[bluidkiti]

November 20


Today's Prayer

Lord,
Shape me this day in ways that are in keeping with your will and purposes.
When I am weary, please lift me up.
When I am drawing inward, show me the way to community and serving.
When I am confused, grant a clarity that cuts through the many things that masquerade as truth.
When I am feeling alone, keep me company.
I ask you for this gift of hope to sustain and strengthen me.
Amen

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Just a Thought

There are no leaders in A.A., except as they volunteer to accept responsibility.

The work of carrying on A.A. --leading group meetings, serving on committees, speaking before other groups, doing twelfth-step work, spreading A.A. among the alcoholics of the community--all these things are done on a volunteer basis. If I don't volunteer to do something concrete for A.A., the movement is that much less effective. I must do my fair share to carry the load. A.A. depends on all its members to keep it alive and to keep it growing.

So ............

Am I doing my share for A.A.?

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Just a Contemplation

Freedom in Acceptance

When we accept ourselves, with all our imperfections, we can then begin to accept others just as they are. This is especially exciting when we apply this discovery to our own families. A family is like a bouquet of flowers arranged in a common vase. Each flower is different.

It isn't important that we know why one flower is blue and one white. We don't have to understand how a rose becomes a rose to appreciate the arrangement. We just accept it for what it is. Acceptance of others does not mean agreement or approval. How boring if we only accepted those who reflected our own ideas and opinions! How dull to look upon a bouquet of exactly the same flowers.

Today, I will accept the differences between us as part of our beauty together.

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Antidote For Fear

When our failings generate fear, we then have soul-sickness. This sickness, in turn, generates still more character defects.

Unreasonable fear that our instincts will not be satisfied drives us to covet the possessions of others, to lust for sex and power, to become angry when our instinctive demands are threatened, to be envious when the ambitions of others seem to be realized while ours are not. We eat, drink, and grab for more of everything than we need, fearing we shall never have enough. And, with genuine alarm at the prospect of work, we stay lazy. We loaf and procrastinate, or at best work grudgingly and under half steam.

These fears are the termites that ceaselessly devour the foundations of whatever sort of life we try to build.

As Bill Sees It Page 196

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Just a Quote

“The heart of human excellence often begins to beat when you discover a pursuit that absorbs you, frees you, challenges you, or gives you a sense of meaning, joy, or passion.” ~ Terry Orlick