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bluidkiti · 12-22-2014, 08:27 AM

December 23

Daily Reflections

RECOVERY, UNITY, SERVICE
Our Twelfth Step - carrying the message - is the basic
service that AA's Fellowship gives; this is our
principal aim and the main reason for our existence.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 160

I thank God for those who came before me, those who told
me not to forget the Three Legacies: Recovery, Unity and
Service. In my home group, the Three Legacies were
described on a sign which said: "You take a three-legged
stool, try to balance it on only one leg, or two. Our
Three Legacies must be kept intact. In Recovery, we get
sober together; in Unity, we work together for the good
of our Steps and Traditions; and through Service - we
give away freely what has been given to us." One of the
chief gifts of my life has been to know that I will have
no message to give, unless I recover in unity with A.A.
principles.

************************************************** *********

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We have definitely left that dream world behind. It was
only a sham. It was a world of our own making and it was
not the real world. We are sorry for the past, yes, but we
learned a lot from it. We can put it down to experience, as
we see it now, because it has given us the knowledge necessary
to face the world as it really is. We had to become alcoholics
in order to find the A.A. program. We would not have got
it any other way. In a way, it was worth it. Do I look at my
past as valuable experience?

Meditation For The Day

Shed peace, not discord, wherever you go. Try to be part
of the cure of every situation, not part of the problem.
Try to ignore evil, rather than to actively combat it.
Always try to build up, never to tear down. Show others
by your example that happiness comes from living the
right way. The power of your example is greater than the
power of what you say.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may try to bring something good into every
situation today. I pray that I may be constructive in the
way I think and speak and act today.

************************************************** *********

As Bill Sees It

Fear And Faith, p.263

The achievement of freedom from fear is a lifetime undertaking, one
that can never be wholly completed.

When under heavy attack, acute illness, or in other conditions of
serious insecurity, we shall all react to this emotion--well or badly, as
the case may be. Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom
from fear.

********************************

We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our
make-up. Sometimes we had to search persistently, but He was
there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great
Reality deep down within us.

1. Grapevine, January 1962
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p.55

************************************************** *********

Walk In Dry Places

AA goes the Distance
Fortitude
Few societies or organizations have better ways of measuring success than AA. Since we are friends as well as recovering people, some of us get to know others fairly well over long periods of time. Even in a large city, we meet people again and again, year after year.
We've come to think it very commonplace that some individuals have been sober ten years or more, and that some members have been in the fellowship more than forty years.
The AA program does have staying power; it goes the distance for those who continue to follow it.
We should remind ourselves of this when we hear of new, faddish theories about alcoholism and recovery. Most of the time, the results reported are very short-term. What we really need is recovery with staying power, which we can find in the AA program.
Today's sobriety can be another link in an endless chain of sobriety. AA will go the distance for me if I take care of each day as it comes.

************************************************** *********

Keep It Simple

We not only need to be willing to give, but also to be open to receiving from others.---from On Hope
Many of us took so much from others during our addiction that now we may not want to ask for anything.
We may be afraid to ask for help, so our needs go unmet. In fact, many of us would rather give than receive. In recovery, we need to understand the difference between taking and receiving. Giving to others is important. So is receiving from others. As we grow spiritually, we learn to accept gifts. The gift of sobriety teaches us this. We need to accept the gifts the world gives us without shame. We are entitled.
God loves us and will give us much if we're willing to receive it.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me be receptive to Your gifts. Help me see and believe that I'm entitled to all the happiness of the world.
Action for the Day: I'll think of what a friend has given me. I'll thank this friend.

************************************************** *********

Each Day a New Beginning

. . . The present enshrines the past. --Simone de Beauvoir
Each of our lives is a multitude of interconnecting pieces, not unlike a mosaic. What has gone before, what will come today, are at once and always entwined. The past has done its part, never to be erased. The present is always a composite.
In months and years gone by, perhaps we anticipated the days with dread. Fearing the worst, often we found it; we generally find that which we fear. But we can influence the mosaic our experiences create. The contribution today makes to our mosaic can lighten its shade, can heighten its contrast, and can make bold its design.
What faces us today? A job we enjoy or one we fear? Growing pains of our children? Loneliness? How we move through the minutes, the hours, influences our perception of future minutes and hours.
No moment is inviolate. Every moment is part of the whole that we are creating. We are artists. We create our present from influences of our past.
I will go forth today; I will anticipate goodness. I will create the kind of moments that will add beauty to my mosaic.

************************************************** *********

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within. Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I expect to receive. But that would be in great measure.

p. 13

************************************************** *********

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

The Vicious Cycle

How it finally broke a Southerner's obstinacy and destined this salesman to start A.A. at Philadelphia.

After the oil job blew up, I went back to Baltimore and Mother, my first wife having said a permanent goodbye. Then came a sales job with a national tire company. I reorganized their city sales policy and eighteen months later, when I was thirty, they offered me the branch managership. As part of this promotion, they sent me to their national convention in Atlantic City to tell the big wheels how I'd done it. At this time I was holding what drinking I did down to weekends, but I hadn't had a drink at all in a month. I checked into my hotel room and then noticed a placard tucked under the glass on the bureau stating "There will be positively NO drinking at this convention," signed by the president of the company. That did it! Who me? The Big Shot? The only salesman invited to talk at the convention? The man who was going to take over one of their biggest branches come Monday? I'd show 'em who was boss! No one in that company ever saw me again--ten days later I wired my resignation.

p. 224

************************************************** *********

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Two - "For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience."

"So spoke the group conscience. The group was right and I was wrong; the voice on the subway was not the voice of God. Here was the true voice, welling up out of my friends. I listened, and - thank God - I obeyed."

p. 138

************************************************** *********

"The tree in which the sap is stagnant remains fruitless."
--Hosea Ballou

Speaking without thinking is shooting without aiming.
--French Proverb

Don't let your tongue cut your throat.
--Irish Proverb

As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

When you find you are upset over a situation, stop and ask yourself one very important
question. "Is this something I can change?" Whether it is or not, turn your negative
energy in to productive energy. You can either change the situation, or change your
perspective of the situation.
--unknown

************************************************** *********

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

LANGUAGE

"If thought corrupts language,
language can also corrupt
thought."
-- George Orwell

Sobriety for me means much more than "not drinking" or "not using" --- it means the
daily decision to be a positive and creative human being in all areas of my life: How I
treat people. What I eat. The books I read and how I speak! Not even my worst
enemy would call me a "prude" but I think that bad language used on a regular basis
is unacceptable in sobriety. Why? Because it hurts the listener and does not show
respect for self or the God-given gift of communication.

If you have no respect for language, you will ultimately not grow as a spiritual person.

May Your "words of love" be reflected in my speech and writings.

************************************************** *********

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to
shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
Psalms 25:1-2

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.
Psalms 25:4-5

************************************************** *********

Daily Inspiration

Each time you have a kind thought, say a kind word or do a kind deed you are living your love. Lord, as I see the world through loving eyes, I experience heaven on earth.

Get and keep a good humored attitude toward life. This will bring you support rather than opposition. Lord, may I always be a peacemaker.

12-22-2014, 08:27 AM	#23
bluidkiti Administrator Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 70,554	December 23 Daily Reflections RECOVERY, UNITY, SERVICE Our Twelfth Step - carrying the message - is the basic service that AA's Fellowship gives; this is our principal aim and the main reason for our existence. THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 160 I thank God for those who came before me, those who told me not to forget the Three Legacies: Recovery, Unity and Service. In my home group, the Three Legacies were described on a sign which said: "You take a three-legged stool, try to balance it on only one leg, or two. Our Three Legacies must be kept intact. In Recovery, we get sober together; in Unity, we work together for the good of our Steps and Traditions; and through Service - we give away freely what has been given to us." One of the chief gifts of my life has been to know that I will have no message to give, unless I recover in unity with A.A. principles. ************************************************ ***** Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day We have definitely left that dream world behind. It was only a sham. It was a world of our own making and it was not the real world. We are sorry for the past, yes, but we learned a lot from it. We can put it down to experience, as we see it now, because it has given us the knowledge necessary to face the world as it really is. We had to become alcoholics in order to find the A.A. program. We would not have got it any other way. In a way, it was worth it. Do I look at my past as valuable experience? Meditation For The Day Shed peace, not discord, wherever you go. Try to be part of the cure of every situation, not part of the problem. Try to ignore evil, rather than to actively combat it. Always try to build up, never to tear down. Show others by your example that happiness comes from living the right way. The power of your example is greater than the power of what you say. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may try to bring something good into every situation today. I pray that I may be constructive in the way I think and speak and act today. ********************************************** ***** As Bill Sees It Fear And Faith, p.263 The achievement of freedom from fear is a lifetime undertaking, one that can never be wholly completed. When under heavy attack, acute illness, or in other conditions of serious insecurity, we shall all react to this emotion--well or badly, as the case may be. Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom from fear. **************************** We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up. Sometimes we had to search persistently, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. 1. Grapevine, January 1962 2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p.55 ********************************************** ***** Walk In Dry Places AA goes the Distance Fortitude Few societies or organizations have better ways of measuring success than AA. Since we are friends as well as recovering people, some of us get to know others fairly well over long periods of time. Even in a large city, we meet people again and again, year after year. We've come to think it very commonplace that some individuals have been sober ten years or more, and that some members have been in the fellowship more than forty years. The AA program does have staying power; it goes the distance for those who continue to follow it. We should remind ourselves of this when we hear of new, faddish theories about alcoholism and recovery. Most of the time, the results reported are very short-term. What we really need is recovery with staying power, which we can find in the AA program. Today's sobriety can be another link in an endless chain of sobriety. AA will go the distance for me if I take care of each day as it comes. ********************************************** ***** Keep It Simple We not only need to be willing to give, but also to be open to receiving from others.---from On Hope Many of us took so much from others during our addiction that now we may not want to ask for anything. We may be afraid to ask for help, so our needs go unmet. In fact, many of us would rather give than receive. In recovery, we need to understand the difference between taking and receiving. Giving to others is important. So is receiving from others. As we grow spiritually, we learn to accept gifts. The gift of sobriety teaches us this. We need to accept the gifts the world gives us without shame. We are entitled. God loves us and will give us much if we're willing to receive it. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me be receptive to Your gifts. Help me see and believe that I'm entitled to all the happiness of the world. Action for the Day: I'll think of what a friend has given me. I'll thank this friend. ********************************************** ***** Each Day a New Beginning . . . The present enshrines the past. --Simone de Beauvoir Each of our lives is a multitude of interconnecting pieces, not unlike a mosaic. What has gone before, what will come today, are at once and always entwined. The past has done its part, never to be erased. The present is always a composite. In months and years gone by, perhaps we anticipated the days with dread. Fearing the worst, often we found it; we generally find that which we fear. But we can influence the mosaic our experiences create. The contribution today makes to our mosaic can lighten its shade, can heighten its contrast, and can make bold its design. What faces us today? A job we enjoy or one we fear? Growing pains of our children? Loneliness? How we move through the minutes, the hours, influences our perception of future minutes and hours. No moment is inviolate. Every moment is part of the whole that we are creating. We are artists. We create our present from influences of our past. I will go forth today; I will anticipate goodness. I will create the kind of moments that will add beauty to my mosaic. ********************************************** ***** Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition BILL'S STORY I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within. Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I expect to receive. But that would be in great measure. p. 13 ********************************************** ***** Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories The Vicious Cycle How it finally broke a Southerner's obstinacy and destined this salesman to start A.A. at Philadelphia. After the oil job blew up, I went back to Baltimore and Mother, my first wife having said a permanent goodbye. Then came a sales job with a national tire company. I reorganized their city sales policy and eighteen months later, when I was thirty, they offered me the branch managership. As part of this promotion, they sent me to their national convention in Atlantic City to tell the big wheels how I'd done it. At this time I was holding what drinking I did down to weekends, but I hadn't had a drink at all in a month. I checked into my hotel room and then noticed a placard tucked under the glass on the bureau stating "There will be positively NO drinking at this convention," signed by the president of the company. That did it! Who me? The Big Shot? The only salesman invited to talk at the convention? The man who was going to take over one of their biggest branches come Monday? I'd show 'em who was boss! No one in that company ever saw me again--ten days later I wired my resignation. p. 224 ********************************************** ***** Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Tradition Two - "For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience." "So spoke the group conscience. The group was right and I was wrong; the voice on the subway was not the voice of God. Here was the true voice, welling up out of my friends. I listened, and - thank God - I obeyed." p. 138 ********************************************** ***** "The tree in which the sap is stagnant remains fruitless." --Hosea Ballou Speaking without thinking is shooting without aiming. --French Proverb Don't let your tongue cut your throat. --Irish Proverb As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way. --Ralph Waldo Emerson When you find you are upset over a situation, stop and ask yourself one very important question. "Is this something I can change?" Whether it is or not, turn your negative energy in to productive energy. You can either change the situation, or change your perspective of the situation. --unknown ********************************************** ***** Father Leo's Daily Meditation LANGUAGE "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought." -- George Orwell Sobriety for me means much more than "not drinking" or "not using" --- it means the daily decision to be a positive and creative human being in all areas of my life: How I treat people. What I eat. The books I read and how I speak! Not even my worst enemy would call me a "prude" but I think that bad language used on a regular basis is unacceptable in sobriety. Why? Because it hurts the listener and does not show respect for self or the God-given gift of communication. If you have no respect for language, you will ultimately not grow as a spiritual person. May Your "words of love" be reflected in my speech and writings. ********************************************** ***** To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. Psalms 25:1-2 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. Psalms 25:4-5 ********************************************** ******* Daily Inspiration Each time you have a kind thought, say a kind word or do a kind deed you are living your love. Lord, as I see the world through loving eyes, I experience heaven on earth. Get and keep a good humored attitude toward life. This will bring you support rather than opposition. Lord, may I always be a peacemaker. __________________ "No matter what you have done up to this moment, you get 24 brand-new hours to spend every single day." --Brian Tracy AA gives us an opportunity to recreate ourselves, with God's help, one day at a time. --Rufus K. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. --Franklin D. Roosevelt We stay sober and clean together - one day at a time! God says that each of us is worth loving.