AA Thought For Today - August

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AA Thought for the Day

August 27

Humility
Perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble.
It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore;
to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me.
It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised,
it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door
and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace,
as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble.
- Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, p. 222

Thought to Ponder . . .
The storm has passed. I've learned a little more about peace.
It was inside all the time.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O P E = Hang On! Peace Exists.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~

Vision
"Vision is, I think, the ability to make good estimates,
both for the immediate and for the more distant future.
Some might feel this sort of striving to be a sort of heresy,
because we AA's are constantly telling ourselves,
'One day at a time.'
But that valuable principle really refers to our
mental and emotional lives and means chiefly
that we are not foolishly to repine over the past
nor wishfully to day-dream about the future. . .
Vision is therefore the very essence of prudence,
an essential virtue if ever there was one."
Bill W., 1962
1962AAWS, Twelve Concepts for World Service, 26th Printing, p. 40

Thought to Consider . . .
The road to recovery is always under construction.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
O D A A T = One Day At A Time

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

All I Could Think Of
From: "A Vision of Recovery"
While in a juvenile detention center about 500 miles from my home, I received word that my mother was dying of cancer. I was able to get a pass and return home to spend time with her. One evening my family asked me if I would stay home with my mother and give her the medicine she was required to take. I had already had a few drinks and was anxious to get out and party with my friends, but I reluctantly agreed to stay. Self-pity set in, and all I could think of was the good time I could have been having. I got very impatient with my mother, and when she refused to take her medicine, I almost forced it into her mouth; then I left to join my friends. The next morning I woke up in county jail, about 100 miles from home. I had attempted a break-and-enter, and was caught by the police.
That very evening, as I sat in jail, my mother died.
2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, page 495-496

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"AA membership cannot depend upon any particular belief whatever ... our Twelve Steps contain no article of religious faith except faith in God - as each of us understands him."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., September 1950
"We Came of Age"
The Language of the Heart

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect
produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they
admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the
true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only
normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless
they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes
at once by taking a few drinks, drinks which they see others
taking with impunity."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Doctor's Opinion, pg. xxviii~

"We commenced to make many fast friends and a fellowship has grown
up among us of which it is a wonderful thing to feel a part. The joy
of living we really have, even under pressure and difficulty."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, pg. 15~

“To get over drinking will require a transformation of thought and attitude.”
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 143

“Everywhere we saw failure and misery transformed by humility into priceless assets.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 75

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Men who cry for money and shelter as a condition of their sobriety are on the wrong track. Yet we sometimes do provide a new prospect with these very things - when it becomes clear that he is willing to place his recovery first.
It is not whether we shall give that is the question, but when and how to give. Whenever we put our work on a material plane, the alcoholic commences to rely upon alms rather than upon a Higher Power and the A.A. group. He continues to insist that he cannot master alcohol until his material needs are cared for.
Nonsense! Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: that, job or no job, wife or no wife, we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place material dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God.

Prayer for the Day: God, Help me to stop and remember that I've made a decision to let You be my God. Give me the right thoughts and actions. God save me from fear, anger, worry, self-pity or foolish decisions that Your will not mine be done.