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01-30-2014, 11:09 AM | #31 |
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 74,250
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January 31
Daily Reflections OUR COMMON WELFARE COMES FIRST The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has. . . . We stay whole, or A.A. dies. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 129 Our Traditions are key elements in the ego deflation process necessary to achieve and maintain sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. The First Tradition reminds me not to take credit, or authority, for my recovery. Placing our common welfare first reminds me not to become a healer in this program; I am still one of the patients. Self-effacing elders built the ward. Without it, I doubt I would be alive. Without the group, few alcoholics would recover. The active role in renewed surrender of will enables me to step aside from the need to dominate, the desire for recognition, both of which played so great a part in my active alcoholism. Deferring my personal desires for the greater good of group growth contributes toward A.A. unity that is central to all recovery. It helps me to remember that the whole is greater than the sum of all its parts. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Drinking cuts you off from God. No matter how you were brought up, no matter what your religion is, no matter if you say you believe in God, nevertheless you build up a wall between you and God by your drinking. You know you're not living the way God wants you to. As a result, you have that terrible remorse. When you come into A.A., you begin to get right with other people and with God. A sober life is a happy life, because by giving up drinking we've got rid of our loneliness and remorse. Do I have real fellowship with other people and with God? Meditation For The Day I believe that all sacrifice and all suffering is of value to me. When I am in pain, I am being tested. Can I trust God, no matter how I feel? Can I say Thy will be done, no matter how much I am defeated? If I can, my faith is real and practical. It works in bad times as well as in good times. The Divine Will is working in a way that is beyond my finite mind to understand, but I can still trust in it. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may take my suffering in my stride. I pray that I may accept pain and defeat as part of God's plan for my spiritual growth. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It In God's Economy, p. 31 "In God's economy, nothing is wasted. through failure, we learn a lesson in humility which is probably needed, painful though it is." << << << >> >> >> We did not always come closer to wisdom by reason of our virtues; our better understanding is often rooted in the pains of our former follies. Because this has been the essence of our individual experience, it is also the essence of our experience as a fellowship. 1. Letter, 1942 2. Grapevine, November 1961 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Open-mindedness Means Growth___Facing Change While open-mindedness is supposedly virtuous, many of us have difficulty with it. In our drinking, we continued to suffer because we were unwilling to believe that anything could relieve us of our condition. We also feared that change would diminish us. Our great liberation came in opening up our minds to new ideas. This same process might be needed to sober living. We may have an investment in old attitudes and ideas that are keeping us from constructive growth. Without giving up our attitudes immediately, we can at least give new ideas hones consideration and study. True open-mindedness does not mean empty-mindedness. We still can have strong convictions, consistent values, and definite opinions. But in the spirit of open-mindedness, we should continuously reexamine our views and adopt new ideas for improvement and growth. Open-mindedness helped bring us to sobriety. It can also open the doors to other blessings that will bring enrichment and happiness. I will be open-minded and curious today. New ideas can bring wonderful benefits to me if I am willing to consider them. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Do not cut down the tree that gives you shade.---Arabian proverb We need to remember what got us well. The Twelve Steps heal us. The meetings we attend heal us. Reading and listening to program tapes heals us. Talking with our sponsors heals us. The time we spend with program friends heals us. Sometimes we're pressed for time. As a result, we have to make choices about how to use our time. We may think we know enough about the program. We may feel like cutting down on meetings. These are danger signs. We only know how to stay sober One Day at a Time: by working the Steps. Let's not forget them as we grow in this program. It may seem like we've been recovering a long time, but we're all beginners. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I've found You in the program. Help me find ways to stay a "beginner" in the program. Action for the Day: Today, I'll take time to read the Twelve Steps. I'll meditate on how much these Steps have given me. ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression. --Margaret Sanger Our desire to grow, to make a place for ourselves in the world of our friends, to know that we have counted in the lives of others, is healthy and necessary to our existence as whole women. The inner urging to move ahead, to try a new approach to an old problem, to go after a new job, to learn a new skill, is evidence of God's eternal Spirit within. Our meaning in this life is found through following the guidance that beckons us toward these new horizons, perhaps new friends, even new locations. We can trust the urge. We can reverence the urge. It will not lead us astray, provided we do not try to lead it. We each have a special gift to express in this life among those to whom we've been led. For years, many of us quelled the inner urge out of fear; but, fortunately, it didn't desert us. To be human is to have a constant desire to be more than we are. The fears still come, but as we move through them, with the support of other women, other friends, the program gives us the thrill of achievement. We know there is meaning in our existence. The need to grow, to change, to affect the world around us is part of God's plan for each of us. I will trust the urge; I will let it guide my steps. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Chapter 7 - WORKING WITH OTHERS When working with a man and his family, you should take care not to participate in their quarrels. You may spoil your chance of being helpful if you do. But urge upon a man’s family that he has been a very sick person and should be treated accordingly. You should warn against arousing resentment or jealousy. You should point out that his defects of character are not going to disappear over night. Show them that he has entered upon a period of growth. Ask them to remember, when they are impatient, the blessed fact of his sobriety. p. 100 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Tradition Eight - "Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers." Alcoholics simply will not listen to a paid twelfth-stepper. Almost from the beginning, we have been positive that face-to-face work with the alcoholic who suffers could be based only on the desire to help and be helped. When an A.A. talks for money, whether at a meeting or to a single newcomer, it can have a very bad effect on him, too. The money motive compromises him and everything he says and does for his prospect. This has always been so obvious that only a very few A.A.'s have ever worked the Twelfth Step for a fee. p. 166 ************************************************** ********* Half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge on which to base a decision. --Dean Hawkes Joy isn't the absence of pain - it's the presence of God. Life is a mirror: If you frown at it, it frowns back; If you smile it returns the greeting. --Thackeray Today I get to try to be a good example of a good example. In the past all I could be was a good example of a bad example. --unknown The most important person in the room is sitting in my chair. The second most important person in the room is sitting in your chair. --unknown Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in the past. Maintaining my spiritual condition is like building a spiritual bank account, upon which I can draw. The problem is, I never get a statement from the bank, so I have to be careful to keep putting in, or some dark day I'll find myself overdrawn. --unknown ************************************************** ********* Father Leo's Daily Meditation WAR "We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world --- or to make it the last." -- John F. Kennedy War is tragic because it always destroys; it kills creation itself. People, buildings, relationships, trust, hope, culture, history, youth --- they all disappear behind a puff of smoke. The immensity of war is such that it cannot be fully comprehended. Only isolated aspects can be understood: a child is maimed, a treaty is broken, a race is blamed, bullets are heard and a history that existed within a human life is ended in silence. Addiction is a kind of war --- a silent war that exists within an individual and family. People, trust, buildings, hope, culture, history and youth disappear behind a glass or a pill. Creation is attacked from the inside; God is forgotten in an act of destructive selfishness. Teach me to make peace in my life. ************************************************** ********* "God is my strength and my power, and He makes my way perfect." 2 Samuel 22:33 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to God. Matthews 5:16 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Today can be your best day. This power is yours alone. Thank you, Lord, for this glorious day. Greet all with gentleness and kindness so that all will know that you know Your God and will want to know Him too. Lord, may I be an instrument of Your peace.
__________________
"No matter what you have done up to this moment, you get 24 brand-new hours to spend every single day." --Brian Tracy
AA gives us an opportunity to recreate ourselves, with God's help, one day at a time. --Rufus K. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. --Franklin D. Roosevelt We stay sober and clean together - one day at a time! God says that each of us is worth loving. |
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