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#33 |
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Join Date: Aug 2013
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September 25
Daily Reflections FIRST THINGS FIRST Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job -- wife or no wife -- we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 98 Before coming to A.A., I always had excuses for taking a drink: "She said . . . , " "He said . . . ," "I got fired yesterday," "I got a great job today." No area of my life could be good if I drank again. In sobriety my life gets better each day. I must always remember not to drink, to trust God, and to stay active in A.A. Am I putting anything before my sobriety, God, and A.A. today? ************************************************** ********* Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Let us consider the term "spiritual experience" as given in Appendix II of the Big Book: "A spiritual experience is something that brings about a personality change. By surrendering our lives to God as we understand Him, we are changed. The nature of this change is evident in recovered alcoholics. This personality change is not necessarily in the nature of a sudden and spectacular upheaval. We do no need to acquire an immediate and overwhelming God-consciousness followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook. In most cases, the change is gradual." Do I see a gradual and continuing change in myself? Meditation For The Day "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." For rest from the care of life, you can turn to God each day in prayer and communion. Real relaxation and serenity comes from a deep sense of the fundamental goodness of the universe. God's everlasting arms are underneath all and will support you. Commune with God, not so much for petitions to be granted as for the rest that comes from relying on His will and His purposes for your life. Be sure of God's strength available to you, be conscious of His support, and wait quietly until that true rest from God fills your being. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may be conscious of God's support today. I pray that I may rest safe and sure therein. ************************************************** ********* As Bill Sees It Behind Our Excuses, p.267 As excuse-makers and rationalizers, we drunks are champions. It is the business of the psychiatrist to find the deeper causes for our conduct. Though uninstructed in psychiatry, we can, after a little time in A.A., see that our motives have not been what we thought they were, and that we have been motivated by forces previously unknown to us. Therefore we ought to look, with the deepest respect, interest, and profit, upon the example set us by psychiatry. ******************************** "Spiritual growth through the practice of A.A.'s Twelve Steps, plus the aid of a good sponsor, can usually reveal most of the deeper reasons for our character defects, at least to a degree that meets our practical needs. Nevertheless, we should be grateful that our friends in psychiatry have so strongly emphasized the necessity to search for false and often unconscious motivations." 1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p.236 2. Letter, 1966 ************************************************** ********* Walk In Dry Places Willingness to listen Willingness Why is it that we'll accept information from some people but not from others? Many people tried to advise us while we were drinking; why would we listen only to recovering alcoholics? We can't answer that question, except to say that most human beings are willing to listen only to certain people at certain times. That's why business organizations have to select sales people carefully; customers will respond to some people, but not to others. As we grow in sobriety, however, we develop the willingness to listen to people we would have once avoided. We can find wonderful ideas in all sorts of places and from all types of people. As we become more open-minded and willing, we can listen more and learn more. My prejudices and fears of the past kept me from listening to people who would have helped me. I'll be more open-minded and willing today. ************************************************** ********* Keep It Simple Martyrs set bad examples---David Russell Sometimes we call people “martyrs.” We sometimes think of them as victims. They suffer, but sometimes not for a cause. They play “poor me.” They want people to notice how much they suffer. They are afraid to really live. These are the people who set bad examples. True martyrs died for causes they believed in. We remember them because they were so full of energy and spirit. Recovery helps us live better. Let’s go for it! Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thanks for giving me energy and for healing my spirit. Help me live fully by putting my life in Your care. Action for the Day: What kind of example do I set? Does my life reflect joy for life and recovery? ************************************************** ********* Each Day a New Beginning ...we do not always like what is good for us in this world. --Eleanor Roosevelt Most of us can look back and recall how we fought a particular change. How certain we were that we wouldn't survive the upheaval! Perhaps we lost a love or were forced to leave a home or a job. Retrospect allows us to see the good of the change, and we can see the necessary part each change has played in our development as recovering women. We've had to change to cover the distances we've traveled. And we'll have to continue changing. The program and its structure, and our faith in that structure, can ease the harsh consequences of change. Our higher power wants only the best for us, of that we can be sure. However, the best may not always "fit" when first we try it. Patience, trust, and prayer are a winning combination when the time comes for us to accept a change. We'll know when it's coming. Our present circumstances will begin to pinch. Change means growth. It's a time for celebration, not dread. It means I am ready to move ahead--that I have "passed" the current test. ************************************************** ********* Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition WE AGNOSTICS Hence, we saw that reason isn’t everything. Neither is reason, as most of us use it, entirely dependable, thought it emanate from our best minds. What about people who proved that man could never fly? Yet we had been seeing another kind of flight, a spiritual liberation from this world, people who rose above their problems. They said God made these things possible, and we only smiled. We had seen spiritual release, but liked to tell ourselves it wasn’t true. pp. 54-55 ************************************************** ********* 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." Of course, it is reasonable and understandable that the question is often asked: "Why can't we take a specific and troubling dilemma straight to God, and in prayer secure from Him sure and definite answers to our requests?" This can be done, but it has hazards. We have seen A.A.'s ask with much earnestness and faith for God's explicit guidance on matters ranging all the way from a shattering domestic or financial crisis to correcting a minor personal fault, like tardiness. Quite often, however, the thoughts that seem to come from God are not answers at all. They prove to be well-intentioned unconscious rationalizations. The A.A., or indeed any man, who tries to run his life rigidly by this kind of prayer, by this self-serving demand of God for replies, is a particularly disconcerting individual. To any questioning or criticism of his actions he instantly proffers his reliance upon prayer for guidance in all matters great or small. He may have forgotten the possibility that his own wishful thinking and the human tendency to rationalize have distorted his so-called guidance. With the best of intentions, he tends to force his own will into all sorts of situations and problems with the comfortable assurance that he is acting under God's specific direction. Under such an illusion, he can of course create great havoc without in the least intending it. pp. 103-104 ************************************************** ********* One should not give up, neglect, or forget for a moment his inner life, but he must learn to work in it, with it, and out of it, so that the unity of his soul may break out in all his activities. --Meister Eckhart All people, have goodness in their hearts and greatness in their souls. --Shelley The more I let go of my own suffering and self-pity, I can see those around me with the eyes of love and compassion. I am becoming more aware of other people's pain and unhappiness today and I will reach out to them in loving ways that heal me while helping them to heal. --Ruth Fishel Today I am living in the moment, instead of living for a moment. "Don't go through life, GROW through life." --Eric Butterworth If you hang out in a barber shop long enough, you are going to get a haircut. *********************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation PRAYER "Prayer is not asking. It is a language of the soul." -- Mohandas Gandhi At school I was told that prayer is "talking to God". Then I discovered that prayer is more than this -- prayer is a relationship with God. It is a two-way system -- I talk to God but I must also listen to Him. Like any relationship that is going to work and grow, it needs time. I must spend time developing my relationship with God. I must create an awareness of his presence in my life because I believe He is always there for me. But more than this, prayer is a yearning for truth within the center of my being. In prayer I get in touch with that part of me that will be forever restless until it finds rest, eternal rest, in Him. O God, prayer is my journey into You. ************************************************** ********* How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony. Psalm 133:1 "Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called ... bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3 "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord." Romans 12:9-11 ************************************************** ********* Daily Inspiration Every decision we make is not critical nor is every mistake fatal. Lord, help me keep things in perspective and avoid the panic such thinking creates. Take time to learn from the mistakes of others. We don't have time to make all of them ourselves. Lord, guide me onto paths that lead me to You.
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![]() "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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