AA Thoughts For Today - August

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AA Thought for the Day

August 16

Without Defense
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, p. 24

Thought to Ponder
The first drink has the last say.

AA-related 'Alconym'
I S M = Incredibly Short Memory.

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

Friends
"You are going to meet these new friends
in your own community.
Near you, alcoholics are dying helplessly
like people in a sinking ship.
If you live in a large place, there are hundreds.
High and low, rich and poor,
these are future fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Among them you will make lifelong friends.
You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties,
for you will escape disaster together and you will
commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey.
Then you will know what it means to give of yourself
that others may survive and rediscover life.
You will learn a full meaning of
'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' "
1976 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 152-3

Thought to Consider . . .
When we love,
we see in others what we wish to have in ourselves.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
B O G G L E = Bad Or Good, God Loves Everyone

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

Equals
>From "What is sponsorship?"
"Alcoholics Anonymous began with sponsorship. When Bill W., only a few months sober, was stricken with a powerful
urge to drink, this thought came to him: 'You need another alcoholic to talk to. You need another alcoholic just as
much as he needs you!'
"He found Dr. Bob, who had been trying desperately and unsuccessfully to stop drinking, and out of their common
need A.A. was born. The word 'sponsor' was not used then; the Twelve Steps had not been written; but Bill carried the
message to Dr. Bob, who in turn safeguarded his own sobriety by sponsoring countless other alcoholics."
"In A.A., sponsor and sponsored meet as equals, just as Bill and Dr. Bob did."
1983, Questions & Answers on Sponsorship (A.A. Pamphlet P-15), page 7

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

"Often simplicity yields to complexity as the human mind grasps a great revelation, and places its own particular
interpretation upon it. All too often the revelation becomes lost in the maze of human ideas, interpretations, and
suggestions. Thus have great movements risen, flourished for a season, and died. But AA has steadily progressed
through the labyrinth of complexity, carefully avoiding luring temptations of wealth, professionalism, and fame as a
healer of one of mankind's most deadly diseases. Dr. Bob who responded to that original phone call, and heard and
accepted the message from Bill, has left ringing in our ears, the vital admonition: 'Keep it simple.'"
Kimberley, British Columbia, September 1953
"Thus We Grow..."
AA Grapevine

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

"...I humbly offered myself to God, as I then I understood Him, to do
with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and
direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was
nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and
became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, pg. 13

"We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones.
Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will
make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every
imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery,
followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are
familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a
normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish
this, but it hasn't done so yet."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 30~

“We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning.”
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 19

“The minute I stopped arguing, I could begin to see and feel.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 27

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

When we reached A.A., and for the first time in our lives stood among people who seemed to understand, the sense of
belonging was tremendously exciting. We thought the isolation problem had been solved.
But we soon discovered that, while we weren't alone any more in a social sense, we still suffered many of the old
pangs of anxious apartness. Until we had talked with complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to someone
else do the same thing, we still didn't belong.
Step Five was the answer. It was the beginning of true kinship with man and God.

Prayer for the Day: God help me become willing to let go of all the things to which I still cling. Help me to be ready to let You remove all of these defects, that Your will and purpose may take their place. Amen