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September 19

Daily Reflections

ACCEPTANCE

We admitted we couldn't lick alcohol with our own
remaining resources, and so we accepted the further
fact that dependence upon a Higher Power
(if only our A.A. group) could do this hitherto
impossible job. The moment we were able to accept
these facts fully, our release from the alcohol
compulsion had begun.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 109

Freedom came to me only with my acceptance that I
could turn my will and my life over to the care of
my Higher Power, whom I call God. Serenity seeped
into the chaos of my life when I accepted that what
I was going through was life, and that God would
help me through my difficulties--and much more, as
well. Since then He has helped me through all of my
difficulties! When I accept situations as they are,
not as I wish them to be, then I can begin to grow
and have serenity and peace of mind.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Let us continue with Steps Two, Three, and Eleven.
We must turn to a Higher Power for help, because we
are helpless ourselves. When we put our drink problem
in God's hands and leave it there, we have made the
most important decision of our lives. From then on,
we trust God for the strength to keep sober. This
takes us off the center of the universe and allows
us to transfer our problems to a Power outside
ourselves. By prayer and meditation, we seek to
improve our conscious contract with God. We try to
live each day the way we believe God wants us
to live. Am I trusting God for the strength to stay sober?

Meditation For The Day

"These things have I spoken unto you, that your joy
may be full." Even a partial realization of the
spiritual life brings much joy. You feel at home in
the world when you are in touch with the Divine
Spirit of the universe. Spiritual experience brings
a definite satisfaction. Search for the real meaning
of life by following spiritual laws. God wants you to
have spiritual success and He intends that you have it.
If you live your life as much as possible according to
spiritual laws, you can expect your share of joy and
peace, satisfaction and success.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I will find happiness in doing the right
thing. I pray that I will find satisfaction in obeying
spiritual laws.

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As Bill Sees It

"Fearless and Searching", p.261

My self-analysis has frequently been faulty. Sometimes I've failed
to share my defects with the right people; at other times, I've
confessed their defects, rather than my own; and still other times,
my confession of defects has been more in the nature of loud
complaints about my circumstances and my problems.

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When A.A. suggests a fearless moral inventory, it must seem to
every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do.
Every time he tries to look within himself, Pride says, "You need not
pass this way," and Fear says, "You dare not look!"

But pride and fear of this sort turn out to be bogymen, nothing
else. Once we have a complete willingness to take inventory, and
exert ourselves to do the job thoroughly, a wonderful light falls
upon this foggy scene. As we persist, a brand-new kind of
confidence is born, and the sense of relief at finally facing
ourselves is indescribable.

1. Grapevine, June 1958
2. 12 & 12, pp.49-50

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Walk In Dry Places

Keep the common problem in view
Maintaining
It there's been one major change in AA, one old-timer observed,
it's probably in group discussions. The focus today is far more on
overcoming personal problems than in staying away form the first drink.
"The early AA members were continuously concerned about the dangers
of drinking," he said. "Members today are more concerned about their
feelings and personal issues, such as relationships."
This change has probably been an improvement, but it carries the risk
that members will forget why they needed the program in the first place.
For alcoholics, it is dangerous to let the problem with alcohol slide out of
view. It is important to keep in mind at all times the life-or-death nature
of our drinking problem. Even if we are not totally successful in dealing
with our feelings or establishing harmonious relationships, it's always
necessary to stay sober. Disaster is in that first drink, and let's keep
that constantly in view.
No matter how long I've been sober, I'll remind myself several times
this day that I'm an alcoholic. I'll also remember that it's only sobriety
that enables me to deal with my other problems.

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Keep It Simple

When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when
we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could
have planned.---Alcoholics Anonymous
We can’t control the present by looking into the future. We can only
look back at the past. The past can teach us how to get more out of
the present. But the past is to be learned from, not to be judged.
As we look back, we see the troubles caused by addiction. But we
also see recovery. We see how our lives are better. We see our
Higher Power’s work in our lives. If we honestly look at our past, we learn.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me learn from the past.
With Your help, I’ll stop judging my past, just as I wouldn’t judge
those who have gone before me.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll remember my life before I got sober.
Do I still hang on to attitudes or behaviors that might make me start to
use alcohol and other drugs again?

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Each Day a New Beginning

...concern should drive us into action and not into depression. --Karen Horney
The role of victim is all too familiar to many of us. Life did us injustices
--we thought. And we passively waited for circumstances to change.
With the bottle we waited, or maybe the little white pills. Nothing was
our fault. That we were willing participants to victimization is an awareness
not easily accepted, but true nonetheless.
Victims no more, we are actors, now. And since committing ourselves to
this program, we have readily available a willing and very able director
for our role in life. Every event invites an action, and we have opted for
the responsible life.
Depression may be on the fringes of our consciousness today. But it need
not become our state of mind. The antidote is and always will be action,
responsible action. Every concern, every experience wants our attention,
our active attention.
Today stretches before me, an unknown quantity. Concerns will crowd upon
me, but guidance regarding the best action to take is always available to me.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

PREFACE

This is the fourth edition of the book "Alcoholics Anonymous." The first edition appeared in April 1939, and n the following sixteen years, more than 300,000 copies went into circulation. The second edition, published in 1955, reached a total of more than 1,150,500 copies. The third edition, which came off press in 1976, achieved a circulation of 11,698,000.

p. xi

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition - Stories

Alcoholic Anonymous Number Three

Pioneer member of Akron's Group No. 1, the first A.A. group in the world. He kept the faith; therefore, he and countless others found a new life.

She said "You are going to quit." That was worth a lot even though I did not believe it. Then she told me that these two drunks she had been talking to had a plan whereby they thought they could quit drinking, and part of that plan was that they tell it to another drunk. This was going to help them stay sober. All the other people that had talked to me wanted to help me, and my pride prevented me from listening to them, and caused only resentment on my part, but I felt as if I would be a real stinker if I did not listen to a couple of fellows for a short time, if that would cure them. She also told me that I could not pay them even if I wanted to and had the money, which I did not.

p. 185

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Ten - "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it."

A spot-check inventory taken in the midst of such disturbances can be of very great help in quieting stormy emotions. Today's spot check finds its chief application to situations which arise in each day's march. The consideration of long-standing difficulties had better be postponed, when possible, to times deliberately set aside for that purpose. The quick inventory is aimed at our daily ups and downs, especially those where people or new events throw us off balance and tempt us to make mistakes.

pp. 90-91

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If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of
tomorrow, you have no today for which you can be thankful.
--Anonymous

Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you
hold well.
--Josh Billings

"I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full.
And scratch where it itches."
--Alice Roosevelt Longworth

In each of our lives, for whatever reason, there are times that we are
faced with things that just don't make sense to us. And the more we
struggle to understand our hardships, the less any of it makes sense.
I have found that in every challenge and obstacle that we are faced
with there *can* be good that can come from it! While it's almost
never easy to identify, I assure you that it is there lying dormant just
waiting for us to release it! I urge everyone to spend your days looking
for positives in your life.
--Josh Hinds from The Inspiration a Day! April 8, 1998

Whate'er we leave to God, God does and blesses us.
--Henry David Thoreau

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

SUICIDE

"Often the test of courage is not
to die but to live."
-- Conte Vittorio Alfieri

There are many ways of committing suicide. The obvious way is to
take your life -- the ultimate escape. One can reach that point in life
when there seems no hope, no purpose in living and death is attractive.
Many alcoholics and addicts reach this point of despair.

However, there is a more subtle way of "suicide", which is to kill
yourself slowly -- by a sick behavior and a negative attitude. I was
"dying" in a lifestyle that revolved around alcohol. All I wanted to do
was drink -- I didn't want to go anywhere, be with anyone or enjoy the
thousand and one pleasures that life offers. I was dying in my life. I
was becoming a "walking zombie". I was committing suicide by
degrees!

Today I can see this and I am glad I had the courage to live. My act of
courage began with my "no" to alcohol.

Let me continue to live in my life.

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The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The
LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1

A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for
them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and
enjoy great peace. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash
their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows
their day is coming.
Psalm 37:10-13

"Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in
your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope
is in you all day long."
Psalm 25:4-5

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer
call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's
business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I
learned from my Father I have made known to you."
John 15:13-15

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Daily Inspiration

Are you too busy wishing away your day to get what you really want?
Lord, help me set goals and find the means to achieve what is important to me.

God has given each of us many talents and abilities. To use them reflects
our commitment to Him. Lord, help me find new ways to use the talents that
You've given me.