AA Thoughts For Today - May

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AA Thought for the Day

May 13

Making the Approach

That the man who is making the approach has had the same difficulty, that he
obviously knows what he is talking about, that his whole deportment shouts at
the new prospect that he is a man with a real answer, that he has no attitude of
Holier Than Thou, nothing whatever except the sincere desire to be helpful; that
there are no fees to pay, no axes to grind, no people to please, no lectures to
be endured—these are the conditions we have found most effective.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) pp. 18 - 19

Thought to Ponder
I am responsible for the effort -- not the outcome.

AA-related 'Alconym'
S P O N S O R = Sober Person Offering Newcomers Suggestions On Recovery.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~

Disease
"Some strongly object to the AA position
that alcoholism is an illness.
This concept, they feel, removes
moral responsibility from alcoholics.
As any AA knows, this is far from true.
We do not use the concept of sickness
to absolve our members from responsibility.
On the contrary, we use the fact of fatal illness
to clamp the heaviest kind of moral obligation
onto the sufferer,
the obligation to use AA's Twelve Steps to get well."
Bill W., Talk, 1960 As Bill Sees It, p. 32

Thought to Consider . . .
The road to recovery is always under construction.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
STEPS
Solutions To Every Problem in Sobriety

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Candor
STEP FIVE: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
"When we reached A.A., and for the first time in our lives stood among people who seemed to understand, the sense of
belonging was tremendously exciting. We thought the isolation problem had been solved. But we soon discovered that
while we weren't alone any more in a social sense we still suffered many of the old pangs of anxious apartness. Until
we had talked with complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to someone else do the same thing, we still didn't
belong. Step Five was the answer. It was the beginning of true kinship with man and God."
1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 57

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

While I have years of sobriety, I really only have this day."
Mesa, Ariz., February 1993
"Overcoming Depression and Fear,"
AA Grapevine

~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

"If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no
middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was
becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which
there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives:
One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of
our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept
spiritual help. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were
willing to make the effort."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 46~

"...we aren't a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun
in our existence, they wouldn't want it. We absolutely insist on enjoying life."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 132

This all meant, of course, that we had substituted negative for positive thinking.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 30

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

'Privileged People'
I saw that I had been living too much alone, too much aloof from my fellows, and too deaf to that voice within. Instead of
seeing myself as a simple agent bearing the message of experience, I had thought of myself as a founder of A.A.
How much better it would have been had I felt gratitude rather than self-satisfaction--gratitude that I had once suffered
the pains of alcoholism, gratitude that a miracle of recovery had been worked upon me from above, gratitude for the
privilege of serving my fellow alcoholics, and gratitude for those fraternal ties which bound me ever closer to them in a
comradeship such as few societies of men have ever known.
Truly did a clergyman say to me, 'Your misfortune has become your good fortune. You A.A.'s are a privileged people.'
GRAPEVINE, JULY 1946

Prayer For The Day: Dear heavenly Father, I honor You as my King and Lord, I submit myself to You to do Your will. Thank you, for Your love for me. I am grateful that You are a loving and forgiving God. I want to thank You also for the abundant blessings that You have given me. One of those blessings is that I can lay my head down each night and enjoy sweet sleep, and at times, You even speak to me in my dreams. It is such a blessing to have Your love, peace and joy. No amount of money can buy these blessings. I just want to say a special thanks for these gifts. Bless my brothers and sisters with Your love and guidance and lead us all into more truth. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.