Daily Recovery Readings - December

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December 1

Daily Reflections

"SUGGESTED" STEPS

Our Twelfth Step also says that as a result of practicing
all the Steps, we have each found something called a
spiritual awakening. . . . A.A.'s manner of making ready
to receive this gift lies in the practice of the Twelve
Steps in our program."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 106-07

I remember my sponsor's answer when I told him that the
Steps were "suggested." He replied that they are
"suggested" in the same way that, if you were to jump
out of a airplane with a parachute, it is "suggested"
that you pull the ripcord to save your life. He pointed
out that it was "suggested" I practice the Twelve Steps,
if I wanted to save my life. So I try to remember daily
that I have a whole program of recovery based on all
Twelve of the "suggested" Steps.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

The thoughts that come before having a slip are often
largely subconscious. It is a question whether or not
our subconscious minds ever become entirely free from
alcoholic thoughts as long as we live. For instance,
some of us dream about being drunk when we are asleep,
even after several years of sobriety in A.A. During the
period of our drinking days, our subconscious minds have
been thoroughly conditioned by our alcoholic way of
thinking and it is doubtful that they ever become
entirely free of such thoughts during our lifetime. But
when our conscious minds are fully conditioned against
drinking, we can stay sober and our subconscious minds
do not often bother us. Am I still conditioning my conscious
mind?

Meditation For The Day

Having sympathy and compassion for all who are in
temptation, a condition which we are sometimes in, we
have a responsibility towards them. Sympathy always
includes responsibility. Pity is useless because it does
not have a remedy for the need. But wherever our sympathy
goes, our responsibility goes too. When we are moved with
compassion, we should go to the one in need and bind up
his wounds as best we can.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have sympathy for those in temptation.
I pray that I may have compassion for others' trials.

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As Bill Sees It

Quantity or Quality, p. 11

"About this slip business--I would not be too discouraged. I think you
are suffering a great deal from a needless guilt. For some reason or
other, the Lord has laid out tougher paths for some of us, and I guess
you are treading one of them. God is not asking us to be successful. He
is only asking us to try to be. That, you surely are doing, and have been
doing. So I would not stay away from A.A. through any feeling of
discouragement or shame. It's just the place you should be. Why don't
you try just as a member? You don't have to carry the whole A.A. on
your back, you know!

"It is not always the quantity of good things that you do, it is also the
quality that counts.

"Above all, take it one day at a time."

Letter, 1958

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Walk In Dry Places

Why do bad things happen?
Understanding life
No one has been able to explain why pain and misfortune must be part of the human condition. Bad things can and do happen to everybody, and sometimes there's no way to explain it.
Even in sobriety, AA members have misfortunes---times when it appears that God is hiding. We even hear members share such experiences at meetings.
Many of us have found ways to use misfortunes constructively, however, by seeing how the program helps us deal with it. In some cases---but not all---we even learn that a misfortune was a disguised blessing.
Most important, by using the program, we are eliminating the drinking that has been the cause of many misfortunes in our lives. That alone makes our immediate world a much better place for everyone.
My life today can be both easy and hard. It gives me great comfort to know that I am not making conditions worse for myself and others.

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Keep It Simple

Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps---First part of Step Twelve.
We are awake! Our spirits are alive. We are part of the world. Our addiction no longer clouds our vision. How? Step
Twelve answers this.
The beauty of Step Twelve is that if we feel our spirits starting to go dead, we know how to awaken them. It's simple. Turn to the Steps. After all, working the Steps has awakened our spirits. The hope and serenity we feel are gifts given to us through the Steps of our program. And the more we turn to the Steps for help, the more life we'll feel. The Steps are what feed and heal our souls. Prayer for the Day
Higher Power: Thank you for the Steps. If I start to believe it is I who keeps me sober, remind me of my life before the Twelve Steps.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll read the Twelve Steps. I'll think of how each Step helped awaken my spirit.

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Each Day a New Beginning

And it isn't the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone
Which gives you a bit of a heartache
At the setting of the sun.
--Margaret Sangster
A quality we all share, a very human quality, is to expect perfection from ourselves, to expect the impossible in all tasks done. We must rejoice for the good we do. Each time we pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, our confidence grows a little bit more. Recovery is best measured by our emotional and spiritual health, expressed in our apparent confidence and trust in "the process."
We need to recognize and celebrate our strong points, and they'll gain even more strength. Likewise, we need to practice prayer and listening to guidance first to develop our ties to God, but more importantly to be able to acknowledge when help is at hand. We can do all we need to do with God's help.
Having goals but keeping them realistic, for the day or the year, is a sign of emotional health. Not dwelling on those that can't be accomplished, at the moment, is another sign. A change of attitude is all most of us need to move from where we are to a better place emotionally.
There's never a better time than right now for rejoicing over what I've done.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

It relieved me somewhat to learn that in alcoholics the will is amazingly weakened when it comes to combating liquor, though it often remains strong in other respects. My incredible behavior in the face of a desperate desire to stop was explained. Understanding myself now, I fared forth in high hope. For three or four months the goose hung high. I went to town regularly and even made a little money. Surely this was the answer-self-knowledge.

p. 7

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

Our Southern Friend

Pioneer A.A., minister's son, and southern farmer, he asked, "Who am I to say there is no God?"

It is the last day of the following October, a dark, rainy morning. I come to in a pile of hay in a barn. I look for liquor and can't find any. I wander to a stable and drink five bottles of beer. I must get some liquor. Suddenly I feel hopeless, unable to go on. I go home. My wife is in the living room. She had looked for me last evening after I left the car and wandered off into the night. She had looked for me this morning. She has reached the end of her rope. There is no use trying any more, for there is nothing to try. "Don't say anything," I say to her. "I am going to do something."

p. 213

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."

In the years since, however, most of us have come to agree with those doctors. We have had a much keener look at ourselves and those about us. We have seen that we were prodded by unreasonable fears or anxieties into making a life business of winning fame, money, and what we thought was leadership. So false pride became the reverse side of that ruinous coin marked "Fear." We simply had to be number one people to cover up our deep-lying inferiorities. In fitful successes we boasted of greater feats to be done; in defeat we were bitter. If we didn't have much of any worldly success we became depressed and cowed. Then people said we were of the "inferior" type. But now we see ourselves as chips off the same old block. At heart we had all been abnormally fearful. It mattered little whether we had sat on the shore of life drinking ourselves into forgetfulness or had plunged in recklessly and willfully beyond our depth and ability. The result was the same--all of us had nearly perished in a sea of alcohol.

pp. 123-124

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"Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship."
--Benjamin Franklin

"There are no gains without pains."
--Benjamin Franklin

Kindness is more than deeds. It is an attitude, an expression, a look, a touch. It is
anything that lifts another person.
--C. Neil Strait

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.
--Blaise Pascal

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

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity."
--Joseph Addison

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

GOSSIP

"Great minds discuss ideas,
average minds discuss wants,
small minds discuss people."
-- Laurence J. Peter

Gossip is ultimately a form of malicious cowardice. It is a "blasphemy" because it
seeks to denigrate the human being that God has made in His image.

As a practicing alcoholic I was a gossip. I exaggerated and manipulated the truth with
my gossip. I made up stories against those people I had a resentment towards;
innocent people were abused and victimized by my gossip.

Also I loved listening to gossip. The listener plays an important role in the life of
"gossip" because without the listener it could not exist. It takes two to gossip!

Today gossip is unacceptable behavior in my program.

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But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds,
and I will show you my faith by what I do.
James 2:18

"If I say I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression and smile."
Job 9:27

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Daily Inspiration

Accept yourself for who you are because who you are has a purpose and an important reason for being. Lord, Your love for me makes me special and lovable.

Take care of yourself so that you may give care to others. Lord, may I never totally ignore myself and my feelings for the sake of others and fit in time daily to refresh my spirit.