Daily Readings for Tuesday March, 13
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Daily Readings for Tuesday March, 13
March 13
Daily Reflections
A WORLD OF THE SPIRIT
We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next
function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness.
This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for
our lifetime.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84
The word "entered" . . . and the phrase "entered into
the world of the Spirit" are very significant. They
imply action, a beginning, getting into, a prerequisite
to maintaining my spiritual growth, the "Spirit" being
the immaterial part of me. Barriers to my spiritual
growth are self-centeredness and a materialistic focus
on worldly things. Spirituality means devotion to
spiritual rather than worldly things, it means obedience
to God's will for me. I understand spiritual things to
be: unconditional love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, self-control and humility. Any time I
allow selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear to
be a part of me, I block out spiritual things. As I
maintain my sobriety, growing spiritually becomes a
lifelong process. My goal is spiritual growth, accepting
that I'll never have spiritual perfection.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
We've got rid of our false, drinking selves and found our
real, sober selves. And we turn to God, our Father, for
help, just as the Prodigal Son arose and went to his
father. At the end of the story, the father of the
Prodigal Son says: "He was dead and is alive again, he
was lost and he is found." We alcoholics who have found
sobriety in A.A. were certainly dead and are alive again.
We were lost and are found. Am I alive again?
Meditation For The Day
Gently breathe in God's spirit, that spirit which, if not
barred out of selfishness, will enable you to do good works.
This means rather that God will be enabled to do good works
through you. You can become a channel for God's spirit to
flow through you and into the lives of others. The works
that you can do will only be limited by your spiritual
development. Let your spirit be in harmony with God's spirit
and there is no limit to what you can do in the realm of
human relationships.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may become a channel for God's spirit.
I pray that God's spirit may flow through me and into the
lives of others.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Dependence--Unhealthy or Healthy, p. 72
"Nothing can be more demoralizing than a clinging and abject
dependence upon another human being. This often amounts to the
demand for a degree of protection and love that no one could possibly
satisfy. So our hoped-for protectors finally flee, and once more we
are left alone--either to grow up or to disintegrate."
<< << << >> >> >>
We discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be
God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice,
forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where
nothing else would.
If we really depended upon God, we couldn't very well play God to
our fellows, nor would we feel the urge to rely wholly on human
protection and care.
1. Letter, 1966
2. 12 & 12, p. 116
************************************************** *********
Walk in Dry Places
Believing In Justice____Justice
"What goes around, comes around," is a popular saying. It's often used to suggest that certain arrogant, unprincipled people will eventually receive their comeuppance. It conveys the idea that there's a hidden justice at work in human affairs that assures all injustice will eventually be punished.
But if it works to punish, this hidden justice also rewards right actions, and this is more important in our working of the program. If we act from good motives, we'll always find that our work is rewarded in some way. No alcoholic who performs a service in the fellowship goes unrewarded. Quite often the reward is simply a personal sense of well-being and growth in character, but these may be more important than money or recognition.
Justice is one of the cardinal virtues--a Godlike attribute that human beings strive to understand. Believing in justice is believing in the Hidden Power that orders justice in all things.
I'll view my world today as something that is controlled and ordered by a Just Power. Reward and retribution are built into the scheme of things, but I'll focus more on actions that bring the right kind of rewards.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
God loves the world through us---Mother Teresa
In Step Three, we turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. How do we feel God's care, God's love? We feel God's care and love through how people treat us. Our Higher Power works through people who love us back to life. With time, we begin returning this care and love to others. We feel this warm love flow right through us and out to others. We're kind without trying to be. We smile at others for no reason. We comfort those who hurt just by holding them.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, use me to make Your love real to someone today.
Action for the Day: Fear sometimes keeps me from loving. I'll list three things I'm afraid will happen if I'm "to loving."
I'll share these fears with my sponsor.
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning
People need joy. Quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more. --Margaret Collier Graham
Life is not without pain and travail. They are necessary to new awareness which prompts growth. And the gift of growth is joy. Pain and joy are thus intertwined. It is possible to feel only the burden of pain and not the exhilaration of joy, however.
Before seeking help to change our lives, many of us were heavily burdened by pain. But we were unable to open ourselves to the knowledge made possible by that pain. We were on a treadmill, accumulating painful experiences at every step, unable to capture the joy that was ever present.
We can have hope. Joy does await each of us today. We must open our eyes to it, just as we must open our hearts to one another. We must be willing to peel away the layers of pain to expose the core, the seedling of joy. And we need joy in our lives, just as surely as we need rest and a good diet. We need the light heart that joy fosters for a better perspective on the many experiences we'll face today, and every day.
Recovery has given me this new option. It guarantees me that every hurdle will be lightened. The knowledge that joy is inherent, within every experience, is mine, now and forever.
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
Chapter 5 - HOW IT WORKS
On our grudge list we set opposite each name our injuries. Was it our self-esteem, our security, our ambitions, our personal, or sex relations, which had been interfered with?
p. 65
************************************************** *********
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories
The Man Who Mastered Fear
He spent eighteen years in running away, and then found he didn't have to run. So he started A.A. in Detroit.
Within a year of my return to Detroit, A.A. was a definitely established little group of about a dozen members, and I too was established in a modest but steady job handling an independent dry-cleaning route of my own. I was my own boss. It took five years of A.A. living, and a substantial improvement in my health, before I could take a full-time office job where someone else was boss.
pp. 254-255
************************************************** *********
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."
AUTONOMY is a ten-dollar word. But in relation to us, it means very simply that every A.A. group can manage its affairs exactly as it pleases, except when A.A. as a whole is threatened. Comes now the same question raised in Tradition One. Isn't such liberty foolishly dangerous?
Over the years, every conceivable deviation from our Twelve Steps and Traditions has been tried. That was sure to be, since we are so largely a band of ego-driven individualists. Children of chaos, we have defiantly played with every brand of fire, only to emerge unharmed and, we think, wiser. These very deviations created a vast process of trial and error which, under the grace of God, has brought us to where we stand today.
p. 146
************************************************** *********
The solution is simple.
The solution is spiritual.
You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the
circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change
yourself. That is something you have charge of.
--Jim Rohn
"Happiness is not in our circumstances, but in ourselves."
--John B. Sheerin
"Nothing is worth more than this day."
--Goethe
"It is a sign of strength, not of weakness, to admit that you don't know all the answers."
--John P. Lougbrane
************************************************** *********
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
BALANCE
"There are two ways to slide easily
through life: To believe everything
or to doubt everything. Both ways
save us from thinking."
-- Alfred Korzybski
This statement is so true for me. I was so compulsive and obsessive
not only about the things that I believed in but also about the things I
didn't believe in. I was extreme. Everything I did was exaggerated. I
either raced through life at ten thousand miles an hour or was in
neutral. Balance was absent.
Today I am developing balance in my life, more patience and more
tolerance. I have discovered that my extremism was a mask by which
I hid from life; I did not have to think, consider or ponder --- I simply
reacted.
Now I know that to believe in everything is to believe nothing; and to
doubt everything is not to think. Life is "a many splendored thing"
but it has a variety of options.
God of the many, help me to discover You in the myriad of thoughts
that life produces.
************************************************** *********
"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's
commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may
be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you
love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down
one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not
call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is
doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that
I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I
appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you
whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may
love one another."
John 15:9-17
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full."
John 10:10
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:4
************************************************** *********
Daily Inspiration
Take care of your own emotional and spiritual needs first and it will become natural to reach out lovingly to others. Lord, I depend on Your help in every situation.
Delighting in the happiness of others will make your heart too big for your body. Lord, help me set aside my jealousies and celebrate the blessings of others. Their blessings will then be a blessing for me too.
************************************************** *********
NA Just For Today
That One Special Person
"A sponsor is not necessarily a friend, but may be someone in whom we confide. We can share things with our sponsor that we might not be comfortable sharing in a meeting."
IP No. 11, "Sponsorship, Revised"
We've asked someone to sponsor us, and the reasons we have for asking that particular person are as many as the grains of sand on a beach. Perhaps we heard them share at a speaker meeting and thought they were funny or inspiring. Perhaps we thought they had a great car and we would get one by working the same program they work. Or maybe we live in a small town and they were the only person who had the time available to help.
Whatever our initial reasons for getting the sponsor we have, we're sure to find that our reasons for keeping them are quite different. Suddenly they'll amaze us with some stunning insight, making us wonder whether they've been sneaking peeks at our Fourth Step. Or maybe we're going through some sort of life crisis, and their experience with the same problem helps us in ways we never dreamed possible. We call them in pain, and they come up with a special combination of caring words that provide genuine comfort.
None of these remarkable feats on the part of our sponsor are mere coincidence. They've simply walked the same path before us. A Higher Power has placed that one special person in our lives, and we are grateful for their presence.
Just for today: I will appreciate that one special person in my life — my sponsor.
************************************************** *********
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the ugly duckling. --Hans Christian Andersen
The ugly duckling was not really ugly at all, he was just different. The other ducks teased and pecked and even bit him until the ugly duckling flew away. He wandered around for a year, and was treated as an outcast everywhere. In the spring, he saw a group of swans on a lake, and wanted very much to join them. As he swam out toward them, he was astounded to notice his reflection in the water--he was a swan! The other swans welcomed him warmly, and found him to be beautiful.
Most of us go through times when we feel different from those around us. These are painful and lonely times, but it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with us. Like the ugly duckling, we will come into a time when we will be loved. All the pain and loneliness we have felt will help us fully appreciate the acceptance when we find it.
How can I treasure the ways I am different from others today?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later win a little more. --Louis L'Amour
How much fuller each day feels when we can be patient and accept the inches we have progressed. Yet, we are aware of large problems which require miles of progress. We may want others in our lives to change quickly, we may be impatient with a work situation, or we may feel angry about an addiction.
Perhaps the spiritual message to us is we need to surrender to time. We are on the road moving in the direction of recovery. The forces of progress are at work. Our growth now may come in learning patience and trusting this process. Looking back we might see a mile of progress. It was made an inch at a time.
Today, I will accept my progress. There are many rewards already.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
People need joy. Quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more. --Margaret Collier Graham
Life is not without pain and travail. They are necessary to new awareness which prompts growth. And the gift of growth is joy. Pain and joy are thus intertwined. It is possible to feel only the burden of pain and not the exhilaration of joy, however.
Before seeking help to change our lives, many of us were heavily burdened by pain. But we were unable to open ourselves to the knowledge made possible by that pain. We were on a treadmill, accumulating painful experiences at every step, unable to capture the joy that was ever present.
We can have hope. Joy does await each of us today. We must open our eyes to it, just as we must open our hearts to one another. We must be willing to peel away the layers of pain to expose the core, the seedling of joy. And we need joy in our lives, just as surely as we need rest and a good diet. We need the light heart that joy fosters for a better perspective on the many experiences we'll face today, and every day.
Recovery has given me this new option. It guarantees me that every hurdle will be lightened. The knowledge that joy is inherent, within every experience, is mine, now and forever.
You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Clarity and direction
In spite of our best efforts to work our programs and lean on Gods guidance, we sometimes don't understand what's going on in our life. We trust, wait, pray, listen to people, listen to ourselves, and the answer still does not come.
During those times, we need to understand that we are right where we need to be, even though that place may feel awkward and uncomfortable. Our life does have purpose and direction.
We are being changed, healed, and transformed at levels deeper than we can imagine. Good things, beyond our capacity to imagine, are being prepared and brought to us. We are being led and guided.
We can become peaceful. We do not have to act in haste or urgency just to relieve our discomfort, just to get an answer. We can wait until our mind is peaceful. We can wait for clear direction. Clarity will come.
The answer will come, and it will be good for us and those around us.
Today, God, help me know I am being guided into what's good about life, especially when I feel confused and without direction. Help me trust enough to wait until my mind and vision are clear and consistent. Help me know that clarity will come.
I have a purpose today. As I let go and let God, This purpose is becoming more and more clear. My heart is full of joy and love as I move towards God's Will for me. --Ruth Fishel
******************************************
Journey to the Heart
Connect to Creativity
The more open and connected you are to the world around you, the more creative you will become.
You will become more creative in your own growth and in how you live your life. You will be more creative in problem solving in work and play. You’ll be more willing to try new things– whether it’s learning to play a flute, build a stone fence, ride a horse, or create a Japanese garden in your front yard. You’ll find yourself more open in solving problems with loved ones, trying less traditional approaches than you might have considered in the past. You’ll find yourself gaining insights, information, and healing from sources you may have previously overlooked. Your participation in all your activities will be less controlled and more spontaneous.
You will hear the universe prompting you more. You will imagine more. You will recognize the quiet voice of intuition, the voice of your heart. You will see possibilities. And because you are open to your heart, the guidance of your inner voice, you will know what to do, and when to do it.
The more connected you are to the universe, to life, to yourself, the more creative you will be.
******************************************
More Language Of Letting Go
Say whatever when it’s out of your hands
We cannot control everything that happens to us. But we can control our response to those things. We cannot control the feelings of others– their fear, their power trips, their issues. All that we can choose is how we want to respond.
Maybe you have been wronged. Maybe you have had a dream taken from you due to the actions of another. What are you going to do about it? You can give up and give in, or you can make the best of the situation, move on if you can, or make a life where you are.
Say whatever.
Learn to live and let live.
You can start over, again and again, if necessary.
God, give me the strength to stand up when the actions or thoughts of others drag me down. Help me practice right thought and right action. Help me walk the path that is set before me, no matter what it may bring.
******************************************
The Question of Worthiness
Shifting into Gratitude
by Madisyn Taylor
When we question whether or not we are worthy of something it is important at that time to shift into gratitude.
We all know what it’s like to finally get something we want, only to find ourselves feeling as if we don’t deserve it. Whether it’s a car, a new job, or a date with someone wonderful, we suddenly feel as if we are not up to it. Something in us wants to reject this gift from the universe, perhaps because it requires that we think of ourselves in a new way or makes us question why we should have something that others don’t have. If these feelings of unworthiness are not consciously acknowledged, they can lead us to sabotage ourselves out of the gift being offered. Perhaps the best way to avoid rejection and sabotage is to simply shift into a state of gratitude, bypassing the question of worthiness altogether.
The question of whether we or anyone else deserves something is not really in our jurisdiction. These themes play themselves out in ways we can’t fully comprehend—on the level of the soul, over the course of many lifetimes. What we do know is that the universe has its own way of shifting the balance over the course of time so that all things are ultimately fair. We can trust in this process and understand that when a gift comes our way, it is because we are meant to have it. Otherwise, it would not be available to us. Accepting the gift with gratitude and using it to the best of our ability is true humility.
When we receive a gift and find that feelings of unworthiness crop up, we can simply acknowledge the feelings and then remind ourselves that they are beside the point. We might say to ourselves, “I am meant to have this.” As we allow ourselves to accept the gift, we might feel tenderness in our hearts that naturally shifts into a deep feeling of gratitude. As we sit for a moment, consciously holding the gift in our hands or in our hearts, we say “yes” to the universe’s many blessings, and we also say “thank you.” Published with permission from Daily OM
******************************************
A Day At A Time
Reflection For The Day
All my life, I looked to others for comfort, security and all the other things that add up to what I now call serenity. But I’ve come to realize that I was always looking in the wrong place. The source of serenity is not outside, but within myself. The kingdom is within me, and I already have the key. All I have to do is to be wiling to use it. Am I using the tools of The Program on a daily basis? Am I Willing?
Today I Pray
God gave me the courage to seek out the kingdom inside myself, to find that well-spring within me which has its source in the never-ending, life-giving river of God. May my soul be restored there. May I find the serenity I seek.
Today I Will Remember
To seek the inner Kingdom.
******************************************
One More Day
The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.
–Frank Lloyd Wright
When we were younger, day and night were two separate entities. Day was when we played and night was when we slept. The distinction is not that sharp as we get older, especially if we have any problems with disturb our sleep. Worry and pain have a tendency to make nights much longer — and lonelier.
What looked hopeless the night before can take on a whole new light in the morning. It would be wonderful if we could learn to treat each new day with the same freshness we had as children. We can learn, once again, to experience and to savor each each moment. Once we separate the more likely we are to allow ourselves wonderful days again.
My expectations are that I will achieve the best of reach day has to offer.
******************************************
In God’s Care
Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action.
~~Brendan Francis
God speaks to us in many ways at many times. If we are spiritually alert, we will know it when it happens. A stray thought occurs; we overhear a bit of conversation; a passage in something we are reading suddenly stands out–and we know we have connected. A feeling of assurance and peace comes over us.
The trouble is that we might acknowledge this contact only briefly, and then it slips away. The time to act passes. The favor we could have done; the advice of support we could have offered; the help we could have given or received–all are missed opportunities.
When God speaks, we must do more than listen.
Today I will act when inspired.
*****************************************
One Day At A Time
Love
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage."
~ Lao Tzu
As we explore our twelve step program and peel away the onion that is us, we find many parts of ourselves that we had never known before. Those parts have always been there ... we just weren't aware of the importance of them. Suddenly, as though it were a light bulb flashing, it hits us full in the face and we find ourselves seeing what our deepest need in life is.
It took practically a lifetime to realize that my deepest need was to love and to be loved. How could I have lived so long and not realized that before? I am grateful that the twelve step program gave me the ability to feel love, perhaps for the very first time. I am also grateful that this beautiful way of living also gave me the ability to give love.
One day at a time ... I will keep my heart open for opportunities to love ... and quietly but expectantly to be loved.
~ A TRG Member
*****************************************
AA 'Big Book' - Quote
This seemed to prove that one alcoholic could affect another as no nonalcoholic could. It also indicated that strenuous work, one alcoholic with another, was vital to permanent recovery. - Pg. xvi - xvii - 4th. Edition - Forward To Second Edition
Hour To Hour - Book - Quote
Some people's missionary zeal in helping us is quite annoying. They tell us what to do, know what's best for us, get preachy. We, however, can be charitable as we know: they preach best what THEY most need to learn!
My Spiritual Source helps me tolerate the 'preachers' of the program, as one day I may act like that too!
Forgiveness
I forgive myself for being less than perfect, that's how I will love myself and others today. Perfection is that myth that I carry around in my head to beat myself up with and to make it seem others fall short. That celluloid image against which I measure myself and come out feeling lacking, that yard stick with which I hit my own back side. Today, I will see perfection and beauty in what is. I will have an attitude of forgiveness toward myself and others for being other than what is expected. We're all just bumbling along mostly doing the best we can, sometimes worse than we should, sometimes better. Just for today, I won't get hung up on imperfection.
I forgive imperfection
- Tian Dayton PhD
Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote
Prayer does not change what you are praying about. Prayer changes you.
I learn to 'hit' it with a prayer, not a chair and I change!
"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book
Take charge of your attitude. Don't let someone else choose it for you.
Time for Joy - Book - Quote
I have a purpose today. As I let go and let God, this purpose is becoming more and more clear. My heart is full of joy and love as I move more towards God's Will for me.
Alkiespeak - Book - Quote
I didn't think my sponsor could read for the first six months. I'd say; 'John, I need a better paying job.' and he'd say: 'Read page 127, what does it say on page 127?'
I'm expecting to find a credit card application there or something, and it says; 'Material well-being always follows spiritual progress, it never preceded. - Chris C.
__________________
Daily Reflections
A WORLD OF THE SPIRIT
We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next
function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness.
This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for
our lifetime.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84
The word "entered" . . . and the phrase "entered into
the world of the Spirit" are very significant. They
imply action, a beginning, getting into, a prerequisite
to maintaining my spiritual growth, the "Spirit" being
the immaterial part of me. Barriers to my spiritual
growth are self-centeredness and a materialistic focus
on worldly things. Spirituality means devotion to
spiritual rather than worldly things, it means obedience
to God's will for me. I understand spiritual things to
be: unconditional love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, self-control and humility. Any time I
allow selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear to
be a part of me, I block out spiritual things. As I
maintain my sobriety, growing spiritually becomes a
lifelong process. My goal is spiritual growth, accepting
that I'll never have spiritual perfection.
************************************************** *********
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
We've got rid of our false, drinking selves and found our
real, sober selves. And we turn to God, our Father, for
help, just as the Prodigal Son arose and went to his
father. At the end of the story, the father of the
Prodigal Son says: "He was dead and is alive again, he
was lost and he is found." We alcoholics who have found
sobriety in A.A. were certainly dead and are alive again.
We were lost and are found. Am I alive again?
Meditation For The Day
Gently breathe in God's spirit, that spirit which, if not
barred out of selfishness, will enable you to do good works.
This means rather that God will be enabled to do good works
through you. You can become a channel for God's spirit to
flow through you and into the lives of others. The works
that you can do will only be limited by your spiritual
development. Let your spirit be in harmony with God's spirit
and there is no limit to what you can do in the realm of
human relationships.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may become a channel for God's spirit.
I pray that God's spirit may flow through me and into the
lives of others.
************************************************** *********
As Bill Sees It
Dependence--Unhealthy or Healthy, p. 72
"Nothing can be more demoralizing than a clinging and abject
dependence upon another human being. This often amounts to the
demand for a degree of protection and love that no one could possibly
satisfy. So our hoped-for protectors finally flee, and once more we
are left alone--either to grow up or to disintegrate."
<< << << >> >> >>
We discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be
God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice,
forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where
nothing else would.
If we really depended upon God, we couldn't very well play God to
our fellows, nor would we feel the urge to rely wholly on human
protection and care.
1. Letter, 1966
2. 12 & 12, p. 116
************************************************** *********
Walk in Dry Places
Believing In Justice____Justice
"What goes around, comes around," is a popular saying. It's often used to suggest that certain arrogant, unprincipled people will eventually receive their comeuppance. It conveys the idea that there's a hidden justice at work in human affairs that assures all injustice will eventually be punished.
But if it works to punish, this hidden justice also rewards right actions, and this is more important in our working of the program. If we act from good motives, we'll always find that our work is rewarded in some way. No alcoholic who performs a service in the fellowship goes unrewarded. Quite often the reward is simply a personal sense of well-being and growth in character, but these may be more important than money or recognition.
Justice is one of the cardinal virtues--a Godlike attribute that human beings strive to understand. Believing in justice is believing in the Hidden Power that orders justice in all things.
I'll view my world today as something that is controlled and ordered by a Just Power. Reward and retribution are built into the scheme of things, but I'll focus more on actions that bring the right kind of rewards.
************************************************** *********
Keep It Simple
God loves the world through us---Mother Teresa
In Step Three, we turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. How do we feel God's care, God's love? We feel God's care and love through how people treat us. Our Higher Power works through people who love us back to life. With time, we begin returning this care and love to others. We feel this warm love flow right through us and out to others. We're kind without trying to be. We smile at others for no reason. We comfort those who hurt just by holding them.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, use me to make Your love real to someone today.
Action for the Day: Fear sometimes keeps me from loving. I'll list three things I'm afraid will happen if I'm "to loving."
I'll share these fears with my sponsor.
************************************************** *********
Each Day a New Beginning
People need joy. Quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more. --Margaret Collier Graham
Life is not without pain and travail. They are necessary to new awareness which prompts growth. And the gift of growth is joy. Pain and joy are thus intertwined. It is possible to feel only the burden of pain and not the exhilaration of joy, however.
Before seeking help to change our lives, many of us were heavily burdened by pain. But we were unable to open ourselves to the knowledge made possible by that pain. We were on a treadmill, accumulating painful experiences at every step, unable to capture the joy that was ever present.
We can have hope. Joy does await each of us today. We must open our eyes to it, just as we must open our hearts to one another. We must be willing to peel away the layers of pain to expose the core, the seedling of joy. And we need joy in our lives, just as surely as we need rest and a good diet. We need the light heart that joy fosters for a better perspective on the many experiences we'll face today, and every day.
Recovery has given me this new option. It guarantees me that every hurdle will be lightened. The knowledge that joy is inherent, within every experience, is mine, now and forever.
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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
Chapter 5 - HOW IT WORKS
On our grudge list we set opposite each name our injuries. Was it our self-esteem, our security, our ambitions, our personal, or sex relations, which had been interfered with?
p. 65
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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories
The Man Who Mastered Fear
He spent eighteen years in running away, and then found he didn't have to run. So he started A.A. in Detroit.
Within a year of my return to Detroit, A.A. was a definitely established little group of about a dozen members, and I too was established in a modest but steady job handling an independent dry-cleaning route of my own. I was my own boss. It took five years of A.A. living, and a substantial improvement in my health, before I could take a full-time office job where someone else was boss.
pp. 254-255
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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."
AUTONOMY is a ten-dollar word. But in relation to us, it means very simply that every A.A. group can manage its affairs exactly as it pleases, except when A.A. as a whole is threatened. Comes now the same question raised in Tradition One. Isn't such liberty foolishly dangerous?
Over the years, every conceivable deviation from our Twelve Steps and Traditions has been tried. That was sure to be, since we are so largely a band of ego-driven individualists. Children of chaos, we have defiantly played with every brand of fire, only to emerge unharmed and, we think, wiser. These very deviations created a vast process of trial and error which, under the grace of God, has brought us to where we stand today.
p. 146
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The solution is simple.
The solution is spiritual.
You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the
circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change
yourself. That is something you have charge of.
--Jim Rohn
"Happiness is not in our circumstances, but in ourselves."
--John B. Sheerin
"Nothing is worth more than this day."
--Goethe
"It is a sign of strength, not of weakness, to admit that you don't know all the answers."
--John P. Lougbrane
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Father Leo's Daily Meditation
BALANCE
"There are two ways to slide easily
through life: To believe everything
or to doubt everything. Both ways
save us from thinking."
-- Alfred Korzybski
This statement is so true for me. I was so compulsive and obsessive
not only about the things that I believed in but also about the things I
didn't believe in. I was extreme. Everything I did was exaggerated. I
either raced through life at ten thousand miles an hour or was in
neutral. Balance was absent.
Today I am developing balance in my life, more patience and more
tolerance. I have discovered that my extremism was a mask by which
I hid from life; I did not have to think, consider or ponder --- I simply
reacted.
Now I know that to believe in everything is to believe nothing; and to
doubt everything is not to think. Life is "a many splendored thing"
but it has a variety of options.
God of the many, help me to discover You in the myriad of thoughts
that life produces.
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"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's
commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may
be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you
love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down
one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not
call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is
doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that
I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I
appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you
whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may
love one another."
John 15:9-17
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have
life, and have it to the full."
John 10:10
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:4
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Daily Inspiration
Take care of your own emotional and spiritual needs first and it will become natural to reach out lovingly to others. Lord, I depend on Your help in every situation.
Delighting in the happiness of others will make your heart too big for your body. Lord, help me set aside my jealousies and celebrate the blessings of others. Their blessings will then be a blessing for me too.
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NA Just For Today
That One Special Person
"A sponsor is not necessarily a friend, but may be someone in whom we confide. We can share things with our sponsor that we might not be comfortable sharing in a meeting."
IP No. 11, "Sponsorship, Revised"
We've asked someone to sponsor us, and the reasons we have for asking that particular person are as many as the grains of sand on a beach. Perhaps we heard them share at a speaker meeting and thought they were funny or inspiring. Perhaps we thought they had a great car and we would get one by working the same program they work. Or maybe we live in a small town and they were the only person who had the time available to help.
Whatever our initial reasons for getting the sponsor we have, we're sure to find that our reasons for keeping them are quite different. Suddenly they'll amaze us with some stunning insight, making us wonder whether they've been sneaking peeks at our Fourth Step. Or maybe we're going through some sort of life crisis, and their experience with the same problem helps us in ways we never dreamed possible. We call them in pain, and they come up with a special combination of caring words that provide genuine comfort.
None of these remarkable feats on the part of our sponsor are mere coincidence. They've simply walked the same path before us. A Higher Power has placed that one special person in our lives, and we are grateful for their presence.
Just for today: I will appreciate that one special person in my life — my sponsor.
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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the ugly duckling. --Hans Christian Andersen
The ugly duckling was not really ugly at all, he was just different. The other ducks teased and pecked and even bit him until the ugly duckling flew away. He wandered around for a year, and was treated as an outcast everywhere. In the spring, he saw a group of swans on a lake, and wanted very much to join them. As he swam out toward them, he was astounded to notice his reflection in the water--he was a swan! The other swans welcomed him warmly, and found him to be beautiful.
Most of us go through times when we feel different from those around us. These are painful and lonely times, but it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with us. Like the ugly duckling, we will come into a time when we will be loved. All the pain and loneliness we have felt will help us fully appreciate the acceptance when we find it.
How can I treasure the ways I am different from others today?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later win a little more. --Louis L'Amour
How much fuller each day feels when we can be patient and accept the inches we have progressed. Yet, we are aware of large problems which require miles of progress. We may want others in our lives to change quickly, we may be impatient with a work situation, or we may feel angry about an addiction.
Perhaps the spiritual message to us is we need to surrender to time. We are on the road moving in the direction of recovery. The forces of progress are at work. Our growth now may come in learning patience and trusting this process. Looking back we might see a mile of progress. It was made an inch at a time.
Today, I will accept my progress. There are many rewards already.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
People need joy. Quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more. --Margaret Collier Graham
Life is not without pain and travail. They are necessary to new awareness which prompts growth. And the gift of growth is joy. Pain and joy are thus intertwined. It is possible to feel only the burden of pain and not the exhilaration of joy, however.
Before seeking help to change our lives, many of us were heavily burdened by pain. But we were unable to open ourselves to the knowledge made possible by that pain. We were on a treadmill, accumulating painful experiences at every step, unable to capture the joy that was ever present.
We can have hope. Joy does await each of us today. We must open our eyes to it, just as we must open our hearts to one another. We must be willing to peel away the layers of pain to expose the core, the seedling of joy. And we need joy in our lives, just as surely as we need rest and a good diet. We need the light heart that joy fosters for a better perspective on the many experiences we'll face today, and every day.
Recovery has given me this new option. It guarantees me that every hurdle will be lightened. The knowledge that joy is inherent, within every experience, is mine, now and forever.
You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Clarity and direction
In spite of our best efforts to work our programs and lean on Gods guidance, we sometimes don't understand what's going on in our life. We trust, wait, pray, listen to people, listen to ourselves, and the answer still does not come.
During those times, we need to understand that we are right where we need to be, even though that place may feel awkward and uncomfortable. Our life does have purpose and direction.
We are being changed, healed, and transformed at levels deeper than we can imagine. Good things, beyond our capacity to imagine, are being prepared and brought to us. We are being led and guided.
We can become peaceful. We do not have to act in haste or urgency just to relieve our discomfort, just to get an answer. We can wait until our mind is peaceful. We can wait for clear direction. Clarity will come.
The answer will come, and it will be good for us and those around us.
Today, God, help me know I am being guided into what's good about life, especially when I feel confused and without direction. Help me trust enough to wait until my mind and vision are clear and consistent. Help me know that clarity will come.
I have a purpose today. As I let go and let God, This purpose is becoming more and more clear. My heart is full of joy and love as I move towards God's Will for me. --Ruth Fishel
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Journey to the Heart
Connect to Creativity
The more open and connected you are to the world around you, the more creative you will become.
You will become more creative in your own growth and in how you live your life. You will be more creative in problem solving in work and play. You’ll be more willing to try new things– whether it’s learning to play a flute, build a stone fence, ride a horse, or create a Japanese garden in your front yard. You’ll find yourself more open in solving problems with loved ones, trying less traditional approaches than you might have considered in the past. You’ll find yourself gaining insights, information, and healing from sources you may have previously overlooked. Your participation in all your activities will be less controlled and more spontaneous.
You will hear the universe prompting you more. You will imagine more. You will recognize the quiet voice of intuition, the voice of your heart. You will see possibilities. And because you are open to your heart, the guidance of your inner voice, you will know what to do, and when to do it.
The more connected you are to the universe, to life, to yourself, the more creative you will be.
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More Language Of Letting Go
Say whatever when it’s out of your hands
We cannot control everything that happens to us. But we can control our response to those things. We cannot control the feelings of others– their fear, their power trips, their issues. All that we can choose is how we want to respond.
Maybe you have been wronged. Maybe you have had a dream taken from you due to the actions of another. What are you going to do about it? You can give up and give in, or you can make the best of the situation, move on if you can, or make a life where you are.
Say whatever.
Learn to live and let live.
You can start over, again and again, if necessary.
God, give me the strength to stand up when the actions or thoughts of others drag me down. Help me practice right thought and right action. Help me walk the path that is set before me, no matter what it may bring.
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The Question of Worthiness
Shifting into Gratitude
by Madisyn Taylor
When we question whether or not we are worthy of something it is important at that time to shift into gratitude.
We all know what it’s like to finally get something we want, only to find ourselves feeling as if we don’t deserve it. Whether it’s a car, a new job, or a date with someone wonderful, we suddenly feel as if we are not up to it. Something in us wants to reject this gift from the universe, perhaps because it requires that we think of ourselves in a new way or makes us question why we should have something that others don’t have. If these feelings of unworthiness are not consciously acknowledged, they can lead us to sabotage ourselves out of the gift being offered. Perhaps the best way to avoid rejection and sabotage is to simply shift into a state of gratitude, bypassing the question of worthiness altogether.
The question of whether we or anyone else deserves something is not really in our jurisdiction. These themes play themselves out in ways we can’t fully comprehend—on the level of the soul, over the course of many lifetimes. What we do know is that the universe has its own way of shifting the balance over the course of time so that all things are ultimately fair. We can trust in this process and understand that when a gift comes our way, it is because we are meant to have it. Otherwise, it would not be available to us. Accepting the gift with gratitude and using it to the best of our ability is true humility.
When we receive a gift and find that feelings of unworthiness crop up, we can simply acknowledge the feelings and then remind ourselves that they are beside the point. We might say to ourselves, “I am meant to have this.” As we allow ourselves to accept the gift, we might feel tenderness in our hearts that naturally shifts into a deep feeling of gratitude. As we sit for a moment, consciously holding the gift in our hands or in our hearts, we say “yes” to the universe’s many blessings, and we also say “thank you.” Published with permission from Daily OM
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A Day At A Time
Reflection For The Day
All my life, I looked to others for comfort, security and all the other things that add up to what I now call serenity. But I’ve come to realize that I was always looking in the wrong place. The source of serenity is not outside, but within myself. The kingdom is within me, and I already have the key. All I have to do is to be wiling to use it. Am I using the tools of The Program on a daily basis? Am I Willing?
Today I Pray
God gave me the courage to seek out the kingdom inside myself, to find that well-spring within me which has its source in the never-ending, life-giving river of God. May my soul be restored there. May I find the serenity I seek.
Today I Will Remember
To seek the inner Kingdom.
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One More Day
The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.
–Frank Lloyd Wright
When we were younger, day and night were two separate entities. Day was when we played and night was when we slept. The distinction is not that sharp as we get older, especially if we have any problems with disturb our sleep. Worry and pain have a tendency to make nights much longer — and lonelier.
What looked hopeless the night before can take on a whole new light in the morning. It would be wonderful if we could learn to treat each new day with the same freshness we had as children. We can learn, once again, to experience and to savor each each moment. Once we separate the more likely we are to allow ourselves wonderful days again.
My expectations are that I will achieve the best of reach day has to offer.
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In God’s Care
Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action.
~~Brendan Francis
God speaks to us in many ways at many times. If we are spiritually alert, we will know it when it happens. A stray thought occurs; we overhear a bit of conversation; a passage in something we are reading suddenly stands out–and we know we have connected. A feeling of assurance and peace comes over us.
The trouble is that we might acknowledge this contact only briefly, and then it slips away. The time to act passes. The favor we could have done; the advice of support we could have offered; the help we could have given or received–all are missed opportunities.
When God speaks, we must do more than listen.
Today I will act when inspired.
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One Day At A Time
Love
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage."
~ Lao Tzu
As we explore our twelve step program and peel away the onion that is us, we find many parts of ourselves that we had never known before. Those parts have always been there ... we just weren't aware of the importance of them. Suddenly, as though it were a light bulb flashing, it hits us full in the face and we find ourselves seeing what our deepest need in life is.
It took practically a lifetime to realize that my deepest need was to love and to be loved. How could I have lived so long and not realized that before? I am grateful that the twelve step program gave me the ability to feel love, perhaps for the very first time. I am also grateful that this beautiful way of living also gave me the ability to give love.
One day at a time ... I will keep my heart open for opportunities to love ... and quietly but expectantly to be loved.
~ A TRG Member
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AA 'Big Book' - Quote
This seemed to prove that one alcoholic could affect another as no nonalcoholic could. It also indicated that strenuous work, one alcoholic with another, was vital to permanent recovery. - Pg. xvi - xvii - 4th. Edition - Forward To Second Edition
Hour To Hour - Book - Quote
Some people's missionary zeal in helping us is quite annoying. They tell us what to do, know what's best for us, get preachy. We, however, can be charitable as we know: they preach best what THEY most need to learn!
My Spiritual Source helps me tolerate the 'preachers' of the program, as one day I may act like that too!
Forgiveness
I forgive myself for being less than perfect, that's how I will love myself and others today. Perfection is that myth that I carry around in my head to beat myself up with and to make it seem others fall short. That celluloid image against which I measure myself and come out feeling lacking, that yard stick with which I hit my own back side. Today, I will see perfection and beauty in what is. I will have an attitude of forgiveness toward myself and others for being other than what is expected. We're all just bumbling along mostly doing the best we can, sometimes worse than we should, sometimes better. Just for today, I won't get hung up on imperfection.
I forgive imperfection
- Tian Dayton PhD
Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote
Prayer does not change what you are praying about. Prayer changes you.
I learn to 'hit' it with a prayer, not a chair and I change!
"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book
Take charge of your attitude. Don't let someone else choose it for you.
Time for Joy - Book - Quote
I have a purpose today. As I let go and let God, this purpose is becoming more and more clear. My heart is full of joy and love as I move more towards God's Will for me.
Alkiespeak - Book - Quote
I didn't think my sponsor could read for the first six months. I'd say; 'John, I need a better paying job.' and he'd say: 'Read page 127, what does it say on page 127?'
I'm expecting to find a credit card application there or something, and it says; 'Material well-being always follows spiritual progress, it never preceded. - Chris C.
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