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God grant me the
Serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Thy will, not mine, be done.
June 24, 2009
Daily
Reflections
A SPIRITUAL KINDERGARTEN
We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which
people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace
to go on living to better effect.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 95
When I came to A. A., I was run down by the bottle and
wanted to lose the obsession to drink, but I didn't really
know how to do that. I decided to stick around long enough
to find out from the ones who went before me. All of a
sudden I was thinking about God! I was told to get a Higher
Power and I had no idea what one looked like. I found out
there are many Higher Powers. I was told to find God, as I
understand Him, that there was no doctrine of the Godhead
in A.A. I found what worked for me and then asked that
Power to restore me to sanity. The obsession to drink was
removed and--one day at a time--my life went on, and I
learned how to live sober.
***********************************************************
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Alcohol is our weakness. We suffer from mental conflicts
from which we look for escape by drowning our problems in
drink. We try through drink to push away from the realities
of life. But alcohol does not feed, alcohol does not build,
it only borrows from the future and it ultimately destroys.
We try to drown our feelings in order to escape life's
realities, little realizing or caring that in continued
drinking we are only multiplying our problems. Have I got
control over my unstable emotions?
Meditation For The Day
When I let personal piques and resentments interfere with
what I know to be my proper conduct, I am on the wrong track
and I am undoing all I have built up by doing the right
thing. I must never let personal piques interfere with
living the way I know God wants me to live. When I have no
clear guidance from God, I must go forward quietly along the
path of duty. The attitude of quiet faith will receive its
reward as surely as acting upon God's direct guidance. I must
not weaken my spiritual power by letting personal piques
upset me.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may not let myself become too upset. I pray that
I may go quietly along the path I have chosen.
***********************************************************
As Bill Sees It
Aspects of Tolerance, p. 175
All kinds of people have found their way into A.A. Not too long ago, I sat talking in my
office with a member who bears the title of Countess. That same night, I went to an A.A.
meeting. It was winter, and there was a mild-looking little gent taking the coats. I said,
"Who's that?"
And somebody answered, "Oh, he's been around for a long time. Everybody likes him.
He used to be one of Al Capone's mob." That's how universal A.A. is today.
<< << << >> >> >>
We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can
be acquired. All of us, whatever our race, creed, or color, are the children of a living
Creator, with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms
as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try.
1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 102
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 28
***********************************************************
Walk In Dry Places
Expressing gratitude
Self Improvement
How can we express gratitude when we feel it? We can begin by simply using the proper forms of courtesy at all times; this reminds us that we can't live without other people.
The best way to express gratitude, however, is to "ass on" the good that has come to us. This is more effective when we share ideas and experiences that have helped us on the way to self-improvement.
It's also a good idea to dismiss thoughts and statements that are forms of prideful boasting. Even telling people how hard we've worked for the 12 Step program can detract from our gratitude. And never, under any circumstances, should we put others under obligation to us.
I'll discover ways to express my gratitude today. I'll know that my best way of doing it is to pass on good ideas to others.
***********************************************************
Keep It Simple
Beauty is gift of God.---Aristotle
In our addiction, we often went after what was ugly in life. Maybe we hung out in bad places.
Maybe we saw people's defects instead of their beauty. Addiction is ugly, painful disease. The worst part of addiction is how it doesn't let us see beauty in the world.
There is much beauty in each of us. Recovery is beautiful. Our stories are beautiful. The way we help each other is beautiful. The way we become loving family members is beautiful. But sometimes, we may still see the world as ugly. At these times, we need to turn to our program.
Maybe we need to help someone by working Step Twelve. Maybe we need ask to give the Step at our meeting. Maybe we just need to read the Big Book. Whatever we do, one thing is sure--- if we turn to our program, we'll see how beautiful the world is.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see beautiful today. Help me be beautiful today.
Action for the Day: Today I'll let myself feel beautiful. I'll see recovery as beautiful.
***********************************************************
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
Chapter 7 - WORKING WITH OTHERS
Usually the family should not try to tell your story. When possible, avoid meeting a man through his family. Approach through a doctor or an institution is a better bet. If your man needs hospitalization, he should have it, but not forcibly unless he is violent. Let the doctor, if he will, tell him he has something in the way of a solution.
p. 91
***********************************************************
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."
Next came the expression of an aspiration and a hope for himself. He hoped, God willing, that he might be able to find some of these treasures, too. This he would try to do by what he called self-forgetting. What did he mean by "self forgetting," and how did he propose to accomplish that?
He thought it better to give comfort than to receive it; better to understand than to be understood; better to forgive than to be forgiven.
p. 101
***********************************************************
God, today I give you all of the guilt from my past. Take it from me,
and allow me to begin fresh right now. Help me make the amends I
need to make, then let my guilt go.
--Melody Beattie
"Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes
revenge, and dares forgive an injury."
-- E. H. Chapin
The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare
up the steps; we must step up the stairs.
--Vance Havner
Trust, faith, love of God, makes light all my burdens.
--SweetyZee
"It's not the load that breaks you down...it's the way you carry it."
--unknown
Worry about tomorrow saps today of its strength.
--unknown
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
PERFECTION
"I have offended God and
mankind because my work didn't
reach the quality it should
have."
--Leonardo da Vinci
How I used to beat myself up! I was not good enough. I was not
attractive enough. I could not speak properly. I was too small. My
family was not prestigious enough. I was boring. My breath smelled,
etc., etc. I never saw my value in life. I could never see beyond my
failings into my God-given virtues. Sin was all too evident in my life!
Today I catch an egotism in my past criticism of self and others! Who
was I to think I should be perfect? I could find fault with the Archangel
Gabriel if he came to be my neighbor. My compulsive disease
extended beyond drugs to negative attitudes about life.
Today I see my value. Sobriety has restored my dignity. Today I am in
touch with that part of me that is noble. Today in my sobriety I am a
spiritual somebody, not a nobody.
Let my desire for "perfection" be tempered by reality.
***********************************************************
"Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you
apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." "Ah, Sovereign
LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." But the
LORD said to me, "Do not say, `I am only a child.' You must go to
everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid
of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.
Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me,
"Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over
nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow,
to build and to plant." Jeremiah 1:5-10
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with
an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build
you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will
take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.
Jeremiah 31:3-4
***********************************************************
Daily Inspiration
You will have an easier time keeping your thoughts positive if you look for good in every situation. Lord, help me change my focus and develop an awareness that situations often have more good in them than bad.
If you live in the light of God, He will bless the work of your hands and you will see your efforts flourish. Lord, I am your servant. I do my daily work for You and I am filled with peace.
A SPIRITUAL KINDERGARTEN
We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which
people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace
to go on living to better effect.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 95
When I came to A. A., I was run down by the bottle and
wanted to lose the obsession to drink, but I didn't really
know how to do that. I decided to stick around long enough
to find out from the ones who went before me. All of a
sudden I was thinking about God! I was told to get a Higher
Power and I had no idea what one looked like. I found out
there are many Higher Powers. I was told to find God, as I
understand Him, that there was no doctrine of the Godhead
in A.A. I found what worked for me and then asked that
Power to restore me to sanity. The obsession to drink was
removed and--one day at a time--my life went on, and I
learned how to live sober.
************
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Alcohol is our weakness. We suffer from mental conflicts
from which we look for escape by drowning our problems in
drink. We try through drink to push away from the realities
of life. But alcohol does not feed, alcohol does not build,
it only borrows from the future and it ultimately destroys.
We try to drown our feelings in order to escape life's
realities, little realizing or caring that in continued
drinking we are only multiplying our problems. Have I got
control over my unstable emotions?
Meditation For The Day
When I let personal piques and resentments interfere with
what I know to be my proper conduct, I am on the wrong track
and I am undoing all I have built up by doing the right
thing. I must never let personal piques interfere with
living the way I know God wants me to live. When I have no
clear guidance from God, I must go forward quietly along the
path of duty. The attitude of quiet faith will receive its
reward as surely as acting upon God's direct guidance. I must
not weaken my spiritual power by letting personal piques
upset me.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may not let myself become too upset. I pray that
I may go quietly along the path I have chosen.
************
As Bill Sees It
Aspects of Tolerance, p. 175
All kinds of people have found their way into A.A. Not too long ago, I sat talking in my
office with a member who bears the title of Countess. That same night, I went to an A.A.
meeting. It was winter, and there was a mild-looking little gent taking the coats. I said,
"Who's that?"
And somebody answered, "Oh, he's been around for a long time. Everybody likes him.
He used to be one of Al Capone's mob." That's how universal A.A. is today.
<< << << >> >> >>
We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can
be acquired. All of us, whatever our race, creed, or color, are the children of a living
Creator, with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms
as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try.
1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 102
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 28
************
Expressing gratitude
Self Improvement
How can we express gratitude when we feel it? We can begin by simply using the proper forms of courtesy at all times; this reminds us that we can't live without other people.
The best way to express gratitude, however, is to "ass on" the good that has come to us. This is more effective when we share ideas and experiences that have helped us on the way to self-improvement.
It's also a good idea to dismiss thoughts and statements that are forms of prideful boasting. Even telling people how hard we've worked for the 12 Step program can detract from our gratitude. And never, under any circumstances, should we put others under obligation to us.
I'll discover ways to express my gratitude today. I'll know that my best way of doing it is to pass on good ideas to others.
************
Beauty is gift of God.---Aristotle
In our addiction, we often went after what was ugly in life. Maybe we hung out in bad places.
Maybe we saw people's defects instead of their beauty. Addiction is ugly, painful disease. The worst part of addiction is how it doesn't let us see beauty in the world.
There is much beauty in each of us. Recovery is beautiful. Our stories are beautiful. The way we help each other is beautiful. The way we become loving family members is beautiful. But sometimes, we may still see the world as ugly. At these times, we need to turn to our program.
Maybe we need to help someone by working Step Twelve. Maybe we need ask to give the Step at our meeting. Maybe we just need to read the Big Book. Whatever we do, one thing is sure--- if we turn to our program, we'll see how beautiful the world is.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see beautiful today. Help me be beautiful today.
Action for the Day: Today I'll let myself feel beautiful. I'll see recovery as beautiful.
************
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
Chapter 7 - WORKING WITH OTHERS
Usually the family should not try to tell your story. When possible, avoid meeting a man through his family. Approach through a doctor or an institution is a better bet. If your man needs hospitalization, he should have it, but not forcibly unless he is violent. Let the doctor, if he will, tell him he has something in the way of a solution.
p. 91
************
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."
Next came the expression of an aspiration and a hope for himself. He hoped, God willing, that he might be able to find some of these treasures, too. This he would try to do by what he called self-forgetting. What did he mean by "self forgetting," and how did he propose to accomplish that?
He thought it better to give comfort than to receive it; better to understand than to be understood; better to forgive than to be forgiven.
p. 101
************
and allow me to begin fresh right now. Help me make the amends I
need to make, then let my guilt go.
--Melody Beattie
"Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes
revenge, and dares forgive an injury."
-- E. H. Chapin
The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare
up the steps; we must step up the stairs.
--Vance Havner
Trust, faith, love of God, makes light all my burdens.
--SweetyZee
"It's not the load that breaks you down...it's the way you carry it."
--unknown
Worry about tomorrow saps today of its strength.
--unknown
************
PERFECTION
"I have offended God and
mankind because my work didn't
reach the quality it should
have."
--Leonardo da Vinci
How I used to beat myself up! I was not good enough. I was not
attractive enough. I could not speak properly. I was too small. My
family was not prestigious enough. I was boring. My breath smelled,
etc., etc. I never saw my value in life. I could never see beyond my
failings into my God-given virtues. Sin was all too evident in my life!
Today I catch an egotism in my past criticism of self and others! Who
was I to think I should be perfect? I could find fault with the Archangel
Gabriel if he came to be my neighbor. My compulsive disease
extended beyond drugs to negative attitudes about life.
Today I see my value. Sobriety has restored my dignity. Today I am in
touch with that part of me that is noble. Today in my sobriety I am a
spiritual somebody, not a nobody.
Let my desire for "perfection" be tempered by reality.
************
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with
an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build
you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will
take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.
Jeremiah 31:3-4
************
You will have an easier time keeping your thoughts positive if you look for good in every situation. Lord, help me change my focus and develop an awareness that situations often have more good in them than bad.
If you live in the light of God, He will bless the work of your hands and you will see your efforts flourish. Lord, I am your servant. I do my daily work for You and I am filled with peace.
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7
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