Daily Recovery Readings - April

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April 30

Daily Reflections

A GREAT PARADOX

These legacies of suffering and of recovery are easily passed
among alcoholics, one to the other. This is our gift from God,
and its bestowal upon others like us is the one aim that today
animates A.A.'s all around the globe.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 151

The great paradox of A.A. is that I know I cannot keep the
precious gift of sobriety unless I give it away.
My primary purpose is to stay sober. In A.A. I have no other
goal, and the importance of this is a matter of life or death
for me. If I veer from this purpose I lose. But A.A. is not
only for me; it is for the alcoholic who still suffers. The
legions of recovering alcoholics stay sober by sharing with
fellow alcoholics. The way to my recovery is to show others
in A.A. that when I share with them, we both grow in the
grace of the Higher Power, and both of us are on the road
to a happy destiny.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

The A.A. program is one of faith because we find that we must
have faith in a Power greater than ourselves if we are going
to get sober. We're helpless before alcohol, but when we turn
our drink problem over to God and have faith that He can give
us all the strength we need, then we have the drink problem
licked. Faith in that Divine Principle in the universe which
we call God is the essential part of the A.A. program. Is faith
still strong in me?

Meditation For The Day

Each one of us is a child of God, and as such, we are full of
the promise of spiritual growth. A young person is like the
springtime of the year. The full time of the fruit is not yet,
but there is promise of the blossom. There is a spark of the
Divine in every one of us. Each has some of God's spirit that
can be developed by spiritual exercise. Know that your life is
full of glad promise. Such blessings can be yours, such joys,
such wonders, as long as you develop in the sunshine of God's
love.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may develop the divine spark within me. I pray
that by so doing I may fulfill the promise of a more abundant
life.

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As Bill Sees It

Word Of Mouth, p. 120

"In my view, there isn't the slightest objection to groups who wish to
remain strictly anonymous, or to people who think they would not like
their membership in A.A. known at all. That is their business, and this
is a very natural reaction.

"However, most people find that anonymity to this degree is not
necessary, or even desirable. Once one is fairly sober, and sure of this,
there seems no reason for failing to talk about A.A. membership in the right
places. This has a tendency to bring in other people. Word of mouth is
one of our most important communications.

"So we should criticize neither the people who wish to remain silent,
nor even the people who wish to talk too much about belonging to A.A.,
provided they do not do so at the public level and thus compromise our
whole Society."

Letter, 1962

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Walk in Dry Places

Addicted to Crisis___Personal Relations
It's sometimes a surprise to learn that we mismanage our affairs even in sobriety. We may even find that we seem to be addicted to problem situations. It takes a crisis, it seems, to give us the energy and purpose we need to get things done.
One common form of this strange addiction is procrastination. Some of us have a tendency to put off important tasks until the very last moment, and then work overtime to get the job done.
Is this laziness? Maybe it is, to some extent. Maybe, however, we need an impending emergency to get motivated and energized to do what needs to be done. Maybe we're addicted to crisis.
If so, this may be another disease that can be arrested but not cured. We arrest it by slowly adopting better work habits and paying closer attention to schedules and deadlines. Working with greater efficiency, we'll have more time and energy for the things that really matter.
Today I don't need a crisis to take charge of my life and do what needs to be done. I'll tackle at least one thing I've been putting off, and either complete the task or get a good start on it.

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Keep It Simple

When you want to be something, it means you really love it.---Andy Warhol
At times, we turned to chemicals because we couldn't love ourselves. Our addiction gave a promise of relief, but it gave us self-hate. We wanted to love, but couldn't. What is it we really love ? Where should we put out energy ? In raising children ? In creating art ? In helping addicts who still suffer ? There's much in this world that needs our love. We can be many things in our lives. Let's
be people we believe in. Let's be people we can love.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me know myself through my inventories. My skills, talents, values, and my loves must be clear to me so I can use them to do Your will.
Action for the Day: Today I'll think about what I'd really love to do through my work.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Accustomed as we are to change, or unaccustomed, we think of a change of heart, of clothes, of life, with some uncertainty. --Josephine Miles
Being used to a situation, even a painful one, carries with it a level of comfort. Moving away from the pain, changing the situation, be it job, home, or marriage, takes courage and support from other persons. But even more it takes faith that the change will benefit us. For most of us, the pain will need to worsen.
In retrospect, we wonder why it took us so long. We forget, from one instance to the next, that a new door cannot open until we've closed one behind us. The more important fact is that a new one will always open without fail. The pain of the old experience is trying to push us to new challenges, new opportunities, new growth. We can handle the change; we can handle the growth. We are never given more than we can handle, and we are always given just what we need.
Experience can't prepare us for the ramifications of a new change. But our trust in friends, and our faith in the spiritual process of life, can and will see us through whatever comes.
If a change of any kind is facing me today, I will know that I am not alone. Whatever I am facing is right for me and necessary to my well-being. Life is growth. The next stage of my life awaits me.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 9 - The Family Afterwards

The opposite may happen should the family condemn and criticize. Dad may feel that for years his drinking has placed him on the wrong side of every argument, but that now he has become a superior person with God on his side. If the family persists in criticism, this fallacy may take a still greater hold on father. Instead of treating the family as he should, he may retreat further into himself and feel he has spiritual justification for so doing.

p. 129

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Two - "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

"When we encountered A.A., the fallacy of our defiance was revealed. At no time had we asked what God's will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant reliance, not; defiance. In A.A., we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions. We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay."

p. 31

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The only real win, is the win of tapping into the spirit.
--Oprah Winfrey

Getting sober is like learning to ride a horse, if you fall off, get back
on, you can't learn to ride on the ground.
--Patricia D

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results."
--Albert Einstein

"Success is living up to your potential. That's all. Wake up with a smile
and go after life … Live it, enjoy it, taste it, smell it, feel it."
--Joe Kapp

"As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey."
--Thomas A. Edison

I embrace the lightness I feel when I trust, and give all of me to God.
--SweetyZee

No matter the storm... when you're with God there's always a rainbow
waiting. Remember, God answers knee-mail!
--Anonymous

Men trip not on mountains! They trip on molehills.
--Chinese Proverb

Wish not so much to live long, as to live well.
--Benjamin Franklin

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

ORIGINALITY

"Originality does not consist in
saying what no one has ever said
before, but in saying exactly what
you think yourself."
--James Stephens

Sometimes I surprise myself with what I say, think or contemplate.
Within my being is a very strange world that I wish to share with
others. Why? Because if I am truly honest about what I think and feel,
it may unite me with the true identity of others. Perhaps we are all a
little strange! However I will never know what people are thinking or
feeling unless I take a risk and share my honest feelings. My
involvement with my fellow man revolves around my honesty.

In the knowledge of Your love let me share my feelings.

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Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.
Proverbs 4:23

Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:3-4

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Daily Inspiration

Each day guide your thoughts and actions so that you may set God's will above your own. Lord, may Your will be my will.

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.