Daily Recovery Readings - May

[bluidkiti]

May 31

Daily Reflections

READINESS TO SERVE OTHERS

. . . our Society has concluded that it has but one high mission--to
carry the A.A. message to those who don't know there's a way out.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 151

The "Light" to freedom shines bright on my fellow alcoholics as each
one of us challenges the other to grow. The "Steps" to self-
improvement have small beginnings, but each Step builds the "ladder"
out of the pit of despair to new hope. Honesty becomes my "tool" to
unfurl the "chains" which bound me. A sponsor, who is a caring
listener, can help me to truly hear the message guiding me to freedom.

I ask God for the courage to live in such a way that the Fellowship
may be a testimony to His favor. This mission frees me to share my
gifts of wellness through a spirit of readiness to serve others.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

I shall not wait to be drafted for service to A.A. I Shall volunteer. I
shall be loyal in my attendance, generous in my giving, kind in my
criticism, creative in my suggestions, loving in my attitudes. I shall give
to A.A. my interest, my enthusiasm, my devotion, and most of all,
myself. Do I also accept this as my AA. credo?

Meditation For The Day

Prayer is of many kinds, but of whatever kind, prayer is the linking up
of the soul and mind to God. So, if prayer is only a glance of faith, a
look or a word of love, or just a feeling of confidence in the goodness
and purpose in the universe, still the result of that prayer is added
strength to meet all temptations and to overcome them. Even if no
supplication is expressed, all the supply of strength that is necessary is
secured, because the soul, being linked and united to God, receives
from Him all spiritual help needed. The soul, when in its human body,
still needs the things belonging to its heavenly habitation.

Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may be taught how to pray. I pray that I may be linked
through prayer to the mind and will of God.

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As Bill Sees It

Start by Forgiving, p. 151

The moment we ponder a twisted or broken relationship with another
person, our emotions go on the defensive. To escape looking at the
wrongs we have done another, we resentfully focus on the wrong he
has done us. Triumphantly we seize upon his slightest misbehavior as
the perfect excuse for minimizing or forgetting our own.

Right here we need to fetch ourselves up sharply. Let's remember
that alcoholics are not the only ones bedeviled by sick emotions. In
many instances we are really dealing with fellow sufferers, people
whose woes we have increased.

If we are about to ask forgiveness for ourselves, why shouldn't we
start out by forgiving them, one and all?

12 & 12, p. 78

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Walk in Dry Places

Are Sobriety Dates Important?
Practical Thinking
Observing anniversaries of getting sober has become a time-honored custom in AA. Many group name lists include the individual members' sobriety dates. It's also customary in many groups to celebrate anniversaries with cakes and to award coins with numerals denoting years of sobriety.
To outsiders, this custom may seem frivolous. What is the benefit in celebrating the day one too the last drink or in adding up the number of sober years?
These celebrations of sobriety dates actually underscore the important goal of staying continuously sober. We may know alcoholics who "went back out" from time to time, and then failed to come back at all. Members who slip and do come back to tell us that it was an agonizing experience, and that they feared they wouldn't have another chance to lead a sober life. We also hear people say: "I may have another drunk in me, but I'm not sure I can find another sobering up."
The message is clear: Get sober mark that date, and continue to build on it. We stress the importance of sobriety when we acknowledge the importance of sobriety dates.
I'll stay sober today. Whatever my length of sobriety, I want to honor it and build on it.

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Keep It Simple

You grow up the day you have your first real laugh at yourself.---Ethel Barrymore
There was a time when we wouldn't let anyone laugh at us---even ourselves. We had to much shame. We had to much pain. We took the world too seriously. If we laughed it was at others---not at ourselves. Over time , real honest laughter returns to us. Laughter is a way of accepting ourselves as human. To be human means we can make mistakes. It means we can lighten up. It also means growing up. And growing up means being happy with all of who we are---even parts of us that may seem odd or funny. If we can't laugh at ourselves, we shut ourselves off from the world. We shut ourselves off from the parts of us we need to accept. Am I willing to accept the fact that I'm human.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You made laughter. Help me us it to make my life easier. Help me accept all of me a funny mistake I've made.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll share with someone close to me a funny mistake I've made.

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Each Day a New Beginning

That reality of life and living--movement from one place to another either in a project or in a state of mind, does not conform with what we imagine or expect or think we deserve so we often leave things hanging unfinished or unstarted. --Sandra Edwards
Being dissatisfied--discontented with the experiences life gives us - forever hampers our growth. Reality is not our bane but our gift. The particular reality perceived by any one of us is of special significance because in that reality are our lessons--the very lessons that will awaken us to the awareness that what life offers is just what we deserve, and more.
It's our interpretation of life's realities that is at fault. But as we grow, spiritually, the clouds will disappear. We'll come to understand the interplay between our realities. And we'll willingly move ahead, fulfilling our part in life's bigger picture.
Sometimes all I can do is trust that all is well, even though it's not as I had hoped. On bad days I need only to reflect on the past to know that I am moving in the right direction.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

I had always believed in a power greater than myself. I had often pondered these things. I was not an atheist. Few people really are, for that means blind faith in the strange proposition that this universe originated in a cipher and aimlessly rushes nowhere. My intellectual heroes, the chemists, the astronomers, even the evolutionists, suggested vast laws and forces at work. Despite contrary indications, I had little doubt that a mighty purpose and rhythm underlay all. How could there be so much of precise and immutable law, and no intelligence? I simply had to believe in a Spirit of the Universe, who knew neither time nor limitation. But that was as far as I had gone.

p. 10

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Five - "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."

A.A. experience has taught us we cannot live alone with our pressing problems and the character defects which cause or aggravate them. If we have swept the searchlight of Step Four back and forth over our careers, and it has revealed in stark relief those experiences we'd rather not remember, if we have come to know how wrong thinking and action
have hurt us and others, then the need to quit living by ourselves with those tormenting ghosts of yesterday gets more urgent than ever. We have to talk to somebody about them.

p. 55

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How can we possibly describe feeling the Presence of God? It is the difference between being a child left alone in an empty house at night and a child who knows that her mother is in the next room. Even though she can't see or hear her mother, she feels comforted by her warm, loving, protective presence. And while a human parent can't always be with us, our spiritual parent will never abandon us.
--Mary Manin Morrissey

"A good love relationship can reinforce self-esteem, but it cannot
create it. Many people carry a lot of unfinished business from
childhood into relationships, and look to their partners to fulfill their
unmet needs. So you get immature, dependency-type relationships that
tend not to work.
The more you can complete unfinished business from childhood, the
better your chance in relationships as an adult."
--Nathaniel Branden, The Art of Living Consciously

Life's lessons are not taught in classrooms.
--unknown

Forgiveness is an inner correction that lightens the heart. It is for our peace of mind first. Being at peace, we will now have peace to give to others, and this is the most permanent and valuable gift we can possibly give."
--Gerald Jampolsky

"Character is defined by what we are willing to do when the spotlight is
turned off, when the applause has died down, and no one is around to
give us credit."
--Unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

AMBITION

"Show me a thoroughly satisfied
man - and I will show you a
failure."
--Thomas Alva Edison

I need to strive for new things in my life. I need to push out into new
areas and discover the richness of God's world. I need to explore the
varied creativity of creation.

There is so much that I have not done because of the wasted years of
my addiction. So much that I have not seen, countries that I have not
visited, languages that I have not learned and experiences that I have
missed. My compulsive and obsessive behavior left me a prisoner of
self - and also a victim of self.

The spiritual recovery I enjoy today says it is okay for me to have
things, enjoy things and do things.

Help me to realize the energy and ambition You have created within
me.

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While we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6:10

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you
know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
I Corinthians 15:58

"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the
LORD."
Psalm 27:14

"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope."
Psalm 130:5

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Daily Inspiration

To feel good about yourself, do things that really matter to you. Lord, help me to know my priorities and act in a manner that will fulfill them.

Loneliness happens when you build walls instead of bridges. Lord, bless me with a welcoming spirit for those that might need me today.