![]() Links |
![]() Join |
![]() Forums |
![]() Find Help |
![]() Recovery Readings |
![]() Spiritual Meditations |
![]() Chat |
![]() Contact |
|
![]() |
#25 |
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 75,253
|
![]()
September 19
Daily Reflections ACCEPTANCE We admitted we couldn't lick alcohol with our own remaining resources, and so we accepted the further fact that dependence upon a Higher Power (if only our A.A. group) could do this hitherto impossible job. The moment we were able to accept these facts fully, our release from the alcohol compulsion had begun. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 109 Freedom came to me only with my acceptance that I could turn my will and my life over to the care of my Higher Power, whom I call God. Serenity seeped into the chaos of my life when I accepted that what I was going through was life, and that God would help me through my difficulties--and much more, as well. Since then He has helped me through all of my difficulties! When I accept situations as they are, not as I wish them to be, then I can begin to grow and have serenity and peace of mind. ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Let us continue with Steps Two, Three, and Eleven. We must turn to a Higher Power for help, because we are helpless ourselves. When we put our drink problem in God's hands and leave it there, we have made the most important decision of our lives. From then on, we trust God for the strength to keep sober. This takes us off the center of the universe and allows us to transfer our problems to a Power outside ourselves. By prayer and meditation, we seek to improve our conscious contract with God. We try to live each day the way we believe God wants us to live. Am I trusting God for the strength to stay sober? Meditation For The Day "These things have I spoken unto you, that your joy may be full." Even a partial realization of the spiritual life brings much joy. You feel at home in the world when you are in touch with the Divine Spirit of the universe. Spiritual experience brings a definite satisfaction. Search for the real meaning of life by following spiritual laws. God wants you to have spiritual success and He intends that you have it. If you live your life as much as possible according to spiritual laws, you can expect your share of joy and peace, satisfaction and success. Prayer For The Day I pray that I will find happiness in doing the right thing. I pray that I will find satisfaction in obeying spiritual laws. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It "Fearless and Searching", p.261 My self-analysis has frequently been faulty. Sometimes I've failed to share my defects with the right people; at other times, I've confessed their defects, rather than my own; and still other times, my confession of defects has been more in the nature of loud complaints about my circumstances and my problems. ******************************** When A.A. suggests a fearless moral inventory, it must seem to every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do. Every time he tries to look within himself, Pride says, "You need not pass this way," and Fear says, "You dare not look!" But pride and fear of this sort turn out to be bogymen, nothing else. Once we have a complete willingness to take inventory, and exert ourselves to do the job thoroughly, a wonderful light falls upon this foggy scene. As we persist, a brand-new kind of confidence is born, and the sense of relief at finally facing ourselves is indescribable. 1. Grapevine, June 1958 2. 12 & 12, pp.49-50 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Keep the common problem in view Maintaining It there's been one major change in AA, one old-timer observed, it's probably in group discussions. The focus today is far more on overcoming personal problems than in staying away form the first drink. "The early AA members were continuously concerned about the dangers of drinking," he said. "Members today are more concerned about their feelings and personal issues, such as relationships." This change has probably been an improvement, but it carries the risk that members will forget why they needed the program in the first place. For alcoholics, it is dangerous to let the problem with alcohol slide out of view. It is important to keep in mind at all times the life-or-death nature of our drinking problem. Even if we are not totally successful in dealing with our feelings or establishing harmonious relationships, it's always necessary to stay sober. Disaster is in that first drink, and let's keep that constantly in view. No matter how long I've been sober, I'll remind myself several times this day that I'm an alcoholic. I'll also remember that it's only sobriety that enables me to deal with my other problems. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned.---Alcoholics Anonymous We can’t control the present by looking into the future. We can only look back at the past. The past can teach us how to get more out of the present. But the past is to be learned from, not to be judged. As we look back, we see the troubles caused by addiction. But we also see recovery. We see how our lives are better. We see our Higher Power’s work in our lives. If we honestly look at our past, we learn. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me learn from the past. With Your help, I’ll stop judging my past, just as I wouldn’t judge those who have gone before me. Action for the Day: Today, I’ll remember my life before I got sober. Do I still hang on to attitudes or behaviors that might make me start to use alcohol and other drugs again? ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning ...concern should drive us into action and not into depression. --Karen Horney The role of victim is all too familiar to many of us. Life did us injustices --we thought. And we passively waited for circumstances to change. With the bottle we waited, or maybe the little white pills. Nothing was our fault. That we were willing participants to victimization is an awareness not easily accepted, but true nonetheless. Victims no more, we are actors, now. And since committing ourselves to this program, we have readily available a willing and very able director for our role in life. Every event invites an action, and we have opted for the responsible life. Depression may be on the fringes of our consciousness today. But it need not become our state of mind. The antidote is and always will be action, responsible action. Every concern, every experience wants our attention, our active attention. Today stretches before me, an unknown quantity. Concerns will crowd upon me, but guidance regarding the best action to take is always available to me. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition WE AGNOSTICS The Wright brothers’ almost childish faith that they could build a machine which would fly was the mainspring of their accomplishment. Without that, nothing could have happened. We agnostics and atheists were sticking to the idea that self-sufficiency would solve our problems. When others showed us that “God-sufficiency" worked with them, we began to feel like those who had insisted the Wrights would never fly. pp. 52-53 ************************************************** ********* Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Step Eleven - "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." When, by such simple devices, we have placed ourselves in a mood in which we can focus undisturbed on constructive imagination, we might proceed like this: Once more we read our prayer, and again try to see what its inner essence is. We'll think now about the man who first uttered the prayer. First of all, he wanted to become a "channel." Then he asked for the grace to bring love, forgiveness, harmony, truth, faith, hope, light, and joy to every human being he could. pp. 100-101 ************************************************** ********* If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, you have no today for which you can be thankful. --Anonymous Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well. --Josh Billings "I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches." --Alice Roosevelt Longworth In each of our lives, for whatever reason, there are times that we are faced with things that just don't make sense to us. And the more we struggle to understand our hardships, the less any of it makes sense. I have found that in every challenge and obstacle that we are faced with there *can* be good that can come from it! While it's almost never easy to identify, I assure you that it is there lying dormant just waiting for us to release it! I urge everyone to spend your days looking for positives in your life. --Josh Hinds from The Inspiration a Day! April 8, 1998 Whate'er we leave to God, God does and blesses us. --Henry David Thoreau *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation SUICIDE "Often the test of courage is not to die but to live." -- Conte Vittorio Alfieri There are many ways of committing suicide. The obvious way is to take your life -- the ultimate escape. One can reach that point in life when there seems no hope, no purpose in living and death is attractive. Many alcoholics and addicts reach this point of despair. However, there is a more subtle way of "suicide", which is to kill yourself slowly -- by a sick behavior and a negative attitude. I was "dying" in a lifestyle that revolved around alcohol. All I wanted to do was drink -- I didn't want to go anywhere, be with anyone or enjoy the thousand and one pleasures that life offers. I was dying in my life. I was becoming a "walking zombie". I was committing suicide by degrees! Today I can see this and I am glad I had the courage to live. My act of courage began with my "no" to alcohol. Let me continue to live in my life. ************************************************** ********* The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1 A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. Psalm 37:10-13 "Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Psalm 25:4-5 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." John 15:13-15 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Are you too busy wishing away your day to get what you really want? Lord, help me set goals and find the means to achieve what is important to me. God has given each of us many talents and abilities. To use them reflects our commitment to Him. Lord, help me find new ways to use the talents that You've given me.
__________________
![]() "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. |
![]() |
![]() |
The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to bluidkiti For Sharing: |
![]() ![]() |
Bookmarks |
Tags |
daily recovery readings, recovery |
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 32 (0 members and 32 guests) | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
More Recovery Readings - September | bluidkiti | Daily Recovery Readings | 29 | 09-29-2013 11:09 AM |
Daily Recovery Readings - June | bluidkiti | Daily Recovery Readings Archive | 29 | 09-14-2013 12:38 PM |
Daily Recovery Readings - August | bluidkiti | Daily Recovery Readings Archive | 36 | 09-01-2013 12:07 AM |
DAILY RECOVERY READINGS FOR MEN | MajestyJo | Daily Recovery Readings Archive | 31 | 08-31-2013 06:30 PM |
Daily Recovery Readings - July | bluidkiti | Daily Recovery Readings Archive | 30 | 08-08-2013 12:32 PM |