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AA Thought for the Day

August 12

Twenty-Four Hour Living
"The idea of `twenty-four-hour living' applies primarily to the emotional life of the individual.
Emotionally speaking, we must not live in yesterday, nor in tomorrow."
"But I have never been able to see that this means the individual, the group, or A.A. as a whole
should give no thought whatever to how to function tomorrow or even in the more distant future.
Faith alone never constructed the house you live in.
There had to be a blueprint and a lot of work to bring it into reality."
- As Bill Sees It, p. 284

Thought to Ponder
If faith without works is dead; then willingness without action is fantasy.

AA-related 'Alconym'
S I T = Stay In Today.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~

Growing Pains
"How to translate a right mental conviction into
a right emotional result,
and so into easy, happy, and good living -
well, that's not only the neurotic's problem,
it's the problem of life itself for all of us who have got
to the point of real willingness to hew to right principles.
Even then, as we hew away, peace and joy may still elude us.
That's the place so many of us AA oldsters have come to.
And it's a hell of a spot, literally."
- Bill W.
1988AAGrapevine, The Language of the Heart, p. 237

Thought to Consider . . .
Minds are like parachutes -
they won't work unless they're open.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
S O B E R = Simply Observe Bill's Exemplary Recovery

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Reactions to Money
Tradition Seven: Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
Alcoholics are certainly all-or-nothing people. Our reactions to money prove this. As A.A. emerged from its infancy into adolescence, we swung from the idea that we needed vast sums of money to the notion that A.A. shouldn't have any. On every lip were the words You can't mix A.A. and money. We shall have to separate the spiritual from the material. We took this violent new tack because here and there members had tried to make money out of their A.A. connections, and we feared we'd be exploited. Now and then, grateful benefactors had endowed clubhouses, and as a result there was sometimes outside interference in our affairs. We had been presented with a hospital, and almost immediately the donor's son became its principal patient and would-be manager. One A.A. group was given five thousand dollars to do with what it would. The hassle over that chunk of money played havoc for years. Frightened by these complications, some groups refused to have a cent in their treasuries.
1981, AAWS, Inc., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 161

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Our sobriety should be founded on 'unselfish selfishness' ... It's not sound, we have been told, to try to stay dry for the sake of a wife or a sweetheart or someone else dear to us."
June 1945
"On the Eighth Step,"
Step By Step

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

"The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost
the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes
practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring
into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the
suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are
without defense against the first drink."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 24~

“Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.”
Alcoholics Anonymous p. 77

“In the morning we think of the hours to come. Perhaps we think of our day’s work and the chances it may afford us to be useful and helpful, or of some special problem that it may bring. Possibly today will see a continuation of a serious and as yet unresolved problem left over from yesterday. Our immediate temptation will be to ask for specific solutions to specific problems, and for the ability to help other people as we have already thought they should be helped. In that case, we are asking God to do it our way. Therefore, we ought to consider each request carefully to see what its real merit is. Even so, when making specific requests, it will be well to add to each one of them this qualification: “…if it be Thy will.” We ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the best understanding of His will that we can have for that day, and that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 102

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

No society can function well without able leadership at all its levels, and A.A. can be no exception. But we A.A.'s sometimes cherish the thought that we can do without much personal leadership at all. We are apt to warp the traditional idea of 'principles before personalities' around to such a point that there would be no 'personality' in leadership whatever. This would imply rather faceless robots trying to please everybody.
A leader in A.A. service is a man (or woman) who can personally put principles, plans, and policies into such dedicated and effective action that the rest of us naturally want to back him up and help him with his job. When a leader powerdrives us badly, we rebel; but when he too meekly becomes an order-taker and he exercises no judgment of his own - well, he really isn't a leader at all.

Prayer for the Day: God, Direct my attention to what You would have me be. Amen.