AA Thoughts For Today - August

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AA Thought for the Day

August 26

The Grace of God

When men and women pour so much alcohol into themselves
that they destroy their lives, they commit a most unnatural act.
Defying their instinctive desire for self-preservation, they seem bent
upon self-destruction. They work against their own deepest instinct.
As they are humbled by the terrific beating administered by alcohol,
the grace of God can enter them and expel their obsession.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Six) p. 64

Thought to Ponder . . .
God enters us through our wounds.

AA-related 'Alconym'
G O D = Gift Of Desperation.

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

Change
"How many of us would presume to declare,
'Well, I'm sober and I'm happy. What more can I want or do?
I'm fine the way I am.'
We know that the price of such self-satisfaction
is an inevitable backslide,
punctuated at some point by a very rude awakening.
We have to grow or else deteriorate.
For us, the status quo can only be for today,
never for tomorrow.
Change we must; we cannot stand still."
Bill W., AAGrapevine, February 1961
As Bill Sees It, p. 25

Thought to Consider . . .
There is no progress without change.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
P A C E = Positive Attitudes Change Everything

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

Didn't Look Good
Tradition Five: Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
I was soon sitting beside a big hulk of a man. Decidedly unfriendly, he stared at me out of eyes which were slits in his
red and swollen face. I had to agree with the doctor - he certainly didn't look good. But I told him my own story. I
explained what a wonderful Fellowship we had, how well we understood each other. I bore down hard on the
hopelessness of the drunk's dilemma. I insisted that few drunks could ever get well on their own steam, but that in our
groups we could do together what we could not do separately. He interrupted to scoff at this and asserted he'd fix his
wife, his partner, and his alcoholism by himself.
1981, AAWS, Inc., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 152

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

"God has continued to send me many miracles since the first one occurred the day he gave me the courage and
willingness to go to my first AA meeting."
Oak Park, Illinois, September 1984
"Powerless Equals Free,"
Spiritual Awakenings II

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

"For the type of alcoholic who is able and willing to get well,
little charity, in the ordinary sense of the word, is needed or
wanted. The men who cry for money and shelter before conquering
alcohol, are on the wrong track."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 97~

"Without knowing it, had we not been brought to where we stood by a
certain kind of faith? For did we not believe in our own reasoning?
Did we not have confidence in our ability to think? What was that
but a sort of faith? Yes, we had been faithful, abjectly faithful to
the God of Reason. So, in one way or another, we discovered that
faith had been involved all the time!"
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 53~

“Love and tolerance of others is our code.”
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 84

“Almost any experienced A.A. will tell how his affairs have taken remarkable and unexpected turns for the better as he
tried to improve his conscious contact with God.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 104-105

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

'Self-pity is one of the most unhappy and consuming defects that we know. It is a bar to all spiritual progress and can
cut off all effective communication with our fellows because of its inordinate demands for attention and sympathy. It is
a maudlin form of martyrdom, which we can ill afford.
'The remedy? Well, let's have a hard look at ourselves, and a still harder one at A.A.'s Twelve Steps to recovery. When
we see how many of our fellow A.A.'s have used the Steps to transcend great pain and adversity, we shall be inspired
to try these life-giving principles for ourselves.

Prayer for the Day: God, we pray for faith and spiritual courage to face our problems. Grant us wisdom to know our weakness and strength to rebuild our lives. - From Stools & Bottles