I believe that
God has made me a free gift of the strength to stay sober?

Meditation For The Day

I must work for God, with God and through God's help. By
doing all I can to bring about a true fellowship of human beings,
I am working for God. I am also working with God, because
this is the way God works, and He is with me when I am
doing such work. I cannot do good work, however, without
God's help. In the final analysis, it is through the
grace of God that any real change in human personality
takes place. I have to rely on God's power and anything
I accomplish is through His help.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may work for God and with God. I pray that
I may be used to change human personalities through
God's help.

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As Bill Sees It

Growth By The Tenth Step, p. 65

In the years ahead A.A. will, of course, make mistakes. Experience
has taught us that we need have no fear of doing this, providing that
we always remain willing to admit our faults and to correct them
promptly. Our growth as individuals has depended upon this healthy
process of trial and error. So will our growth as a fellowship.

Let us always remember that any society of men and women that
cannot freely correct its own faults must surely fall into decay if not
into collapse. Such is the universe penalty for the failure to go on
growing. Just as each A.A. must continue to take his moral inventory
and act upon it, so must our whole Society if we are to survive and if
we are to serve usefully and well.

A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 231

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Walk in Dry Places

Example, not exception___Helping Others.
It's always heady stuff when others congratulate us on our victory over alcohol. Fair-minded people will have considerable admiration for what appears to be a bootstrap effort to make a comeback from despair and defeat.
We can accept this praise with grace and modesty. At some point, however, we should emphasize that our recovery was an example of spiritual principles at work and that thousands have been able to follow in the same path. Sober AA members are not exceptions; they are examples of what the program can do in people's lives.
It is important to emphasize that we are ordinary people. The marvelous thing about the program is that it works for ordinary people like ourselves. Many people in the fellowship have great talent and ability, but those gifts have nothing to do with staying sober. The gifted person gets sober the same way anybody does..... by admitting powerlessness over alcohol and by accepting the program.
We are also helped most by people who can serve as examples in our lives. It is always inspiring to know that we can follow in their paths and find what has been given to them.
I want to provide a good example for others today. I will go through the day remembering that my sobriety is a gift that can be bestowed on anybody___it was not an exception just for me.

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Keep It Simple

When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.
Remember how we tried to make others think we were not in trouble? We walked and talked like addicts. We acted like addicts. Most everyone knew the truth but us. We were like ducks pretending to be eagles.
We see ourselves as we really are. But sometimes we can't see ourselves that way. This is normal.
That's why we need others to help us see what we can't. We were addicts. We are now recovering addicts. We need friends, sponsors, and family members to tell us when we may be acting like addicts again. It may save our lives.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, give my friends and family members the strength to tell me when I'm acting like an addict.
Action for the Day: I'll go to people whom I trust and ask them to tell me when I'm acting like an addict.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Life is made up of desires that seem big and vital one minute, and little and absurd the next. I guess we get what's best for us in the end. --Alice Caldwell Rice
It is often said that we will be granted our heart's "pure desires." When we have many unmet desires, maybe we should be grateful. Wants, ultimately not for our good, can open the way to many unneeded and painful experiences.
How often we sit, wishing for a better job, a more loving relationship, a different weather forecast. How seldom we take positive advantage of what is at hand, not realizing that whatever is, right now, is the ticket to the next act in the drama of our lives.
We have before us a very limited picture. We cannot possibly know just what we need to travel the distance that's in store for us. Our desires, when they are pure, will carry us to the right destination. They are inspired. But the desires that are motivated by our selfish egos will lead us astray. Many times in the past we did not give up those desires. And the painful memories linger.
Desiring God's will is my most fruitful desire. It's also what is best for me; thus, what I need. All things are working for good when I let my higher power determine my desires.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

Our next thought is that you should never tell him what he must do about his drinking. If he gets the idea that you are a nag or a killjoy, your chance of accomplishing anything useful may be zero. He will use that as an excuse to drink more. He will tell you he is misunderstood. This may lead to lonely evenings for you. He may seek someone else to console him - not always another man.

p. 111

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

There was actually a time when the press of America thought the anonymity of A.A. was better for us than some of our own members did. At on point, about a hundred of our Society were breaking anonymity at the public level. With perfectly good intent, these folks declared that the principle of anonymity was horse-an-buggy stuff, something appropriate to A.A.'s pioneering days. They were sure that A.A. could go faster and farther if it availed itself of modern publicity methods. A.A., they pointed out, included many persons of local, national, or international fame. Provided they were willing--and many were--why shouldn't their membership be publicized, thereby encouraging others to join us? These were plausible arguments, but happily our friends of the writing profession disagreed with them.

p. 182

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We surrender to win.

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is
never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants
kindness gathers love.
--Basil (329-379 A.D.)

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for."
--John Lubbock

"Age is a matter of feeling...not of years."
--George William Curtis

"The future comes one day at a time."
--Dean Acheson

Sharing love and life with someone is the one of the greatest gifts of
all. Take the time to appreciate it and enjoy it.

"Joy is the feeling of grinning on the inside."
--Dr. Melba Colgrove

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

HYPOCRISY

"Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo."
-- Ambrose Bierce

As a religious person I could be such a hypocrite. I thought that my
"goodness" was dependent upon my judging others to be inferior. I
was always putting other people down so that I could appear terrific.

But a part of me always knew this was wrong. I ignored the religious
teaching that emphasized forgiveness and acceptance and instead
focused on judgment and condemnation. It was all part of my sickness.
Inside I was hurting and feeling guilty but I hid these feelings with a
mask of hypocrisy and respectability.

Today I do not need to do this. I have a religion that can accept the
non-religious and rejoice in the different cultures and creeds. I do not
fear those who are different, and I am slowly beginning to accept my
many imperfections.

You, who have loved me through forgiveness, help me to forgive.

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"Put away your former way of life, your old self ... be renewed in the spirit of your
minds ... according to the likeness of God."
Ephesians 4:22-24

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body
more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom
or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you
by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing,
why do you worry about the rest?
Luke 12:22-26

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

Daily Inspiration

Repeatedly remind yourself what a wonderful person you are. Lord, help me to believe in myself as You believe in me and focus on my goodness.

God's plans for you are beyond your imagination. Lord, may I not limit myself to my past experiences, but be willing to accept new opportunities and challenges into my life.

[bluidkiti]

March 7, 2014

Daily Reflections

THE KEY IS WILLINGNESS

Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock
and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that
we can always open it some more.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 35

The willingness to give up my pride and self-will to a
Power greater than myself has proved to be the only
ingredient absolutely necessary to solve all of my
problems today. Even the smallest amount of willingness,
if sincere, is sufficient to allow God to enter and
take control over my problem, pain, or obsession. My
level of comfort is in direct relation to the degree of
willingness I possess at any given moment to give up my
self-will, and allow God's will to be manifested in my
life. With the key of willingness, my worries and fears
are powerfully transformed into serenity.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

There are two important things we have to do if we want
to get sober and stay sober. First, having admitted that
we are helpless before alcohol, we have to turn our
alcoholic problem over to God and trust Him to take care
of it for us. This means asking Him every morning for the
strength to stay sober for that day and thanking Him
every night. It means really leaving the problem in God's
hands and not reaching out and getting the problem back
to ourselves. Second, having given our drink problem to
God, we must cooperate with Him by doing something about
it ourselves. Am I doing these two things?

Meditation For The Day

I must prepare myself by doing each day what I can to
develop spiritually and to help others to do so. God tests
me and trains me and bends me to His will. If I am not
properly trained, I cannot meet the test when it comes. I
must want God's will for me above all else. I must expect
to have what I am not prepared for. This preparation
consists of quiet communion with God every day and
gradually gaining the strength I need.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may really try to do God's will in all my
affairs. I pray that I may do all I can to help others
find God's will for them.

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

As Bill Sees It

For Emergencies Only?, p. 66

Whether we had been believers or unbelievers, we began to get over
the idea that the Higher Power was a sort of bush-league pinch
hitter, to be called upon only in an emergency.

The notion that we would still live our own lives, God helping a little
now and then, began to evaporate. Many of us who had thought
ourselves religious awoke to the limitations of this attitude. Refusing
to place God first, we had deprived ourselves of His help.

But now the words "Of myself I am nothing, the Father doeth the
works" began to carry bright promise and meaning.

12 & 12, p. 75

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

Walk in Dry Places

First things First
Order
The struggle to bring order into our lives starts with lots of little things. One recovering person discovered that it was a good exercise simply to put the cap back on the toothpaste tube in the morning. This was a reminder that things should be put in their proper place, and the discipline helped later in organizing larger matters.
It is very easy to overlook orderly procedures in the haste to get things done, or to avoid anything that seems unpleasant or demanding. But such oversight always carries a heavy price later on. When we don't return things to their proper place, for example, we lose them or waste hours looking for them. We may bungle a job simply because we were too lazy to look up the right information or to read directions.
That's why "First things First" is much more than just a slogan. It's actually a principle for living, a guide that tells us there is an orderly approach to everything. If we can find that order without becoming slavishly compulsive about it, we'll find that it simplifies lots of things later on.
I'll try to do things in an orderly manner today. When I find myself taking short cuts or becoming too hurried, I'll regain control by remembering to establish priorities.

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

Keep It Simple

To make the world a friendly place One must show it a friendly face.---James Whitcomb Riley
We are beginning to learn that we get what we expect. Why? If we believe that people are out to get us, we'll not treat them well. We will think it's okay to "get them" before they "get us." Then, they'll be angry and want to get even. And on it goes. It's great when we can meet the world with a balance. We are honest people. We can expect others to be fair with us. We get the faith, strength, and courage to do this because of our trust in our Higher Power.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I put my life in Your care. Use me to spread Your love to others.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll spread friendliness. I will greet people with a smile.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands. --Anne Frank
We must take responsibility for ourselves, for who we become, for how we live each day. The temptation to blame others may be ever present. And much of our past adds up to wasted days or years perhaps, because we did blame someone else for the unhappiness in our lives.
We may have blamed our own parents for not loving us enough. We may have labeled our husbands the villains. Other people did affect us. That's true. However, we chose, you and I, to let them control us, overwhelm us, shame us. We always had other options, but we didn't choose them.
Today is a new day. Recovery has opened up our options. We are learning who we are and how we want to live our lives. How exhilarating to know that you and I can take today and put our own special flavor in it. We can meet our personal needs. We can, with anticipation, chart our course. The days of passivity are over, if we choose to move ahead with this day.
I will look to this day. Every day is a new beginning.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

Be determined that your husband's drinking is not going to spoil your relations with your children or your friends. They need your companionship and your help. It is possible to have a full and useful life, though your husband continues to drink. We know women who are unafraid, even happy under these conditions. Do not set your heart on reforming your husband. You may be unable to do so, no matter how hard you try.

p. 111

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

The Foundation* wrote letters to practically every news outlet in North America, setting forth our public relations policy of attraction rather than promotion, and emphasizing personal anonymity as A.A.'s greatest protection. Since that time, editors and rewrite men have repeatedly deleted names and pictures of members from A.A. copy; frequently, they have reminded ambitious individuals of A.A.'s anonymity policy. They have even sacrificed good stories to this end. The force of their cooperation has certainly helped. Only a few A.A. members are left who deliberately break anonymity at the public level.

*In 1954, the name of the Alcoholic Foundation, Inc., was changed to the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc., and the Foundation office is now the General Service Office.

pp. 182-183

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

"I used to say, 'I sure hope things will change.' Then I learned that
the only way things are going to change for me is when I change."
--Jim Rohn

Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better
things.
--Henry Ward Beecher

Expecting the world to be fair to you because you are a good person
is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.

Today I will do something I should have done yesterday.
--Nelle Bruner Weddington

It's so important to treat others like you would expect to be treated.
It's a universal law that the hurt and pain you have caused on others
will come back and affect you, but the love and joy you have inspired
in others, will also inspire you.

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

IDEALS

"An idealist is one who, on
noticing that a rose smells
better than a cabbage,
concludes that it will also make
better soup."
-- H.L. Mencken

The spiritual program teaches me to be an idealist with my feet on
the ground. People will continue to hurt, get angry and tell lies;
wrestling with imperfections is not just my problem. I need to accept
that I live in an imperfect world and recovery involves reality, not
illusion.

My responsibility in recovery is for my life. I cannot change other
people, events or relationships --- I can only change me. I am not
God. Each time I forget this fact, I risk another hurt.

Help me to aspire for ideals that are within my grasp.

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

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
Psalms 46:1

For the Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 2:6

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart
of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezek 36:26

Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.
Hebrews 12:1

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

Daily Inspiration

It is not in the good times, but rather in the times of stress and misfortune, that our faith is tested. Lord, remove my doubts as they creep in and help me turn my times of turmoil into times of spiritual growth.

No matter what you must confront today, know that God is with you. Lord, today is part of Your plan for me. I do not doubt You and therefore I will not doubt You within me.

[bluidkiti]

March 8, 2014

Daily Reflections

TURNING IT OVER

Every man and woman who has joined A.A. and intends to stick has,
without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three. Isn't it true
that in all matters touching upon alcohol, each of them has decided to
turn his or her life over to the care, protection, and guidance of
Alcoholics Anonymous? . . . Any willing newcomer feels sure A.A. is
the only safe harbor for the foundering vessel he has become. Now if this is
not turning one's will and life over to a newfound Providence, then what
is it?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 35

Submission to God was the first step to my recovery. I believe our
Fellowship seeks a spirituality open to a new kinship with God. As I
exert myself to follow the path of the Steps, I sense a freedom that
gives me the ability to think for myself. My addiction confined me
without any release and hindered my ability to be released from my
self-confinement, but A.A. assures me of a way to go forward.
Mutual sharing, concern and caring for others is our natural gift to
each other and mine is strengthened as my attitude toward God
changes. I learn to submit to God's will in my life, to have self-respect,
and to keep both of these attitudes by giving away what I receive.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We must go to A.A. meetings regularly. We must learn to think
differently. We must change from alcoholic thinking to sober
thinking. We must reeducate our minds. We must try to help other
alcoholics. We must cooperate with God by spending at least as much
time and energy on the A.A. program as we did on drinking. We must
follow the A.A. program to the best of our ability. Have I turned my
alcoholic problem over to God and am I cooperating with Him?

Meditation For The Day

The joy of true fellowship shall be mine in full measure. I will revel in
the joy of real fellowship. There will come back a wonderful joy, if I
share in fellowship now. Fellowship among spiritually minded people
is the embodiment of God's purpose for this world. To realize this will
bring me a new life-joy. If I share in humanity's joy and travail, a
great blessing will be mine. I can truly live a life not of earth, but a
heaven-life here and now.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be helped and healed by true spiritual fellowship. I
pray that I may sense His presence in spiritual fellowship with His
children.

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

As Bill Sees It

Thousands of "Founders", p. 67

"While I thank God that I was privileged to be an early member of
A.A., I honestly wish that the word 'founder' could be eliminated
from the A.A. vocabulary.

"When you get right down to it, everyone who has done any amount
of successful Twelfth Step work is bound to be the founder of a new
life for other alcoholics."

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

"A.A. was not invented! Its basis were brought to us through the
experience and wisdom of many great friends. We simply borrowed
and adapted their ideas."

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

"Thankfully, we have accepted the devoted services of many
nonalcoholics. We owe our very lives to the men and women of
medicine and religion. And, speaking for Dr. Bob and myself, I
gratefully declare that had it not been for our wives, Anne and Lois,
neither of us could have lived to see A.A.'s beginning."

1. Letter, 1945
2. Letter, 1966
3. Letter, 1966

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

Walk in Dry Places

What Do I project? ___ Personal Relations.
Were we ever told that our problems with other people really started within ourselves? If we have trouble getting along with another person, for example, is it because we are projecting mixed signals of fear and suspicion toward that person? We tend to reap what we sow----- we get back the attitudes we project.

At the same time, however, we can't take total responsibility for the way others treat us or behave toward us. We cannot reform or control impossible people. When dealing with impossible people, we have control over our own feelings and responses. This helps us avoid potential trouble and enables us to deal with difficult situations.

But the principle of sowing what we reap….. that is, getting back what we project… can really be proved by the person whose resentments and bitterness have driven away most of his or her friends. A simple change of attitude on our part can bring startling change for the better in there responses of others. With practice, the principle also applies to the broad area of human relations in many ways. For purposes of inventory, therefore, we should always look first at ourselves and our own thoughts and feelings when we find ourselves in a bad situation with others.

…….I will take care today to see that my thoughts and feeling toward others reflect what I want in my own life.

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

Keep It Simple

We lose the fear of making decisions, great and small, as we realize that should our choice prove wrong we can, if we will, learn from experience.---Bill W.
As our disease grew, we often felt like any decision we made was wrong. We felt like wrong people. We lost self-respect, because deep inside we knew that, for us alcohol and other drugs was wrong. We went against our spirit. Now we go with our spirit. We follow what we think our Higher Power want for us. Now we learn from our mistakes. Another wonderful gift has been given back to us: the gift of learning. From that gift, we stop playing God. How free it feels!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You have taken away my illness and replaced it with many wonderful gifts. I thank You for everything, even my mistakes.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll share with a friend my mistakes of the past week.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

To create is to boggle the mind and alter the mood. Once the urge has surged, it maintains its own momentum. We may go along for the ride, but when we attempt to steer the course, the momentum dies. --Sue Atchley Ebaugh
A sense of spiritual well-being warms us when we are selfless, when we step away from our obsessing egos, when we let our pure, unfettered desires direct our thoughts and our steps. Our egos may be keeping us caged in old behavior, old fears. Egos struggle for self-preservation; unfortunately, it's our old, unhealthy self the ego is preserving.
The Steps make it possible for us to unload our baggage from earlier days, baggage that intrudes on our perceptions of today's events. The Steps clear the path so we can move responsibly forward.
Living creatively is living in the thick of the flow, trusting the flow, spontaneously moving with the flow, not controlling the flow. We are Spirit-full when we let ourselves roll forward, resisting not, doubting not. And our greatest contributions will be discovered when our ego takes a rest.
My creativity awaits my discovery. It's there. I will release it from the clutches of my ego.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

We know these suggestions are sometimes difficult to follow, but you will save many a heartbreak if you can succeed in observing them. Your husband may come to appreciate your reasonableness and patience. This may lay the groundwork for a friendly talk about his alcoholic problem. Try to have him bring up the subject himself. Be sure you are not critical during such a discussion. Attempt instead, to put yourself in his place. Let him see that you want to be helpful rather than critical.

p. 111

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

This, in brief, in the process by which A.A.'s Tradition Eleven was constructed. To us, however, it represents far more than a sound public relations policy. It is more than a denial of self-seeking. This Tradition is a constant and practical reminder that personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it, each member becomes an active guardian of our Fellowship.

p. 183

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

There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and
lifting people up.
--John Andrew Holme

Keeping hearts happy is a lot like keeping bodies happy. We need to
feed our hearts well through reading, prayer, and meditation, and to
exercise them by loving.
--Jane Nakken

The Twelve Steps have powerfully guided me from just surviving to
living.
--Elizabeth Farrell

God's gifts are slowly revealed.
--Michele Fedderly

God is with us in every problem we face.
--Naoko Ezaki

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

DOUBT

"Sixty years ago I knew
everything; now I know nothing;
education is a progressive
discovery of our own
ignorance."
-- Will Durant

Spirituality is the art of knowing that we do not know. It is waking up
in the morning with our eyes fully opened and awaiting the adventure
of the new day. New things, new theories, new facts are being
discovered every day and it makes for a glorious, confusing and
exciting world.

There was a time when I could not say this; a time when knowledge
and facts were collected and regurgitated. I used knowledge to
protect myself from the challenge and inconsistencies of life. God had
to be not only a proven fact but evidenced in theories and dogmas ---
the mystery was lost.

Today I believe that God cannot be contained by dogma and rules.
The doubts have become part of my faith. The state of "not
knowing" becomes creative and stimulating. My relationship with
God today is real. To "not know" is the beginning of wisdom.

You, who have spoken through the wind and the fire, speak through
my doubts.

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

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7

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

Daily Inspiration

Often times the happiness you seek is already near at hand. Lord, help me to appreciate what I already have because You never stop blessing me even when I don't notice.

When you can't seem to be a shining example, at least twinkle a little. Lord, when I am weary, You are there. When I am weak, You are there. When I stumble, You are always ready to pick me up.

[bluidkiti]

March 9, 2014

Daily Reflections

SURRENDERING SELF-WILL

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to
the care of God as we understood Him.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 34

No matter how much one wishes to try, exactly how can
one turn his own will and his own life over to the care
of whatever God he thinks there is? In my search for
the answer to this question, I became aware of the
wisdom with which it was written: that this is a
two-part Step. I could see many times where I should
have died, or at least been injured, during my previous
style of living, and it never happened. Someone, or
something, was looking after me. I choose to believe
my life has always been in God's care. He alone controls
the number of days I will be granted until physical
death. The matter of will (self-will or God's will) is
the more difficult part of the Step for me. It is only
when I have experienced enough emotional pain, through
failed attempts to fix myself, that I become willing
to surrender to God's will for my life. Surrender is
like the calm after the storm. When my will is in line
with God's will for me, there is peace within.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

If we had absolute faith in the power of God to keep us
from drinking and if we turned our drink problem entirely
over to God without reservations, we wouldn't have to do
anything more about it. We'd be free from drink once and
for all. But since our faith is apt to be weak, we have
to strengthen and build up this faith. We do this in
several ways. One way is by going to meetings and
listening to others tell how they have found all the
strength they need to overcome drink. Is my faith being
strengthened by this personal witness of other alcoholics?

Meditation For The Day

It is the quality of my life that determines its value.
In order to judge the value of a man's life, we must set
up a standard. The most valuable life is one of honesty,
purity, unselfishness, and love. All men's lives must be
judged by this standard in order to determine their value
to the world. By this standard, most of the so-called
heroes of history were not great men. "What shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world, if he loseth his own
soul?"

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be honest, pure, unselfish and loving.
I pray that I may make the quality of my life good by
these standards.

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

As Bill Sees It

Renew Your Effort, p. 68

"Though I know how hurt and sorry you must be after this slip, please
do not worry about a temporary loss of your inner peace. As calmly
as you can, just renew your effort in the A.A. program, especially
those parts of it which have to do with meditation and self-analysis.

"Could I also suggest that you look at excessive guilt for what it is?
Nothing but a sort of reverse pride. A decent regret for what has
happened is fine. But guilt--no.

"Indeed, the slip could well have been brought about by unreasonable
feelings of guilt because of other moral failures, so called. Surely,
you ought to look into this possibility. Even here you should not
blame yourself for failure; you can be penalized only for refusing to
try for better things."

Letter, 1958

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

Walk in Dry Places

The Best outcome is just and equitable.
Principle over personality.
Looking ahead to this day, I may face a possible conflict with another person over a certain issue. How should I respond to this?
If I'm to follow my principles, I should hold to the idea of seeking the best outcome for everybody concerned. It may be very harmful to look at these conflicts as a case of winning or losing. If I seem to win when I'm wrong, I will lose in the long run. If I seem to lose even when I'm right, I can know that there's just resolution of everything in time. I will always win, however, if I keep my thinking straight and take care to avoid resentment and bitterness.
It's not surprising that the world is beset by conflicts. Millions of people have conditioned themselves to selfish ways of thinking and behaving that are bound to cause such conflicts. Much harm is done by people who are absolutely sure they are right at all times.
As human beings, we cannot expect to be excluded from these conflicts simply because we have a Twelve Step program. We do, however, have a means of dealing with such conflicts effectively when we respond according to principle. This makes us privileged people in a way, but it is good to know that any person can have the same privileges by following the right principles.
Unpleasant as any conflict may seem, it does give me an opportunity to learn and to grow. I will seek to benefit from any such conflict today.

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

Keep It Simple

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.---Irish Proverb
Each of us has been given recovery. Now it's up to each of us what we do with it. At times, we'll work hard to grow quickly. At other times, our growth will be slower. This is okay. We're not in a race. Our pace is not important. What is important is that we're always working on our recovery.
We're all part of a fellowship, a caring group. We're one of many. But we're each important. Each of us will have a special way to work our programs through our readings, friends, meetings, and what we know of how life works. each of us puts together a miracle of recovery. We than take our miracle and share it with others, so they can build their miracle.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me work at growing. Help me be a person who is an important part of a group.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll work at seeing myself as very important. I'll remind myself that other's recovery also depends on my recovery. I am needed.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

I want to get you excited about who you are, what you are, what you have, and what can still be for you. I want to inspire you to see that you can go far beyond where you are right now. --Virginia Satir
Deciding to recover was our first step. That decision meant we did want to go beyond where we were. We did want something better for ourselves. And at times, in fleeting moments, we have been excited about who we are and our prospects for a better life.
The excitement and the inspiration come and go; they are seldom stationary. We can actively create the excitement and the inspiration. We need not wait for them to come to us. That's one of the choices we have as human beings, as women.
Passively waiting for "the good life" is past behavior. Each day, this day, we can set our sights on reaching a goal--we can take a step, or two, toward that goal. Progress is there for the making--achievement is there for the taking.
Whatever our hearts' pure desires, we can move toward that goal. We are what we need to be. We have what we need to move ahead.
Today, I will let my excitement for life's possibilities spur me on.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

When a discussion does arise, you might suggest he read this book or at least the chapter on alcoholism. Tell him you have been worried, though perhaps needlessly. You think he ought to know the subject better, as everyone should have a clear understanding of the risk he takes if he drinks too much. Show him you have confidence in his power to stop or moderate. Say you do not want to be a wet blanket; that you only want him to take care of his health. Thus you may succeed in interesting him in alcoholism.

pp. 111-112

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Twelve - "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

THE spiritual substance of anonymity is sacrifice. Because A.A.'s Twelve Traditions repeatedly ask us to give up personal desires for the common good, we realize that the sacrificial spirit--well symbolized by anonymity--is the foundation of them all. It is A.A.'s proved willingness to make these sacrifices that gives people their high confidence in our future.

p. 184

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

Speaking without thinking is shooting without aiming.
--French Proverb

Help your brother across the stream and you'll find yourself on the
other side.

"You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than
you can by what others say about him."
--Leo Aikman

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word,
a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all
of which have the potential to turn a life around.
--Leo Buscaglia

Smile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody's heart.
--Anthony J. D'Angelo

Make the most of your life by choosing to enjoy everything you do.

God, help me open my heart to the full potential of every moment in my
life.
--Melody Beattie

"We aren't bodies at all; who we are is the love inside us, and it is that
love alone that determines our value. When our minds are filled with
light, there is no room for darkness."
--Marianne Williamson

Whether our sins are known or not, God offers us forgiveness.
--Charles P. Axe

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

GREED

"Not he who has little, but he
who wishes more, is poor."
-- Seneca (4 B. C. -- A. D. 65)

In my recovery I must still deal with that compulsive side of my nature
that always wants more.

I forget to be grateful for what I have. I ruin relationships because I
have a code of behavior that I expect from others but not myself! I miss
the fun of the moment because I am preoccupied with what I am
missing elsewhere. I miss the comfort of my own home as I fantasize
about country mansions owned by millionaires. Always I want more ---
and yet in my own experience more has always been less.

Today I work hard on a spiritual program of gratitude. I have a
checklist of things I need to be grateful for; I work on my disease of
greed by talking about it.

Thank You for that part of me that must remain "poor".

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

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be
exalted to the earth!"
Psalms 46:10

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5

Accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.
Romans 15:7

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

Daily Inspiration

We all need time for ourselves and time to be with our friends in order to be joyful. Lord, help me to balance my day and renew my spirit.

Keep yourself young in spirit always by thinking new thoughts and getting rid of old habits. Lord, may my spirit never become frail and my abilities never become barren.

[bluidkiti]

March 10, 2014

Daily Reflections

TODAY, IT'S MY CHOICE

. . . we invariably find that at some time in the past
we have made decisions based on self which later placed
us in a position to be hurt.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.62

With the realization and acceptance that I had played a
part in the way my life had turned out came a dramatic
change in my outlook. It was at this point that the A.A.
program began to work for me. In the past I had always
blamed others, either God or other people, for my
circumstances. I never felt that I had a choice in
altering my life. My decisions had been based on fear,
pride, or ego. As a result, those decisions led me down
a path of self-destruction. Today I try to allow my God
to guide me on the road to sanity. I am responsible for
my action--or inaction--whatever the consequences
may be.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We also strengthen our faith by working with other
alcoholics and finding that we can do nothing ourselves
to help them, except to tell them our own story of how
we found the way out. If the person is helped, it's by
the grace of God and not by what we do or say. Our own
faith is strengthened when we see another alcoholic find
sobriety by turning to God. And finally we strengthen our
faith by having quiet times every morning. Do I ask God
in this quiet time for the strength to stay sober this day?

Meditation For The Day

My five senses are my means of communication with the
material world. They are the links between my physical
life and the material manifestations around me. But I
must sever all connections with the material world when
I wish to hold communion with the Great Spirit of the
universe. I have to hush my mind and bid all my senses
be still, before I can become attuned to receive the
music of the heavenly spheres.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may get my spirit in tune with the Spirit
of the universe. I pray that through faith and communion
with Him I may receive the strength I need.

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

As Bill Sees It

Giving Without Demand, p. 69

Watch any A.A. of six months working with a Twelfth Step prospect. If
the newcomer says, "To the devil with you," the twelfth-stepper only
smiles and finds another alcoholic to help. He doesn't feel frustrated or
rejected. If his next drunk responds, and in turn starts to give love and
attention to other sufferers, yet gives none back to him, the sponsor is
happy about it anyway. He still doesn't feel rejected; instead he
rejoices that his former prospect is sober and happy.

And he well knows that his own life has been made richer, as an extra
dividend of giving to another without any demand for a return.

Grapevine, January 1958

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

Walk in Dry Places

Ousting the Green Demon___Victory over Jealousy.
We hear of successful people who drop their old friends after moving up the ladder. Maybe, however, it wasn't their choice. Maybe they were driven to do so because their friend's jealousy made the friendship unworkable. We have little trouble accepting a stranger's good fortune; it's a different feeling, however, when friends and co-workers move ahead of us.
If the green demon of jealousy strikes during the day, we can come to terms with it in several ways. First, accept no guilt that it happens, because jealousy is part of the human condition. Next, depersonalize it by remembering that good fortune comes to all people in various ways. Then check your own gratitude level to make sure that it hasn't been sinking. This serves as a reminder that there's no shortage of the things that really make for happiness and personal well-being in life.
We can easily tell when we've been able to oust the green demon. We'll be able to be relaxed and gracious while extending congratulations for another person's good fortune. And months down the road, we'll be genuinely sympathetic…. Not vindictive… if the other person's luck turns sour.
While I don't expect to feel jealousy today, I accept the fact that it can happen. Should it appear, I'll work calmly to deal with it.

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

Keep It Simple

Little things affect little minds.---Benjamin Disraeli
Before recovery, we liked things our way. We thought every new thing we tired should go right the first time. Little problems could really upset us. We let little things spoil our day. We let little things affect big things---our entire lives. And our bad moods affected people around us. Funny how we have fewer of those problems now. The program is teaching us to let go. What a relief when we know we don't have to control every little thing. How nice when things get done without our "expert advice"! We are starting to see what's really important, and what's not. One promise of the program is coming true: we know how to handle situations better.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see what is really important for me today. Help me to stop worrying about what's not.
Action for the Day: When I'm upset, I'll ask myself, Is this problem really so bad? If I can't change it. I'll let go.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

It is healthier to see the good points of others than to analyze our own bad ones. --Francoise Sagan
Looking for the good in others is good for one's soul. Self-respect, self-love grows each time we openly acknowledge another's admirable qualities. Comparisons we make of ourselves with others, focusing on how we fail to measure up (another woman is prettier, thinner, more intelligent, has a better sense of humor, attracts people, and on and on) is a common experience. And we come away from the comparison feeling generally inadequate and unloving toward the other woman.
It is a spiritual truth that our love for and praise of others will improve our own self-image. It will rub off on us, so-to-speak. An improved self-image diminishes whatever bad qualities one has imagined.
Praise softens. Criticism hardens. We can become all that we want to become. We can draw the love of others to us as we more willingly offer love and praise. We have an opportunity to help one another as we help ourselves grow in the self-love that is so necessary to the successful living of each day.
I will see the good points in others today. And I will give praise.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

He probably has several alcoholics among his own acquaintances. You might suggest that you both take an interest in them. Drinkers like to help other drinkers. Your husband may be willing to talk to one of them.

p. 112

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Twelve - "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

But in the beginning, anonymity was not born of confidence; it was the child of our early fears. Our first nameless groups of alcoholics were secret societies. New prospects could find us only through a few trusted friends. The bare hint of publicity, even for our work, shocked us. Though ex-drinkers, we still thought we had to hide from public distrust and contempt.

p. 184

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

We are prisoners of our own resentments.
Forgiveness unlocks the door and sets us free.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.
--Will Rogers

H E A R T = Healing, Enjoying, And Recovering, Together.

"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it."
--Sydney J. Harris

"The time is always right to do what is right."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

A smile is your most magnetic and attractive characteristic.
Wear one today and see how many people it draws to you.

My doubts and fears, will drive me back into the wilderness.
I must trust God.

When God calls, God makes a way.
--Lynn Sloan Barnes

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

SCIENCE

"We have to live today by what
truth we can get today and be
ready tomorrow to call it
falsehood."
-- William James

To change is to be imperfect and to be imperfect is to be wrong --- at
times! As an alcoholic I have a problem with ego; always wanting to
be right, hating to say, "I am sorry", not wishing to appear out of
control. In sobriety I must wrestle with my ego on a daily basis.

However, although I find it difficult to accept that I am imperfect, I
know that I am! I know that I need to make amends. I know that I
produce most of the pain in my life. Today's facts are stepping stones
to tomorrow's falsehoods --- and I grow with this knowledge.

Spirituality is growing in the knowledge that I do not have all the
answers.

Let me experience joy and growth in the dilemmas of life.

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

"Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit
your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act."
Psalm 37:4-5

Accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.
Romans 15:7

For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Proverbs 2 : 10

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and
some pastors and teachers."
Ephesians 4:11

Commit your way to the Lord; trusting Him, and He will act.
Psalm 37:5

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

Daily Inspiration

Home is a place where we can have a bit of heaven on earth. Lord, bless our home and help make it a place of love and kindness.

It is you, not where you are or what you have, that makes the difference. Lord, may I always blossom where I am planted.

[bluidkiti]

March 11, 2014

Daily Reflections

GOOD ORDERLY DIRECTION

It is when we try to make our will conform with God's
that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this
was a most wonderful revelation. Our whole trouble had
been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard
our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it
into agreement with God's intention for us. To make
this increasingly possible is the purpose of A.A.'s
Twelve Steps, and Step Three opens the door.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 40

All I have to do is look back at my past to see where
self-will has led me. I just don't know what's best for
me and I believe my Higher Power does. G.O.D., which I
define as "Good Orderly Direction," has never let me
down, but I have let myself down quite often. Using my
self-will in a situation usually has the same result as
forcing the wrong piece into a jigsaw puzzle--exhaustion
and frustration. Step Three opens the door to the rest of the program.
When I ask God for guidance I know that whatever happens
is the best possible situation, things are exactly as
they are supposed to be, even if they aren't what I want
or expect. God does for me what I cannot do for myself,
if I let Him.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

By having quiet times each morning, we come to depend on
God's help during the day, especially if we should be
tempted to take a drink. And we can honestly thank Him
each night for the strength He has given us. So our faith
is strengthened by these quiet times of prayer. By
listening to other members, by working with other
alcoholics, by times of quiet meditation, our faith in
God gradually becomes strong. Have I turned my drink
problem entirely over to God, without reservations?

Meditation For The Day

It seems as though, when God wants to express to men what
He is like, He makes a very beautiful character. Think of
a personality as God's expression of character attributes.
Be as fit an expression of Godlike character as you can.
When the beauty of a person's character is impressed upon us,
it leaves an image which in turn reflects through our own
actions. So look for beauty of character in those around
you.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may look at great beauty of souls until their
beauty of character becomes a part of my soul. I pray that I
may reflect this character in my own life.

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

As Bill Sees It

Truth, the Liberator, p. 70

How truth makes us free is something that we A.A.'s can well
understand. It cut the shackles that once bound us to alcohol. It
continues to release us from conflicts and miseries beyond reckoning;
it banishes fear and isolation. The unity of our Fellowship, the love
we cherish for each other, the esteem in which the world holds us--all
of these are products of the truth which, under God, we have been
privileged to perceive.

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

Just how and when we tell the truth--or keep silent--can often reveal
the difference between genuine integrity and none at all.

Step Nine emphatically cautions us against misusing the truth when it
states: "We made direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others." Because it points
up the fact that the truth can be used to injure as well as to heal, this
valuable principle certainly has a wide-ranging application to the
problem of developing integrity.

Grapevine, August 1961

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

Walk in Dry Places

Living with Bad Vibes____Human Relations
Some of us are sensitive to the feelings we pick up from people in the immediate environment. The feelings we sense from the people around us can be as powerful as odors and sounds. We can feel tense in the presence of domineering people, and we can be uncomfortable around people who seem resentful.
Acceptance and knowledge help us retain mastery of ourselves in these situations. But we don't have to tune in to another person's bad feelings, just as we wouldn't tune in to a radio station whose music bothers us. We can also detach from the situation in thought, just as Al-Anon trained spouses detach from alcoholics in a spirit of love and understanding.
The less we try to resist such a situation, the less power it has to disturb us. And the less involved we become with such situations, the sooner they seem to change. People in Twelve Step programs sometimes report miraculous changes when they adjust their own feelings. One frequently hears of outcomes such as this: "I learned not to let this person bother me, and two weeks later he was transferred to another department."
My own sensitivity makes me vulnerable to good or bad feelings in the atmosphere. Recognizing them for what they are, I'll enjoy the good feelings and refuse to e disturbed or upset by those that seem bad.

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

Keep It Simple

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.---AA saying
Before recovery, we never thought we had enough alcohol or other drugs. More would make us feel better, we thought. Sometimes, we are like this in recovery too. We know we need to change, so we want to do it all right now. If we can just change ourselves totally, we'll feel better, we think.
But we can't change all at once. If we ask our Higher Power to take charge of our lives, we'll have the chance to change a little at a time. We'll learn the right things when we need to know them.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me fix what needs fixing today.
Action for the Day: I'll make a list of what is broken. Which things on my list can I fix today?

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

Each Day a New Beginning

The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town. --Eleanor H. Porter
We have met certain people who inspired laughter, hope, or changes in us, or those close to us. We look forward to seeing them. We leave their presence believing in ourselves, aware that we can tackle whatever problems had us immobilized. That special gift to inspire is ours for the taking, too. The inspiration comes from God.
We can look to God for the strength we need. It will come. We can look also to God for direction, for the steps we need to take today. And then wait. Those persons who inspire us have developed a secure connection to their God. And it's their connection that comes through them to inspire us.
We can take some time today, before the demands overwhelm us, to weave our connection to our higher power. When that contact is secure, we won't have to await inspiration from another person to forge ahead with our plans. The inspiration will live within us, and it will beckon us onward. Our way will be illuminated.
I shall meditate upon this. Conscious contact with God is only a prayer away. My life will be brightened. My burdens will be lifted. My hopes will become realities, whenever I look to God for the gift of inspiration.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

If this kind of approach does not catch your husband’s interest, it may be best to drop the subject, but after a friendly talk your husband will usually revive the topic himself. This may take patient waiting, but it will be worth it. Meanwhile you might try to help the wife of another serious drinker. If you act upon these principles, your husband may stop or moderate.

p. 112

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Twelve - "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

When the Big Book appeared in 1939, we called it "Alcoholics Anonymous." Its foreword mad this revealing statement: "It is important that we remain anonymous because are too few, at present, to handle the overwhelming number of personal appeals which may result from this publication. Being mostly business or professional folk, we could not well carry on our occupations in such an event." Between these lines, it is easy to read our fear that large numbers of incoming people might break our anonymity wide open.

pp. 184-185

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

Sometimes we are so eager to give our children what we didn't have
that we forget to give them what we did have.

If today offers a challenge, be grateful.
Challenges are gifts of awareness and growth.

The more faithfully you listen to the voice within you, the better you hear what is
sounding outside of you.
--Dag Hammarskjold

Nothing hath separated us from God but our own will, or rather
our own will is our separation from God.
--William Law

Never ask the question you don't want to know the answer to.

Pureness in your heart will provide you with fullness in your life.

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

PROFIT

"In freeing people . . . our
country's blessing will also come;
for profit follows righteousness."
-- Senator Albert Beveridge

Profit is more than financial benefit or material well-being. Profit, for
the recovering alcoholic and drug addict, is being aware of life,
feeling feelings and having the capacity for a relationship with God,
self and others.

But a financial benefit is also part of spirituality; the blessing of
money and financial stability are part of God's love and trust. His gift
of freedom involves our responsibility and stewardship of money.

With money and profit we are not only able to have creative
comforts, but we can also make the lives of others creative. A
responsible use of money is part of my recovery program and has
become one of the joys of the "spiritual awakening".

Let Your blessing of money in life help me to bless others.

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

When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken."
Psalms 30:6

"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."
Matthew 21:22

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

Daily Inspiration

Sometimes we search for God in the wrong places. To help someone in need is the quickest way to touch His hand. Lord, in my ordinary day in my ordinary ways may I come to know and understand You more.

Our words are powerful tools and can influence even when we are not aware. Lord, help me to speak with kindness and sensitivity and to be a positive source of encouragement and support to others.

[bluidkiti]

March 12, 2014

Daily Reflections

A DAY'S PLAN

On awakening let us think of the twenty-four hours
ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we
begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially
asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest
or self-seeking motives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 86

Every day I ask God to kindle within me the fire of
His love, so that love, burning bright and clear, will
illuminate my thinking and permit me to better do His
will. Throughout the day, as I allow outside
circumstances to dampen my spirits, I ask God to sear
my consciousness with the awareness that I can start
my day over any time I choose; a hundred times, if
necessary.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

The Prodigal Son "took his journey into a far country
and wasted his substance on riotous living." That's what
we alcoholics do. We waste our substance with riotous
living. "When he came to himself, he said: I will arise
and go to my father." That's what an alcoholic does in
A.A. He comes to himself. His alcoholic self is not his
real self. His sane, sober, respectable self is his real
self. That's why we're so happy in A.A. Have I come to
myself?

Meditation For The Day

Simplicity is the keynote of a good life. Choose the
simple things always. Life can become complicated if you
let it be so. You can be swamped by difficulties if you
let them take up too much of your time. Every difficulty
can be either solved or ignored and something better
substituted for it. Love the humble things of life.
Reverence the simple things. Your standard must never
be the world's standard of wealth and power.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may love the simple things of life.
I pray that I may keep my life uncomplicated and free.

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

As Bill Sees It

"How Can You Roll With A Punch?", p. 71

On the day that the calamity of Pearl Harbor fell upon our country, a
great friend of A.A. was walking along a St. Louis street. Father
Edward Dowling was not an alcoholic, but he had been one of the
founders of the struggling A.A. group in his city. Because many of his
usually sober friends had already taken to their bottles that they might
blot out the implications of the Pearl Harbor disaster, Father Ed was
anguished by the thought that his cherished A.A. group would probably
do the same.

Then a member, sober less than a year, stepped alongside and engaged
Father Ed in a spirited conversation--mostly about A.A. Father Ed
saw, with relief, that his companion was perfectly sober.

"How is it that you have nothing to say about Pearl Harbor? How can
you roll with a punch like that?"

"Well," replied the yearling, "each of us in A.A. has already had his
own private Pearl Harbor. So why should we drunks crack up over
this one?"

Grapevine, January 1962

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

Walk in Dry Places

Popular Gossip____Higher Thinking
The newsstands are full of publications that seem to delight in exposing the sins and foibles of celebrities and prominent officials. Think of the excitement that's been generated just over the sexual misadventures of important people running for public office.
While some of these disclosures may be true, we don't help ourselves by reveling in them or reading them. We may even harm ourselves if we get secret enjoyment over the fall of a celebrity. It's never beneficial to find ourselves thinking, "it serves him right."
Reading such trash, even in the daily newspapers, is a form of gossip. We can use our time in better ways if we wish to enhance our sobriety.
If this sounds a little too stringent, we should remind ourselves that growth in sobriety calls for better management of our thinking and attitudes. Nobody ever got drunk simply because he or she read gossipy trash. But neither did that person make progress over the general problem of gossip.
I'll have no interest in the weaknesses or shortcomings of those who might be in the news. Popular gossip can be just as harmful as personal gossip.

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

Keep It Simple

The Twelve Step program is spiritual, based on action coming from love . . . Martha Cleveland
To be spiritual means to be an active person. It means spending time with others. It means sharing love. It means looking for ways to be more loving to others. It means looking for ways to make the world a better place. Step Three helps us to look at the world better. We turn our lives over to the care of our Higher Power. So Lets allow care to direct our lives. Let's always be asking ourselves, "Is what I'm doing something that shows care?"
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, let me be active in a loving, caring way. Let the love in my heart be my guide.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll do something good for someone and keep it a secret.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

Love is not getting, but giving. It is sacrifice. And sacrifice is glorious! --Joanna Field
How easily we mistake attention for love. Even more easily, we trick ourselves into thinking our ability to control someone signifies love - especially theirs for us. But love is something far different from either attention or control. Far different.
Love frees others from our grasp--and lets them return on their own. Love is placing another's personal needs above our own, without regret. Love is selfless, yet it exhilarates the self. Giving love softens our edges, completes us, and connects us to the people with whom we are fulfilling our destinies.
Wanting love is a normal human desire, not one we should deny. And we shall receive love, the less our emphasis is on getting it, the more on giving it. We invite love when we freely and honestly give it. Another invitation for love comes from loving ourselves; self-hatred, which trapped many of us for years, hampers us no longer.
Love inspires--ourselves and those we give it to. It brightens our way, lessens our burdens, makes possible our rightful unfolding.
I won't look for love today. I will just give it. It will bless me tenfold.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

Suppose, however, that your husband fits the description of number two. The same principles which apply to husband number one should be practice. But after his next binge, ask him if he would really like to get over drinking for good. Do not ask that he do it for you or anyone else. Just would he like to?

p. 112

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Twelve - "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

As the A.A. groups multiplied, so did anonymity problems. Enthusiastic over the spectacular recovery of a brother alcoholic, we'd sometimes discuss those intimate and harrowing aspects of his case meant for his sponsor's ear alone. The aggrieved victim would then rightly declare that his trust had been broken. When such stories got into circulation outside of A.A., the loss of confidence in our anonymity promise was severe. It frequently turned people from us. Clearly, every A.A. member's name--and story, too---had to be confidential, if he wished. This was our first lesson in the practical application of anonymity.

p. 185

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

"Take time for solitude. How else can you contemplate the blessings
of recovery,"
--Abby Warman

"What we must realize is that we cannot see everything. We do not
know everything. More important, we must understand that it is
impossible for us to control anything. The process of life is a spiritual
one, governed by invisible, intangible spiritual laws and principles."
--Iyanla Vanzant

"Everyone who has been mistreated by another has mistreated
others at one time or another."
--Paul Ferrini

"Deep faith eliminates fear."
--Lech Walesa

It's not the burdens of everyday that drive men mad.
It is the regret of yesterday and the fear of tomorrow.
Regret and fear are twin thieves that rob us of today.
--Unknown

I completely, and whole heartedly trust Gods love, it will never fail
me.
--SweetyZee

God's grace can turn pain into joy and blessing.
--Isabelle Zeigler Ross

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

DREAMS

"I have learned this at least by
my experiment: that if one
advances confidently in the
direction of his dreams and
endeavors to live the life which
he has imagined, he will meet
with a success unexpected in
common hours."
-- Henry David Thoreau

Drugs brought me nightmares, never dreams. For years I lived in
fear. In the night I imagined horrible shapes, strange colors and
sounds, experienced unspeakable tortures and awake in tension and
sweat.

Today in sobriety my dreams are serene and tranquil; I remember
friends and loved ones and those I most admire. I imagine God in the
beauty of His creation. He breathes His love through me. My dreams
are part of my wellness.

God, who created men to dream their dreams, help me to live mine.

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

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all
your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5, 6

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your
sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer."
Psalms 19:14

I sought the Lord , and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who
look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
Psalm 34:4-5

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

Daily Inspiration

If you count your blessings and answered prayers, there is less time for grumbling and complaining. Lord, may I always appreciate the wonders of my life and celebrate Your presence in it.

You cannot be discouraged for long if you are close to our Heavenly Father, the giver of all hope and blessings. Lord, I will spend time daily with You and strengthen my faith.

[bluidkiti]

March 13, 2014

Daily Reflections

A WORLD OF THE SPIRIT

We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next
function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness.
This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for
our lifetime.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84

The word "entered" . . . and the phrase "entered into
the world of the Spirit" are very significant. They
imply action, a beginning, getting into, a prerequisite
to maintaining my spiritual growth, the "Spirit" being
the immaterial part of me. Barriers to my spiritual
growth are self-centeredness and a materialistic focus
on worldly things. Spirituality means devotion to
spiritual rather than worldly things, it means obedience
to God's will for me. I understand spiritual things to
be: unconditional love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, self-control and humility. Any time I
allow selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear to
be a part of me, I block out spiritual things. As I
maintain my sobriety, growing spiritually becomes a
lifelong process. My goal is spiritual growth, accepting
that I'll never have spiritual perfection.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We've got rid of our false, drinking selves and found our
real, sober selves. And we turn to God, our Father, for
help, just as the Prodigal Son arose and went to his
father. At the end of the story, the father of the
Prodigal Son says: "He was dead and is alive again, he
was lost and he is found." We alcoholics who have found
sobriety in A.A. were certainly dead and are alive again.
We were lost and are found. Am I alive again?

Meditation For The Day

Gently breathe in God's spirit, that spirit which, if not
barred out of selfishness, will enable you to do good works.
This means rather that God will be enabled to do good works
through you. You can become a channel for God's spirit to
flow through you and into the lives of others. The works
that you can do will only be limited by your spiritual
development. Let your spirit be in harmony with God's spirit
and there is no limit to what you can do in the realm of
human relationships.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may become a channel for God's spirit.
I pray that God's spirit may flow through me and into the
lives of others.

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

As Bill Sees It

Dependence--Unhealthy or Healthy, p. 72

"Nothing can be more demoralizing than a clinging and abject
dependence upon another human being. This often amounts to the
demand for a degree of protection and love that no one could possibly
satisfy. So our hoped-for protectors finally flee, and once more we
are left alone--either to grow up or to disintegrate."

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

We discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be
God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice,
forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where
nothing else would.

If we really depended upon God, we couldn't very well play God to
our fellows, nor would we feel the urge to rely wholly on human
protection and care.

1. Letter, 1966
2. 12 & 12, p. 116

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

Walk in Dry Places

Believing In Justice____Justice
"What goes around, comes around," is a popular saying. It's often used to suggest that certain arrogant, unprincipled people will eventually receive their comeuppance. It conveys the idea that there's a hidden justice at work in human affairs that assures all injustice will eventually be punished.
But if it works to punish, this hidden justice also rewards right actions, and this is more important in our working of the program. If we act from good motives, we'll always find that our work is rewarded in some way. No alcoholic who performs a service in the fellowship goes unrewarded. Quite often the reward is simply a personal sense of well-being and growth in character, but these may be more important than money or recognition.
Justice is one of the cardinal virtues--a Godlike attribute that human beings strive to understand. Believing in justice is believing in the Hidden Power that orders justice in all things.
I'll view my world today as something that is controlled and ordered by a Just Power. Reward and retribution are built into the scheme of things, but I'll focus more on actions that bring the right kind of rewards.

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

Keep It Simple

God loves the world through us---Mother Teresa
In Step Three, we turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. How do we feel God's care, God's love? We feel God's care and love through how people treat us. Our Higher Power works through people who love us back to life. With time, we begin returning this care and love to others. We feel this warm love flow right through us and out to others. We're kind without trying to be. We smile at others for no reason. We comfort those who hurt just by holding them.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, use me to make Your love real to someone today.
Action for the Day: Fear sometimes keeps me from loving. I'll list three things I'm afraid will happen if I'm "to loving."
I'll share these fears with my sponsor.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

People need joy. Quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more. --Margaret Collier Graham
Life is not without pain and travail. They are necessary to new awareness which prompts growth. And the gift of growth is joy. Pain and joy are thus intertwined. It is possible to feel only the burden of pain and not the exhilaration of joy, however.
Before seeking help to change our lives, many of us were heavily burdened by pain. But we were unable to open ourselves to the knowledge made possible by that pain. We were on a treadmill, accumulating painful experiences at every step, unable to capture the joy that was ever present.
We can have hope. Joy does await each of us today. We must open our eyes to it, just as we must open our hearts to one another. We must be willing to peel away the layers of pain to expose the core, the seedling of joy. And we need joy in our lives, just as surely as we need rest and a good diet. We need the light heart that joy fosters for a better perspective on the many experiences we'll face today, and every day.
Recovery has given me this new option. It guarantees me that every hurdle will be lightened. The knowledge that joy is inherent, within every experience, is mine, now and forever.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

The chances are he would. Show him your copy of this book and tell him what you have found out about alcoholism. Show him that as alcoholics, the writers of the book understand. Tell him some of the interesting stories you have read. If you think he will be shy of a spiritual remedy, ask him to look at the chapter on alcoholism. Then perhaps he will be interested enough to continue.

pp. 112-113

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Twelve - "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

With characteristic intemperance, however, some of our newcomers cared not at all for secrecy. They wanted to shout A.A. from the housetops, and did. Alcoholics barely dry rushed about bright-eyed, buttonholing anyone who would listen to their stories. Others hurried to place themselves before microphones and cameras. Sometimes, they got distressingly drunk and let their groups down with a bang. They had changed from A.A. members into A.A. show-offs.

p. 185

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

The solution is simple.
The solution is spiritual.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the
circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change
yourself. That is something you have charge of.
--Jim Rohn

"Happiness is not in our circumstances, but in ourselves."
--John B. Sheerin

"Nothing is worth more than this day."
--Goethe

"It is a sign of strength, not of weakness, to admit that you don't know all the answers."
--John P. Lougbrane

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

BALANCE

"There are two ways to slide easily
through life: To believe everything
or to doubt everything. Both ways
save us from thinking."
-- Alfred Korzybski

This statement is so true for me. I was so compulsive and obsessive
not only about the things that I believed in but also about the things I
didn't believe in. I was extreme. Everything I did was exaggerated. I
either raced through life at ten thousand miles an hour or was in
neutral. Balance was absent.

Today I am developing balance in my life, more patience and more
tolerance. I have discovered that my extremism was a mask by which
I hid from life; I did not have to think, consider or ponder --- I simply
reacted.

Now I know that to believe in everything is to believe nothing; and to
doubt everything is not to think. Life is "a many splendored thing"
but it has a variety of options.

God of the many, help me to discover You in the myriad of thoughts
that life produces.

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

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's
commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may
be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you
love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down
one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not
call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is
doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that
I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I
appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you
whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may
love one another."
John 15:9-17

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full."
John 10:10

Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:4

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

Daily Inspiration

Take care of your own emotional and spiritual needs first and it will become natural to reach out lovingly to others. Lord, I depend on Your help in every situation.

Delighting in the happiness of others will make your heart too big for your body. Lord, help me set aside my jealousies and celebrate the blessings of others. Their blessings will then be a blessing for me too.

[bluidkiti]

March 14, 2014

Daily Reflections

THE KEYSTONE

He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good
ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of
the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to
freedom.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 62

A keystone is the wedge-shaped piece at the highest part
of an arch that locks the other pieces in place. The
"other pieces" are Steps One, Two, and Four through
Twelve. In one sense this sounds like Step Three is the
most important Step, that the other eleven depend on
the third for support. In reality however, Step Three
is just one of twelve. It is the keystone, but without
eleven other stones to build the base and the arms,
keystone or not, there will be no arch. Through working
of all Twelve Steps, I find that triumphant arch waiting
for me to pass through to another day of freedom.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Can I get well? If I mean: "Can I ever drink normally
again," the answer is no. But if I mean, "Can I stay sober?"
the answer is definitely yes. I can get well by turning
my drink problem over to a Power greater than myself, that
Divine Principle in the universe which we call God, and
by asking that Power each morning to give me the strength
to stay sober for the next twenty-four hours. I know from
the experience of thousands of people that if I honestly
want to get well, I can get well. Am I faithfully following the
A.A. program?

Meditation For The Day

Persevere in all that God's guidance moves you to do.
The persistent carrying out of what seems right and good
will bring you to that place where you would be. If you
look back over God's guidance, you will see that His
leading has been very gradual and that only as you have
carried out His wishes, as far as you can understand them,
has God been able to give you more clear and definite
leading. Man is led by God's touch on a quickened
responsive mind.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may persevere in what seems right. I pray
that I may carry out all of God's leading, as far as I
can understand it.

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

As Bill Sees It

Two-Way Tolerance, p. 73

"Your point of view was once mine. Fortunately, A.A. is constructed
so that we need not debate the existence of God; but for best results,
most of us must depend upon a Higher Power, and no right-minded
A.A. would challenge your privilege to believe precisely that way.
We should all be glad that good recoveries can be made even on this
limited basis.

"But turnabout is fair play. If you would expect tolerance for your
point of view, I am sure you would be willing to reciprocate. I try to
remember that, down through the centuries, lots of brighter people
than I have been found on both sides of this debate about belief. For
myself, of late years, I am finding it much easier to believe that God
made man, than that man made God."

Letter, 1966

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

Walk in Dry Places

Living with depression___Mood management
Getting sober is often only a first small step in getting well. Many recovering alcoholics must also face an underlying depression that seems to mock their efforts to attain real serenity. But sobriety does not cause the depression. It simply lays bare a condition that was present all along, but had been masked by repeated binges. It's probably true, too, that many of us used alcohol partly as a drug to combat depression because it temporarily lifted our mood and relieved our pain.
One fact about depression is that it comes and goes; we can endure it partly by knowing that "this too shall pass." Another fact is that physical activity helps in copying with it. AA co-founder Bill W., victimized by profound depression even in his sober years, found that walking provided some relief, though he had to force himself to do it at times. A third fact about depression is that we can usually alleviate its effects by helping others and by staying close to AA circles, even when we're too depressed to contribute much. It's also helpful to discuss the problem with understanding friends and sponsors, or a therapist, if necessary.
I'll believe today that I can maintain a good mood level that continues to build as I carry out my responsibilities and make AA first in my life. Depression may challenge me, but I don't have to give in to it.

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

Keep It Simple

Archie doesn't know how to worry without getting upset. --- Edith Bunker
Most us are like Edith's television husband, Archie. When we worry, we get upset. Problems seem too big for us. We get afraid. We feel powerless. What does the program tell us to do when we feel powerless and our life is upset? We look at the problem honestly . Than we ask our Higher Power to help us with the problem. We take it One Day at a Time. We believe our Higher Power will take care of us and help. We'll have problems. That's life! But we can get through them with care and support. We don't have to get crazy. We don't have to make things worst. We can be kind to ourselves and live through problems just fine---with our Higher Powers help.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me do what I can today about my problems. Help me stop worrying.
Action for the Day: If I have problems today, I'll do what I can---and leave the outcome to my Higher Power.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

The child is an almost universal symbol for the soul's transformation. The child is whole, not yet divided. . .when we would heal the mind. . .we ask this child to speak to us. --Susan Griffin
Was there ever a time when we did not feel divided from ourselves? Occasionally we get a glimpse of what such spiritual wholeness would be like, but most of the time we struggle with feelings of conflict, unevenness, a divided heart. Perhaps, "the child" is a metaphor for a spiritual guide, like our own higher power, that can help us in our journey toward self-acceptance.
"I may not be perfect, but parts of me are excellent," writes author Ashleigh Brilliant. If we can be happy with this proud, funny boast then perhaps we can stop berating ourselves for our imperfections. If we dwell on our own contradictory impulses, we give them too much important, too much power.
Let me trust to my glimpses of harmony and wholeness and be grateful for the richness of my spirit.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

If he is enthusiastic your cooperation will mean a great deal. If he is lukewarm or thinks he is not an alcoholic, we suggest you leave him alone. Avoid urging him to follow our program. The seed has been planted in his mind. He knows that thousands of men, much like himself, have recovered. But don’t remind him of this after he has been drinking, for he may be angry. Sooner or later, you are likely to find him reading the book once more. Wait until repeated stumbling convinces him he must act, for the more you hurry him the longer his recovery may be delayed.

p. 113

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Twelve - "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

This phenomenon of contrast really set us thinking. Squarely before us was the question "How anonymous should an A.A. member be?" Our growth made it plain that we couldn't be a secret society, but it was equally plain that we couldn't be a vaudeville circuit, either. The charting of a safe path between these extremes took a long time.

p. 185

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

"Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with
it."
--Anon.

Courage can't see around corners, but goes around them anyway.
--Mignon McLaughlin

I have a capacity in my soul for taking in God entirely. I am as sure
as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me
than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the
presence of God.
--Meister Eckhart

Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it
forgoes revenge and dares to forgive injury.
--Edwin Hubbel Chapin

The gift of the Spirit is that we are God's children.
--Rita Jorgensen

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

WINE

"Wine that maketh glad the
heart of man."
-- Psalm 104:15

Every good thing can be abused and alcohol is no exception. Although
most people are able to enjoy the fruits of the grape and the quality
of their lives are enriched by good wine, not a few are destroyed by
wine! Millions of people in this world are alcoholic. They did not want
to be alcoholic but they are. Their lives and relationships are
destroyed by alcohol. They need to stop drinking if they are to find
"gladness" in their lives. Alcoholism is a disease that cannot be
cured, but it can be arrested by giving up the grape!

God can be appreciated in the grape, but He can also be experienced
in the soda. We need to find new ways to be happy.

Thank You for the precious gift of choice.

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

"Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."
Psalms 50:15

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
Psalms 51:10

Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.
Proverbs 30:5

"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans for welfare
and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of
God! And that is what we are!
1 John 3:1

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

Daily Inspiration

Treat your family as you would treat a best friend. Lord, help me to treasure my family with all of their imperfections as well as my own and cherish the time we have together.

Do not act as though you are watching a parade because we are each one of the marchers. Lord, things change so quickly. Help me to celebrate the constant newness of my life.

[bluidkiti]

March 15, 2014

Daily Reflections

THE GOD IDEA

When we saw others solve their problems by a simple
reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to
stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work.
But the God idea did.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 52

Like a blind man gradually being restored to sight, I
slowly groped my way to the Third Step. Having realized
that only a Power greater than myself could rescue me
from the hopeless abyss I was in, I knew that this was
a Power that I had to grasp, and that it would be my
anchor in the midst of a sea of woes. Even though my
faith at that time was minuscule, it was big enough to
make me see that it was time for me to discard my
reliance on my prideful ego and replace it with the
steadying strength that could only come from a Power
far greater than myself.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We alcoholics were on a merry-go-round, going round and
round, and we couldn't get off. That merry-go-round is a
kind of hell on earth. In A.A. I got off that merry-go-round
by learning to stay sober. I pray to that Higher Power every
morning to help me to keep sober. And I get the strength
from that Power to do what I could never do with my own
strength. I do not doubt the existence of that Power. We're not
speaking into a vacuum when we pray. That Power is there,
if we will use it. Am I off the merry-go-round of drinking for good?

Meditation For The Day

I must remember that in spiritual matters I am only an
instrument. It is not mine to decide how or when I am to
act. God plans all spiritual matters. It is up to me to
make myself fit to do God's work. All that hinders my
spiritual activity must be eliminated. I can depend on God
for all the strength I need to overcome those faults which
are blocks. I must keep myself fit, so that God can use me
as a channel for His spirit.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that my selfishness may not hinder my progress in
spiritual matters. I pray that I may be a good instrument
for God to work with.

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

As Bill Sees It

Breach The Walls Of Ego, p. 74

People who are driven by pride of self unconsciously blind themselves
to their liabilities. Newcomers of this sort scarcely need comforting.
The problem is to help them discover a chink in the walls their ego
has built, through which the light of reason can shine.

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

The attainment of greater humility is the foundation principle of each
A.A.'s Twelve Steps. For without some degree of humility, no
alcoholic can stay sober at all.

Nearly all A.A.'s have found, too, that unless they develop much more
of this precious quality than may be required just for sobriety, they
still haven't much chance of becoming truly happy. Without it, they
cannot live to much useful purpose, or, in adversity, be able to
summon the faith that can meet any emergency.

12 & 12
1. p. 46
2. p. 70

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

Walk in Dry Places

The Secret of Detachment___Dealing with others.
"Detaching with love" is what those close to alcoholics do when they realize they can't change them. The same principle should apply to any distressing situation, but how does it work? How can I detach from people who really bother me____ especially fellow workers, or perhaps a boss or customer?
The secret of detachment is expressed in the biblical charge, "Resist not evil." We don't fight or resist the other person, or even try to change their behavior. We stop believing that the other person's behavior can really control us in the future. We become impersonal about something that was once highly charged with resentment and bitterness. At no point, however, do we say that the others' wrong behavior is all right, nor do we lie to ourselves about what the other is doing.
Detachment does not mean that the outcome will be recovery or change for the other person. That sometimes happens, and we're grateful when it does. If we detach in the right way, however, the outcome will always be better than anything we could bring about by fighting the situation. We have to count an outcome favorable if we stay sober and under control in the midst of an insane situation.
I will detach myself from conflicts with others if they arise today. I am not going to fight anything or anybody, and I know this will bring me closer to the ideal of living at peace with everybody.

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

Keep It Simple

I never loved another person the way I loved myself.---Mae West
This sums up how we used to live. We were in love with ourselves. We had to be on center stage.
Our self-will ran riot. Recovery pulls us out of that world. We learn to focus on others. We learn to reach out to them with love. This is the best way to love ourselves. This doesn't mean that we live our lives through others. It means we invite others into our lives. It also means we ask to be invited into their lives. Recovery breaks down our self-will. It makes room for others in our lives.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I give You my self-will. I know You'll do better with it than me.
Action for the Day: I'll list three ways my self-will has messed up my life. How am I doing at turning over these things to my Higher Power?

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

Each Day a New Beginning

Flattery is so necessary to all of us that we flatter one another just to be flattered in return. --Marjorie Bowen
We are all deserving of unconditional love and acceptance. And all the people in our lives, past and present, deserve our unconditional love and acceptance, too. However, it's doubtful that we either feel it all of the time from others or give it away.
It's human of us to find fault--to have expectations that are too high. But for this we pay a price. Instead of experiencing our lives serenely, contentedly, flowing with what is, we often criticize, judge, and feel generally disgruntled throughout the day. What a waste! We do have another choice, fortunately. We can let go and let God, and live and let live. Also we can recall, today and every day, that we are all special individuals in this world who are loved, fully, by our Creator.
The greatest contribution we can make to the lives of others is to be affirming. We can let our spouse, children, and friends know we care about them. That we love and accept them. The love that we also long for will come back to us. We thrill at being affirmed. And we will thrill at affirming.
It feels good to help another feel appreciated. Love and acceptance is my lifeline, from God around us all.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

If you have a number three husband, you may be in luck. Being certain he wants to stop, you can go to him with this volume as joyfully as though you had struck oil. He may not share your enthusiasm, but he is practically sure to read the book and he may go for the program at once. If he does not, you will probably not have long to wait. Again, you should not crowd him. Let him decide for himself. Cheerfully see him through more sprees. Talk about his condition or this book only when he raises the issue. In some cases it may be better to let someone outside the family urge action without arousing hostility. If your husband is otherwise a normal individual, your chances are good at this stage.

p. 113

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Twelve - "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

As a rule, the average newcomer wanted his family to know immediately what he was trying to do. He also wanted to tell others who had tried to help him--his doctor, his minister, and close friends. As he gained confidence, he felt it right to explain his new way of life to his employer and business associates. When opportunities to be helpful came along, he found he could talk easily about A.A. to almost anyone. These quiet disclosures helped him to lose his fear of the alcoholic stigma, and spread the news of A.A.'s existence in his community. Many a new man and woman came to A.A. because of such conversations. Though not in the strict letter of anonymity, such communications were well within its spirit.

pp. 185-186

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

Joy isn't the absence of pain - it's the presence of God.

I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst
from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable
misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to
them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to
sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can
choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I
have - life itself.
--Walter Anderson

"Remember the difference between a boss and a leader; a boss says
'Go!' - a leader says 'Let's go!'"
--E.M. Kelly

God backs me up, there is no greater power. I am safe.
--SweetyZee

If you listen carefully to what a child is saying to you, you'll see that
he has a point to make. So I listen. And I answer them just
as seriously as possible. And if I don't know the answer, I'll tell them I don't know.
--Bill Cosby

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

THOUGHT

"By thought I embrace the
universal."
-- Blaise Pascal

My ability to think and communicate enables me not only to live in this
world, but also to understand this world. Relationships are dependent
upon me understanding my responsibilities --- and when I do not think,
I am usually very irresponsible.

Alcohol stopped me from thinking and behaving responsibly and
created dishonesty in my life. Instead of feeling I belonged, I felt I was
on the outside; instead of enjoying relationships, I was forever fighting
and involved in bitter disputes; instead of enjoying the peace that
comes from being a "child of God", I felt like an abandoned creature.
My problem was alcohol, and I needed to do something about it.

I did --- I stopped taking the first drink. Today I am alive in my life,
alive in God's world and enjoying this universe.

When I think clearly, I know I belong.

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

He [God] Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever
forsake you."
Hebrews 13:5

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And
God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can
bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that
you can stand up under it."
I Corinthians 10:13

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting
away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light
and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what
is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
3 John 1:4

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against
such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23

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

Daily Inspiration

To be rich is to have good friends, good health, and the energy to experience the many things that life offers. Lord, I rejoice in the true and most meaningful riches of my life.

God will give you strength because He gives of Himself. Lord, bless us, deliver us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.