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September 15

Step by Step

" ...I can only say that whatever growth or understanding has come to me, I have no wish to graduate. Very rarely do I miss the meetings of my neighborhood AA group, and my average has never been less than two meetings a week. I have served on only one committee in the past nine years, for I feel that I had my chance the first few years and that newer members should fill the jobs. They are far more alert and progressive than we floundering fathers were, and the future of our fellowship is in their hands." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, "Alcoholics Anonymous Number Three," Ch 6 ("The Vicious Cycle"), pp 249-50.

Today, words that instill the program as a lifelong exercise and call to service. If I remain reluctant for whatever reason to propel myself into visible service, my own continued sobriety and emotional and spiritual growth can serve the newcomer by witnessing my own example that the program works. And, hopefully, with continued growth and nurturing, I may someday be able - even eager - to serve in a visible capacity such as a speaker, moderator at a meeting or giving a ride to a meeting to someone who needs it. Today, I strengthen my sobriety with more than gratitude by respecting it because, in the end, my own recovery and that of everyone else may well determine "the future of our fellowship." And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

SHORTCOMINGS

The unexamined life is not worth living.

~ Socrates ~

None of us who strive for serenity will ever be tempted to say that we are leading a life that has gone unexamined. Our Program places great emphasis on the Steps concerned with taking inventory of our lives and making definite moves to rid ourselves of shortcomings we find are slowing our progress. These Steps continue to stress a spiritual progress that can be maintained if we expect to cope with our problems.

We in recovery know that the inventory of defects of character needs to be fearless and thorough. Subsequent Steps involve us in admitting our wrongs to a Higher Power and humbly seeking God's help in relieving our lives of those handicaps. We continue to look at our behavior and make daily assessments of how we are living and handling our problems.

I am getting to know myself through my inventory taking. By examining and working to remove my shortcomings and character defects, my life has become worth living.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

It’s not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts.

~ Addison Walker ~

Being considerate, civil, generous, and interested in others forms the basis of good character and good relationships with others. When we stop being so focused on ourselves, when we stop trying to come out ahead of everyone else, our world opens up. We suddenly have good, supportive friendships that are more valuable than material winnings.

The Golden Rule is ancient advice that is expressed in many languages and world religions. It says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It is a small man who takes away someone else’s power to advance his own. A strong man can confidently cheer for the strength of others.

Today I am grateful for the good friends in my life.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

Maturity doesn’t come with age or intellectual wisdom, only with love.

~ Ruth Casey ~

We may have thought being mature meant being “grown-up.” This meant acting rationally, showing good judgment, no longer exhibiting childish behavior. It’s doubtful that we ever considered the expression of love as an act of maturity. However, we are learning that the key to sustained growth is the ability to love one another and ourselves.

It seems so much easier to focus on others’ faults than on their assets. In childhood we learned to compete with our classmates, and this taught us to be critical of one another. No teacher tested us on how we expressed love; rather, we worked on spelling and multiplication tables, and we were pitted against other students for the gold stars.

Now we are discovering how much more comfortable life is when we all get gold stars. We are handling every situation more sanely now that we have realized the gift of serenity that accompanies our expression of love.

My growth, my maturity in this program, can best be measured by my attitude today. Am I loving, or am I still competing with the others?

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I want to stay abstinent

When I was using, some days I'd wake up and look at myself in the mirror. I looked awful. I felt awful. I'd stare into my eyes and silently plead with myself to quit the chemicals. I couldn't keep it up anymore. I was falling apart and things were falling apart all around me. I was scared. I no longer had control.

I'm grateful today that I finally became willing to accept this problem and that I finally got help. Sometimes I still feel like caving in, but there is something inside me that still wants to hang on, still wants to get better, still wants to stay abstinent. I need to pay close attention to that desire.

When I feel like using again, I will tell a friend and ask for help.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

If you pray for bread and bring no basket to carry it,
you prove the doubting spirit
which may be the only hindrance to the boon you ask.

~ Dwight L. Moody ~

If we have been introduced to the fellowship of a Twelve Step program, how can we still doubt the power of prayer? When we were hopeless and our lives were in a shambles, didn’t we ask, wish, or plead for deliverance?

Whether we thought we were praying or not, our prayers have been answered. It doesn’t matter if we think it was God or the miracle of the Twelve Steps or some other Higher Power that came through for us. What matters is we asked, and we were answered. If this doesn’t demonstrate the power of prayer, what will?

We are letting go of doubt and suspicion. It is time to remember that even in our day-to-day lives, there is a Power greater than ourselves we can turn to. We no longer have to resign ourselves to suffering. Faith is our “basket.” If we bring the basket to carry the bread, we will never be alone.

Today help me summon my faith so I can accept the gifts that await me.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

The Milkmaid and Her Pail

A milkmaid walked to the village with a pail of milk balanced on her head. She began to think about what she I would do with the money she would make when the milk was sold, and decided she would buy some chickens. They would lay eggs, which would bring in a good price at the market. “Then I will use the money I earn to buy a new dress and hat,” she said. “I will go to the market dressed so nicely, and all the young men will notice me. All the women will be jealous of me.”

Eager to get on with her plans, she began to walk a little faster. “I will just look at those women, smile, and toss my head in the air.” With that, she actually tossed her head. The pail fell to the ground and all of the milk spilled out.

The moral of the story: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

While it may be tempting to think being clean and sober means you can show others they were wrong about you, this is not the purpose of recovery. Recovery is a program that helps you stay clean and sober. Your work in the program is something you do for yourself.

I will not use my recovery as a means of retaliation or personal gain.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires . . . courage.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

When we first entered the program, someone may have said to us, "Oh, you don't have a problem. You don't need that program." That person may have dismissed our reasons with countless excuses, saying that our decision was silly or foolish, that someday we'd come to our senses.

At first we may have believed our critics. The program certainly wasn't easy. Maybe our circumstances weren't as bad as we thought, compared to others’. Maybe we looked around the meeting room and didn't see people of the same age, the same sex, or the same background. Maybe we felt we didn't belong.

But as we became familiar with the Steps and the principles of the program, we realized we could relate to others and benefit from what they had to say. We, too, belonged.

Tonight, help me be grateful for the courage it took for me to stay in the program.

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Learning how to pray

Step Eleven may give us concern: I haven’t prayed in so many years! What do I do? I don’t even know where to begin.

Fortunately, praying can be as simple as it is important. It need not be long or formal. It needs no particular prayer, time, or place. It is simply thinking good thoughts, saying our feelings, or reviewing our day. Whatever we do as praying is a good thing.

Am I learning how to pray?

Higher Power, help me pray.
Help me stay in touch with my spiritual self.

Today I will pray by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

When you forget the beginner's awe, you start decaying.

~ NOBUKO ALBERY ~

Newcomer

I'm surprised at something I've recently felt happening to me at meetings. It's a kind of serendipity: whatever the speaker's story whatever the topic or the literature being read, it seems to apply perfectly to what's going on in my life.

Sponsor

Some of us have this experience at the first meeting we attend. We're ready to be shown a way to live without addiction, to hear the words that will help us to heal. The experience of that first meeting slakes a spiritual thirst even greater than we knew we had. Some of us are blessed to be able to listen with the same kind of active, focused attention throughout our recovery; some of us gradually grow in our ability to identify with others and to feel gratitude. Whenever we listen with the expectation of hearing something that will meet our needs, we hear it.

You're feeling a connection to other people's sharing, in part because of the willingness, empathy, and gratitude you bring to meetings. When we are open and receptive, we can almost always count on someone's saying words that seem to speak directly to us.

Today, I listen actively; I hear words that are meant for me.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

The greatest battles of life are won or lost without the sound of a single shot. Suppose Christ had lost His battle with Satan at the time of His temptation? Its repercussions would have been greater than all the battles of history.

Your greatest victory, your greatest display of courage in your fight against Alcohol was not accomplished amid flying banners and the flourish of trumpets but in the quiet of your own heart.

The most courageous thing a man can do when he has fought a good fight and realizes that he is up against unconquerable odds, is to admit that he is whipped. General Robert E. Lee's reputation for courage suffered not one bit by his surrender at Appomattox.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

I Cannot Do This Alone

O God, help me pray and concentrate my thoughts on You,
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness,
But with You there is light;
I am lonely, but You do not leave me,
I am feeble in heart, but with You there is help,
I am restless, but with You there is patience;
I do not understand Your ways,
But You know the way for me.

~ From "I Cannot Do This Alone, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

AFTER YOUR HEALING

Healing is only the beginning. When you are completely healed of everything wrong in your life—your body, your business, difficulties in personal relationships, obvious faults in your own character—you will not have finished your work. Your real work will only be commencing.

Your real work is to show and experience the glory of God, to build the spiritual consciousness, "the house magnifical." Conscious fear will have gone, and your whole world will be different. The physical world will be different because it will be clothed in a new glory—"the light that never was on sea or land." Then people will be different because you will be beginning to know their real selves instead of merely the outer shell, and, of course, everyone else will notice that you are different, too.

This is not to say that healing is unimportant—it has to precede the building. Let us endeavor to get our own healing completed as soon as possible in order to help the world that is needing it so much.

Bless the Lord . . . who healeth all thy diseases . . . who crowneth thee with lovingkindness . . . (Psalm 103:2-4).

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Bought the T-Shirt

To see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone.

~ Buddha ~

When opera star Beverly Sills retired from the stage to become a director, she was constantly asked, "How could you give up such a glorious and lucrative career?" Finally, Beverly had a little gold pendant made displaying the letters "I.A.D.T.'' When someone at a party would question Beverly about leaving the stage, she would hold up the pendant and recite, “I already did that.''

Just because something has worked for a long time, that does not mean you must do it forever. lf you still feel enlivened and emotionally rewarded in it, carry on. But if the juice is gone, you must ask yourself where your heart really calls you, and move in a new direction.

To keep rubber-stamping an old activity is not a career; it is hiding. Some writers, musicians, or artists produce a dearth of works that are but variations on an old formula or theme. The products sell, but on the inside, these souls are dying artistically. What is required is not more of the same, but a leap of faith to do something new and different.

If you can say, "Been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt,” it's time to venture onward. To live is to explore, reach out, and risk. The only real security lies in adventure.

Give me the courage to try something new. I want each day to be more alive than the last.

I launch into uncharted territory, trusting that spirit is guiding me.