AA Thoughts For Today - July

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AA Thought for the Day

July 21

Courage
We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator.
We can laugh at those who think spirituality the way of weakness.
Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage.
All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God.
Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 68

Thought to Ponder
Courage is faith that has said its prayers.

AA-related 'Alconym'
F A I T H = Found Always In Trusting Him.

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

Defects
"What we must recognize now is that
we exult in some of our defects.
We really love them.
Who, for example, doesn't like to feel
just a little superior to the next fellow,
or even quite a lot superior?
Isn't it true that we like to let greed masquerade as ambition?
To think of liking lust seems impossible.
But how many men and women speak love with their lips,
and believe what they say,
so they can hide lust in a dark corner of their minds?
And even while staying within conventional bounds,
many people have to admit
that their imaginary sex excursions are apt to be
all dressed up as dreams of romance."
1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 66-7

Thought to Consider . . .
If I want God to remove my character defects,
I'll have to stop doing them.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
B A T H = Behavior, Attitude, Thinking, and Habits

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

Control the Situation
From: "Bill's Story"
Liquor ceased to be a luxury; it became a necessity. "Bathtub" gin, two bottles a day, and often three, got to be routine. Sometimes a small deal would net a few hundred dollars, and I would pay my bills at the bars and delicatessens. This went on endlessly, and I began to waken very early in the morning shaking violently. A tumbler full of gin followed by half a dozen bottles of beer would be required if I were to eat any breakfast. Nevertheless, I still thought I could control the situation, and there were periods of sobriety which renewed my wife's hope.
2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, page 5

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

"By the fall of 1937 we could count what looked like forty recovered members. One of us had been sober three years, another two and a half, and a fair number had a year or more behind them. As all of us had been hopeless cases, this amount of time elapsed began to be significant. The realization that we 'had found something' began to take hold of us. No longer were we a dubious experiment. Alcoholics could stay sober."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., October 1945
"The Book Is Born"
The Language of the Heart

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

"When ready, we say something like this: 'My Creator, I am now
willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you
now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in
the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as
I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.' We have then
completed Step Seven."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 76~

"I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind. I saw that
will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental
blank spots. I had never been able to understand people who said
that a problem had them hopelessly defeated. I knew then. It was a
crushing blow."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 42~

"We cannot subscribe to the belief that this life is a vale of tears,
though it once was just that for many of us. But it is clear that we
made our own misery. God didn't do it. Avoid then, the
deliberate manufacture of misery, but if trouble comes, cheerfully
capitalize it as an opportunity to demonstrate His omnipotence."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 133~

"We relax and take it easy."
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 86 (Into Action)

"His sponsor probably says, 'Take it easy.'"
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 26 (Step Two)

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Not all large decisions can be well made by simply listing the pros and cons of a given situation, helpful and necessary as this process is. We cannot always depend on what seems to us to be logical. When there is doubt about our logic, we wait upon God and listen for the voice of intuition. If, in meditation, that voice is persistent enough, we may well gain sufficient confidence to act upon that, rather than upon logic. 'If, after an exercise of these two disciplines, we are still uncertain, then we should ask for further guidance and, when possible, defer important decisions for a time. By then, with more knowledge of our situation, logic and intuition may well agree upon a right course. 'But if the decision must be now, let us not evade it through fear. Right or wrong, we can always profit from the experience.

Prayer for the Day: I pray for the ability to laugh and have fun, to take it easy today, and to not take myself so seriously.