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Today's Thought - December
December 1
Becoming patient Let us not rush and demand perfection all at once; it would only blind us. If we are impatient, it is impossible to work a daily program; but if we are patient, we can learn to see our daily opportunities for growth. We can’t develop a new relationship with our Higher Power overnight. It is worth waiting for, striving for. Let us not go too fast but simply count each day as an opportunity. Am I learning patience? Higher Power, I pray that I may be patient as I work my program and develop a relationship with you. Today I will practice patience with… Today's reading is from the book Day by Day, Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts |
December 2
Reflection for the Day Today I will take the time to list the positive aspects of my new life and the blessings that accompany the miracles of my recovery. I will be grateful for the seemingly simple ability to eat normally, to fall asleep with a feeling of contentment, to awaken with a gladness to be alive. I will be grateful for the ability to face life on life’s terms—with peace of mind, self-respect, and full possession of all my faculties. On a daily basis, do I count my blessings? Do I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with my Higher Power—as I define and understand it? Today I Pray On this day of love giving, may I count all the good things in my life and give thanks for them. May I take no blessing for granted, including the beating of my own heart and the fresh feel of new air as I breathe. Today I Will Remember To count—and consider—my blessings. Today's reading is from the book A Day at a Time, Daily Reflections for Recovering People |
December 3
Our happiness doesn’t depend on a loved one’s sobriety. What we do with our lives is not dependent on what others do with theirs. We come into the program expecting to learn how to help our loved ones stop using. That’s our primary goal. What a jolt to discover that it hasn’t happened for some who share our circle. And they come to meetings anyway. More than that, they seem to be leading happy lives. At first we wonder how. We are guaranteed happiness too. We are enmeshed with our loved ones only because we have never understood separateness. Our boundaries have been blurred. But the guidance of sponsors and the wisdom we’ll gain from the meetings will show us how to disengage from others. Our first step toward the happiness we’re promised is to give up our attempts to control anyone but ourselves. I have my own dreams, my own goals. To fulfill them, I must turn my attention away from others and on to me. I can’t make anyone else’s life my dream. Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own, Meditations on Hope and Acceptance |
December 4
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry It has been said that intuition is a talent of women, but in this program we, as men, are learning to listen to our own inner feelings. This strength has nothing to do with gender. Many times we have a quiet inner knowing of something, but in the past we developed an insensitivity to these messages. Our growing self-respect includes the ability to stand up for what simply feels right. We don’t have to prove anything to ourselves. If we dismiss our own private feelings, all we have left to go on is someone else’s idea of reality. This realm of inner feeling is the realm of wisdom. It is the creative part, the mysterious part, the spiritual part. It is the foundation of honesty with ourselves. In these quiet moments, we are more able to perceive what we know in our hearts. As we grow, we respect and trust it more. Help me respect my private messages from within. Today's reading is from the book Touchstones, A Book of Daily Meditations for Men |
December 5
Times of Reprogramming Do not ask for love unless you’re ready to be healed enough to give and receive love. Do not ask for joy unless you’re ready to feel and release your pain, so you can feel joy. Do not ask for success unless you’re ready to conquer the behaviors that would sabotage success. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could imagine ourselves having or becoming—and then immediately receiving—what we wanted? We can have and be the good things we want. All good things are ours for the asking. But first, groundwork—preparation work—must be done. A gardener would not plant seeds unless the ground was adequately prepared to nurture and nourish those seeds. The planting would be wasted effort. It would be wasted effort for us to get what we wanted before we were ready. First, we need to become aware of our need or desire. This may not be easy! Many of us have become accustomed to shutting off the inner voice of our wants, needs, and desires. Sometimes, life has to work hard to get our attention. Next we let go of the old “programming”—the behaviors and beliefs that interfere with nurturing and nourishing the good. Many of us have strong sabotaging programs, learned from childhood, that need to be released. We may need to “act as if” for a while until the belief that we deserve the good becomes real. We combine this process with much letting go, while we are being changed at the core. There is a naturalness to this process, but it can be intense. Things take time. Good things are ours for the asking, if we are willing to participate in the work of groundbreaking. Work and wait. Today, God, give me the courage to identify the good I want in my life and to ask for it. Give me also the faith and stamina I need to go through the work that must be accomplished first. Today's reading is from the book The Language of Letting Go, Daily Meditations on Codependency |
December 6
Fate chooses our relatives. We choose our friends. ~Jacques Delille Dealing with family-of-origin issues is often extremely painful for recovering adult children. All of us want to be accepted and loved by our own biological families. Some of our deepest wishes and favorite fantasies feature ourselves as loved and loving members of some healthy, whole, all-American family system. All too often, that was not and is not the case. If we have to accept that, then so be it. That’s the time we should acknowledge that our real families are made up of the people who love us, whether they are relatives or not. Rather than mourn for what isn’t, when family times roll around, we have the option to connect with the spiritual, functioning “family” of loved ones who want and need us to celebrate with them. The program is filled with people who will love us if we let them. No recovering person need ever be without a family; like hearts bind tighter than like genes. Today, I am grateful for the healing presence of my friends. Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy, Daily Meditations for Adult Children |
December 7
Those people are earthbound. They heap too many goods. They have not learned the trail of beauty. ~Laura Adams Armer If we want to walk the trail of beauty, we are better off bringing a backpack than a moving van to carry our stuff. We need to travel light. The point is, stuff—things, belongings—can tie us down if we become too attached. We can pass up wonderful adventures because we can’t let go of stuff. There are some things we need, of course. And it’s okay to have more than we need as long as it doesn’t get in the way of our lives. Our lives are for loving and learning and serving others, not for taking care of our things. When our things take too much of our time and energy, we have too much. We can do with our stuff what we do with our thoughts and our feelings—look them over, see if they still work for us, and decide whether to keep them or let them go. Prayer for the Day Higher Power, I don’t want to get stuck in my emotional, mental, or physical stuff. Help me sort through it and keep only what adds service or beauty to my life. Today's Action I will think for a few minutes about how I think and feel about having my own things. What things are important to me? Why? I will talk with someone about this topic and listen to how it is for that person, too. Today's reading is from the book God Grant Me, More Daily Meditations from the Authors of Keep It Simple |
December 8
Feeling is the inner life; expression is the outer life. ~Alexander Lowen There’s a connection between our ability to feel, our ability to express our feelings, and our ability to let go. There are probably many painful emotions we learned to suppress when we were young, particularly anger or sadness. Other emotions might be difficult to feel because they’re connected to past pain, especially about childhood abuse or acting out in our addiction. Yet there’s no letting go, no moving on, until we stop trying to avoid feelings such as sorrow, anger, rage, or despair. One way to begin working through difficult feelings is to reach out to people with a phone call or by attending a meeting. Other ways are to write, have a good cry, or plan a healing ritual, such as a couple of days alone thinking. We can also remember to turn to our Higher Power for the spiritual help we need. The inner release that comes from expressing our feelings will help ease the pain. We can’t let go of the past all at once, but we can let go of a little piece today. If I’m hurting today, I can reach out for the healing of the program. I will give myself the same compassion I would give another person who is suffering. Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart, Daily Meditations for Men and Women Recovering from Sex Addiction |
December 9
Trusting Others The three Ts of gratitude to repay the program for our recovery: our TIME, our TALENT, our TRUST. ~Anonymous In our recovery, we are building trust in others and in ourselves. For the first time in our lives, we know that we can reveal ourselves completely to others without fear of being put down. When we get stuck with negative thoughts, it is important to find the strength of sharing with others in the program. At the same time, we are aware that others are placing trust in us not to use their sharing to benefit ourselves or to belittle them. By exchanging confidences and personal experiences, we are truly expressing our ability to love. We hear that our entire program rests on the principle of mutual trust. We trust God, we trust the Twelve Steps, and we trust each other. The Second Tradition states that our leaders are but “trusted servants.” When I share with others, I am also aware that they need me, just as I need them. Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It, A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations |
December 10
Love of certainty is a demand for guarantees in advance of action. ~John Dewey Sometimes we seem awfully reluctant to make the leap of faith. At one time, uncertainty didn’t bother us too much. We trusted our addictions to see us through any trouble we might encounter. What, then, is so hard about trusting God? Guarantees in advance are hard to come by. One thing we can depend on, though, is the feeling of safekeeping that will enter our heart when we turn our will over to our Higher Power. Turning it over is an action that never fails to reward us. Each time we decide that we can no longer run our life, each time we ask God to do it, things begin smoothing out. We never know exactly what will happen when we do this and are often surprised by the turn of events, but we are seldom disappointed. Even when we are, it’s only temporary; the future proves we placed our faith in the right place. I ask for no guarantees today. I will make the leap of faith. Today's reading is from the book In God's Care, Daily Meditations on Spirituality in Recovery |
December 11
It only takes one person to change your life—you. ~Ruth Casey Change is not easy, but it's absolutely unavoidable. Doors will close. Barriers will surface. Frustrations will mount. Nothing stays the same forever, and it's such folly to wish otherwise. Growth accompanies positive change; deter*mining to risk the outcome resulting from a changed behavior or attitude will enhance our self-perceptions. We will have moved forward; in every instance our lives will be influenced by making a change that only each of us can make. We have all dreaded the changes we knew we had to make. Perhaps even now we fear some impending changes. Where might they take us? It's difficult accepting that the outcome is not ours to control. Only the effort is ours. The solace is that positive changes, which we know are right for us and other people in our lives, are never going to take us astray. In fact, they are necessary for the smooth path just beyond this stumbling block. When we are troubled by circumstances in our lives, a change is called for, a change that we must initiate. When we reflect on our recent as well as distant past, we will remember that the changes we most dreaded again and again have positively influenced our lives in untold ways. Change ushers in glad, not bad, tidings. Today's reading is from the book Each Day a New Beginning, Daily meditations for Women |
December 12
You cannot plan the future by the past. ~Edmund Burke We got tired of how we were living. We honestly looked at our life. We saw that alcohol and other drugs controlled our life. We met others who understood us. And we came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could help us. We turned our will and our life over to this Power. In so doing, we learned that life doesn’t take place in the past or in the future. We find life in the present. We find our program in the present. Prayer for the Day I pray that I’ll leave the past in the past. I pray that I’ll walk into each new moment with my Higher Power. Action for the Day The only time we revisit the past is when we tell our story. Today I’ll tell my story to someone. I’ll tell what really happened. I’ll tell what life is like now. Today's reading is from the book Keep it Simple, Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal |
December 13
AA Thought for the Day It’s very important to keep in a grateful frame of mind, if we want to stay sober. We should be grateful that we’re living in a day and age when alcoholics aren’t treated as they often used to be treated before Alcoholics Anonymous was started. In the old days, every town had its town drunk, who was regarded with scorn and ridiculed by the rest of the townspeople. We have come into AA and found all the sympathy, understanding, and fellowship that we could ask for. There’s no other group like AA in the world. Am I grateful? Meditation for the Day God takes our efforts for good and blesses them. God needs our efforts. We need God’s blessing. Together they mean spiritual success. Our efforts are necessary. We cannot merely relax and drift with the tide. We must often direct our efforts against the tide of materialism around us. When difficulties come, our efforts are needed to surmount them. But God directs our efforts into the right channels and God’s power is necessary to help us choose the right. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may choose the right. I pray that I may have God’s blessing and direction in all my efforts for good. Today's reading is from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day, A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life |
December 14
I'm delighted that the future is unsure. That's the way it should be. ~William Sloane Coffin Some of life's richest moments are the most unexpected: the old friend met by chance, or the new one discovered when neither of us was really looking; the toy at the bottom of the toy box, rediscovered and loved anew; the book, the flower, the shaft of light we were in the right place at the right time to notice and embrace. It is important to dream and plan, to work toward goals, to mark the milestones we pass on life's journey. No less important, though, is to open ourselves to the unexpected joys awaiting us every day. Am I ready, today, to expect the unexpected? Today's reading is from the book Today's Gift, Daily Meditations for Families |
December 15
When you lose, do not lose the lesson. ~H. Jackson Brown Jr. The only mistakes we are doomed to repeat are the ones we fail to learn from. Life is a matter of approximating our goals, seldom a matter of hitting the bullseye. We take risks, sometimes we fail to understand what we are dealing with, and sometimes we just indulge ourselves in what we want regardless of what is good for us. So, in some ways, we are constantly remeasuring the difference between what we aimed for and what we actually achieved. If we only mourn the loss or berate ourselves for missing the target and never use it to learn, we have truly lost something important. It is when we call on our inner resources and learn the lesson that we get better and stronger. Learning is the most important part of our life journey. Today, I will look for the lessons in my mistakes and let go of defeatist attitudes. Today's reading is from the book Stepping Stones, More Daily Meditations for Men |
December 16
Is it possible to cultivate more moments of flow in our lives? What are the conditions that maximize the possibility for such wondrous states to arise? While the cultivation of positive habits can help us transform as people, routine can also be a killer of spirit. We crave novelty and stimulation because they also play an important role in personal growth; at the same time, our cravings may have been part of what got us in trouble with substances. Throughout our day, we can play a Sherlock Holmes-like role, noticing when we are more in flow and when whatever we are doing generates boredom or restlessness. Flow is not a state we can maintain throughout the course of our everyday life; rather, it is an opening into what is possible, an ephemeral state to be experienced and released, meant to be lost and found again. Such peak performance memories tend to be characterized by their effortlessness. Many times, dynamic relaxed attention—dropping effort and struggle—creates the portal into flow, and such centered, calm presence is what achieves full benefit and best results. Our inner magician offers us many tools for creating a good life, from setting intentions and changing habits, to understanding commitment and confidence, to using insight and intuition to guide us to higher states of being. I honor the gifts of flow whenever they arise. Today's reading is from the book Cornerstones, Daily Meditations for the Journey into Manhood and Recovery |
December 17
Success Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hands in your pockets. ~American saying All too often, we hear someone’s success explained as “a stroke of good luck.” Success and progress are no more the result of good luck than failure is the result of bad luck. Natural ability is of little use unless we develop habits of hard work. Brilliance is born in some, but labor or action is of greater importance. We perform to the best of our ability when we work for the work’s sake, not for any hope of fame. Success results from hard work and confidence in our judgment. The degree of success depends on the amount of good judgment used. Good advice and judgment from others is helpful, but the doing is entirely ours. Success is simply the use of the abilities I have. I must treat them as practical tools, not magical gifts. Nobody travels my road for me. Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It, A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations |
December 18
Reflection for the Day Slowly, but surely, I’m becoming able to accept other people’s faults as well as their virtues. The program is teaching me to “always love the best in others—and never fear their worst.” This is hardly an easy transition from my old way of thinking, but I’m beginning to see that all people—including myself—are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong. Am I approaching true tolerance? Am I beginning to see what real love actually means? Today I Pray May my Higher Power give me tolerance for any shortcomings or sick symptoms or insensitivities of others, so that I can love the qualities that are good in them. Higher Power, instruct me in the truest meaning of love—which must also include patience. May I not overlook the faults of those I love, but may I try to understand them. Today I Will Remember Love is understanding. Today's reading is from the book A Day at a Time, Daily Reflections for Recovering People |
December 19
We can be free of turmoil and frustration. Being overly concerned with or involved in others’ lives is a symptom of codependency. Our feelings about ourselves have too often been dependent on our relations with others. Now we’re working to change that. A key element of recovery is learning to detach from the affairs of others. Making sure a partner goes to work is not our responsibility. Smoothing relations between a parent and a sibling is not our job. Making excuses for a loved one’s drunken behavior doesn’t help that person get help. Our best response is no response in every situation where another’s behavior is causing problems. It’s very hard to quit helping when a friend is in trouble. Fortunately, we have the example of other people in the program to follow. Today I can recognize the boundaries between me and others. How they behave is not my concern, and it’s not my job to fix it. Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own, Meditations on Hope and Acceptance |
December 20
What sort of God would it be who only pushed from without? ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Oh, we hate to be pushed! We get upset and angry when someone is pushing on us. What man likes it? Sometimes God does the pushing, and it takes a while for us to realize it is God’s pressure on us that we feel. Our natural reaction is to resist and push back. When we keep getting headaches or stomachaches, maybe we should listen for the message. An unsettled feeling in our lives—about women, money, health, work, or something else—may carry a message for us. God might be pushing from within. In this program, we try to develop our ability to hear God’s will for us. Sometimes a problem is, in fact, a spiritual message. When we stop resisting and start listening, we soon grow wiser and stronger. God, your message is not always clear to me. Today, I will try to put aside my own habit of pushing back so I can have a clearer mind to receive it. Today's reading is from the book Touchstones, A Book of Daily Meditations for Men |
December 21
The only sense that is common in the long run is the sense of change—and we all instinctively avoid it. ~E. B. White Nature reveals to us a world that is always changing. No two sunsets are alike. Winter brings invigorating days while spring brings new buds and blossoms every day. Summer brings lazy warmth and star-filled evenings while fall brings crisp afternoons and a sense of nostalgia. Even though nature shows us a constantly changing world, we often resist the changes in our own lives. Changes can be both hard and sad, yet they are a part of life. Perhaps we are moving on to a new school or a new neighborhood, or perhaps we are feeling the changes that come with a divorce in the family. With every change we say a sad good-bye to something old, something familiar—in the same way we feel sadness for summer's end when the first leaves begin to fall. Yet every change also offers us the excitement and potential of a new season—with its own opportunity for new smells, special gifts, and invigorating days. How have I changed today? Today's reading is from the book Today's Gift, Daily Meditations for Families |
December 22
Only with a true friend’s input can we hope to see our world clearly, for our own perception always seems the truth. ~Dr. Richard Fritz We need our friends. Not just for good times but for basic health. In isolation, everything becomes magnified. Without others to help us form our boundaries and perceptions, whatever we can imagine becomes monstrous and whatever is monstrous becomes reality. If our old rules tell us to hold back and to decline closeness, we put ourselves at risk when we obey. Lacking the shared experience of others, we are vulnerable, not only to loneliness, but to gross misinterpretation of reality. Minor setbacks may be seen as catastrophic, and people who don’t go out of their way to be friendly may be plotting against us. By connecting with friends, however, we’re able to see that our monsters are only about knee-high, that most of our fears are made of smoke, and that no gray day can hold out against the sunshine of common sense and a functioning program. I am thankful for the stabilizing influence of friends. Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy, Daily Meditations for Adult Children |
December 23
Pride comes before a fall. ~Aesop’s Fables The word pride can mean a lot of things, and some of them are good. Pride can mean self-respect, a sense of dignity and joy in the work we do. Pride can also mean thinking too much of ourselves or our possessions. When our pride is so big that we look down on others, it is bad. When we forget to be grateful for our success and want to take all the credit, pride is bad. This is false pride. When we are too proud, we think we can do it all ourselves. We forget to ask for help. We forget to pray and meditate. Soon we’ll find ourselves all alone, except for our Inner Addict. And when it’s just us and our Addict, we know what happens—relapse. What’s the safeguard between good pride and false pride? Gratitude. When we feel grateful, we know that we have had help in doing the things we are proud of. We share the joy with others, knowing they helped us by caring about us and being in our lives. Prayer for the Day Thank you, Higher Power, for the dignity and success and joy I feel when I know I am being useful in your world. Today's Action I will list five things I did today that I can feel proud of in a good way. Did I take good care of my health? Did I say a kind word to someone? Did I do my job well? Today's reading is from the book God Grant Me, More Daily Meditations from the Authors of Keep It Simple |
December 24
Those who can’t endure the bad will not live to see the good. ~Yiddish saying Some messages from our culture seem like attempts to persuade us that life should be easy, fun, and profitable—morning, noon, and night. Otherwise, we’re led to believe, we are being cheated out of the “rights” promised to those born in a country of privilege and plenty. We may have to relearn life’s hard lesson that to prevail, we often need to persevere and endure. Images seduce us with promises of immediate gratification; fantasies beckon us to the quick fix. It’s not surprising so many of us succumb to addiction; we’re just not used to having to wait and strive for our rewards. To work to be free of addictive behavior, we have to change our way of thinking about the world. We may have to learn, perhaps for the first time, to do without, to be patient, and to defer our pleasures—to wait for what rewards there may be. At first we may feel cheated and betrayed, but then, as our program starts working, we will gain more enduring satisfaction rather than the fleeting, empty pleasures of our addiction. I am learning to be patient and to persevere in a world that was not constructed just for me and my pleasures. Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart, Daily Meditations for Men and Women Recovering from Sex Addiction |
December 25
Accepting gifts Giving is part of the holiday spirit. We need not lament because we don’t understand the nature of giving. Many of us suffer during the holidays for reasons a little more subtle than usual. Though we don’t realize it, many of us feel inadequate to the holiday spirit, which is so magnificent. We need to allow ourselves to dwell in this magnificence. We are all children of our Higher Power. We can joyfully accept its gifts of love, peace, fellowship, sobriety, and cleanness. We will learn how to give in turn. Do I feel the spirit of the holidays? Thank you, Higher Power, for your gifts to me today and every day. Today I will share in the holiday spirit by… Today's reading is from the book Day by Day, Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts |
December 26
The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness. ~William Saroyan Through Twelve Step recovery we are coming to believe that happiness wears many faces. It is a state of mind we can choose. It is within us when we get our ego and negative thoughts out of the way and discover that our Higher Power is our companion. We can join God anytime we seek joy, serenity, and security. Through Twelve Step recovery we are coming to believe that happiness wears many faces. It is a state of mind we can choose. It is within us when we get our ego and negative thoughts out of the way and discover that our Higher Power is our companion. We can join God anytime we seek joy, serenity, and security. Just knowing that God is within me will make me happy today. Today's reading is from the book In God's Care, Daily Meditations on Spirituality in Recovery |
December 27
One must be leery of words because they tum into cages. ~Viola Spolin We defeat ourselves with labels…We hem ourselves in; we shorten our vision; we cut off opportunities in the making. We influence how others think of us, too. Someone wise said that we teach others how to treat us. Are we teaching people to expect nothing great from us—because we are always afraid? Do we shatter their vision of our potential—by never thinking we can handle what may come? We become the persons we have programmed ourselves to be. We can revamp the program, anytime. And right now is a good time to begin. We are surrounded by persons who have done just that. It's time for praise. We are all that we need to be, and more. We will be helped to do all we are asked to do. We have an inner beauty that only needs encouragement to shine forth. If we smile from within today, we will free ourselves from our negative cages. A new life awaits us. To catch myself each time I insult myself will be a challenge, but one worth taking on. And it’s one I can win! Today's reading is from the book Each Day a New Beginning, Daily meditations for Women |
December 28
The more one judges, the less one loves. ~Honoré de Balzac At times we need to make judgments about people’s behavior. We stand back and look at how their lives affect our sobriety. We have to do this to choose people whose friendships will be good for us. We have to do this before we trust someone in business. We should take a good look at the other person before we fall in love. But once we decide to trust or love someone, we have to stop always judging. When we love someone, we don’t stand back. We move in close. We give them all our love can offer. We don’t just think and judge. We feel. We are on their side. We look for the good in them. We don’t pick them apart. We love the whole person. Prayer for the Day Higher Power, help me to judge a little and love a lot. Help me accept the people I love, faults and all. Help me love them better. Action for the Day Today I’ll catch myself when I start to judge others. I will accept them as they are. Today's reading is from the book Keep it Simple, Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal |
December 29
AA Thought for the Day The AA program is one of faith, hope, and charity. It’s a program of hope because when new members come into AA, the first thing they get is hope. They hear older members tell how they had been through the same kind of hell that they have and how they found the way out through AA. And this gives them hope that if others can do it, they can do it. Is hope still strong in me? Meditation for the Day The rule of God’s kingdom is perfect order, perfect harmony, perfect supply, perfect love, perfect honesty, perfect obedience. There is no discord in God’s kingdom, only some things still unconquered in God’s children. The difficulties of life are caused by disharmony in the individual man or woman. People lack power because they lack harmony with God and with each other. They think that God fails because power is not manifested in their lives. God does not fail. People fail because they are out of harmony with Him. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may be in harmony with God and with other people. I pray that this harmony will result in strength and success. Today's reading is from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day, A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life |
December 30
ln quarreling about the shadow, we often lose the substance. ~Aesop There is a fable about a man and his camel who were hired by a wealthy man to get him across the desert. The journey was so hot that they stopped to rest one day, and the only shade to be found was in the shadow of the camel. The two of them began to argue about who had the rights to the camel's shadow—the owner or the renter. They were so involved in their argument that the camel ran away and they didn't notice until it was long gone. Sometimes we get so caught up in being right that we become like these two, fighting over a shadow. In* stead of paying attention to our journey and sharing what we have, we let ourselves get distracted. It is more important to notice what we have, to share it as best we can, and continue our journey. What can I share with another today? Today's reading is from the book Today's Gift, Daily Meditations for Families |
December 31
You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on. ~Heraclitus On this last day of the year, time is on our minds. Naturally, we look back at the year just passing. Whether we feel grateful that it is over, or grateful for the gifts it brought, we can always be grateful to be in this healing program on this day. Some of us took our first Steps in recovery this year, and others marked another year among many years. Once on the path, the critical fact is that we are all brothers, equally seeking the same goal: a sober life and peace of mind. New Year’s Eve is a time for celebrations and parties. For some of us, New Year’s Eve in the past was a day of complete immersion in our addiction and codependency. There is no point in giving much attention to regrets. Today our celebration has a deeper spiritual meaning. It’s a good time to take stock of how far we have come and for gratitude for the benefits of our recovery. We can look at the challenges we faced and what we learned from them. We can look at the gifts that came into our lives. Today, I thank God for the gifts that continue to flow and enhance my life. Today's reading is from the book Stepping Stones, More Daily Meditations for Men |
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