Daily Reflections, April 15th

THE BONDAGE OF RESENTMENTS

. . . harboring resentment is infinitely grave. For then we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the spirit

AS BILL SEES IT, p.5

It has been said, "Anger is a luxury I cannot afford." Does this suggest I ignore this human emotion? I believe not. Before I learned of the A.A. program, I was a slave to the behavior patterns of alcoholism. I was chained to negativity, with no hope of cutting loose.

The Steps offered me an alternative. Step Four was the beginning of the end of my bondage. The process of "letting go" started with an inventory. I need not be frightened, for the previous Steps assured me I was not alone. My Higher Power led me to this door and gave me the gift of choice. Today I can choose to open the door to freedom and rejoice in the sunlight of the Steps, as they cleanse the spirit within me.

Twenty-Four Hours A Day, April 15th

A.A. Thought for the Day

Terrible things could have happened to any one of us. We never will know what might have happened to us when we were drunk. We usually thought: "That couldn't happen to me." But any one of us could have killed somebody or have been killed ourselves, if we were drunk enough. But fear of these things never kept us from drinking. Do I believe that in A.A. we have something more effective than fear?

Meditation for the Day

I must keep calm and unmoved in the vicissitudes of life. I must go back into the silence of communion with God to recover this calm when it is lost even for one moment. I will accomplish more by this calmness than by all the activities of a long day. At all cost I will keep calm. I can solve nothing when I am agitated. I should keep away from things that are upsetting emotionally. I should run on an even keel and not get tipped over by emotional upsets. I should seek for things that are calm and good and true and stick to those things.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may not argue nor contend, but merely state calmly what I believe to be true. I pray that I may keep myself in that state of calmness that comes from faith in God's purpose for the world.

NA - Just for Today, April 15th

Keep coming back

Page 109

"We have come to enjoy living clean and want more of the good things that the NA Fellowship holds for us."

Basic Text, p. 27

Can you remember a time when you looked at the addicts recovering in NA and wondered, "If they aren't using drugs, what on earth do they have to laugh about?" Did you believe that the fun stopped when the using stopped? So many of us did; we were certain that we were leaving the "good life" behind. Today, many of us can laugh at that misconception because we know how full our life in recovery can be.

Many of the things we enjoy so much in recovery are gained by actively participating in the Fellowship of NA. We begin to find true companionship, friends who understand and care about us just for ourselves. We find a place where we can be useful to others. There are recovery meetings, service activities, and fellowship gatherings to fill our time and occupy our interests. The fellowship can be a mirror to reflect back to us a more accurate image of who we are. We find teachers, helpers, friends, love, care, and support. The fellowship always has more to offer us, as long as we keep coming back.

Just for Today: I know where the "good life" is. I'll keep coming back

Thought for Today

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way

things turn out."

-Art Linkletter

The Days Go by

When there's more life behind than what's ahead

each sunrise promise holds,

remember that where life finds you

is where the dream unfolds.

Don't buy into the lie that taunts

the carrot just ahead,

the day that's yours is the one

you wake up to instead.

No better is a bigger house or newer car

you'll find,

that life keeps moving out of grasp;

those things you'll leave behind.

Hold fast to faith and things unseen

for those that understand,

will soon find out the things you crave

can't be held in your hand.

So give to those that have a need

some food, a prayer, a hug,

don't keep to self the things

that God has blessed you with in love.

How quickly do the days go by

the joyful ones too fast,

no hour is longer for the soul

that pain his life has grasped.

Give when its not easy, pray when faith is gone,

Sing when life is over for life has just begun.

No matter what this day may hold

each morning find anew

the reason for your hour to be

Show love in all of you.

Angie M.

Buddha/Zen Thoughts, April 15th

"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it."

-Buddha

You cannot get any more of consciousness, or Spirit, or God; you already ARE and HAVE the infinity of It, happening as You. Yet if you or I am unaware of being and having the WHOLE (as our TRUTH of Being; our purity of consciousness) we must live with the experience of only that degree which we DO know - just as we can only have as much flight as we know of aerodynamics - because AWARENESS, CONSCIOUSNESS, IS experienced as what we call tangible, manifest, material, physical form and activity.

- Paul Gorman  (thanks Bill C.)

Native American, April 15th

"Once you make a friend, a friend never leaves you, even to death. So a friend is really hard to find."

-Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA

Once, an Elder told me he made a decision to be my friend. He said this friendship wasn't based on my behavior or how I acted; he said the friendship was based on his decision. He decided to be my friend. This friendship has happened like he said. Even if I don't see him for a long time, or if I get mad at him, he has never changed his decision. This is true friendship.

Great Spirit, I'm glad you are this kind of Friend.

Native American Ten Commandments 

1. The Earth is our Mother; care for Her 

2. Honor all your relations. 

3. Open your heart and soul to the Great Spirit. 

4. All life is sacred; treat all beings with respect. 

5. Take from the Earth what is needed and nothing more. 

6. Do what needs to be done for the good of all. 

7. Give constant thanks to the Great Spirit for each day. 

8. Speak the truth but only for the good in others. 

9. Follow the rhythms of Nature. 

10. Enjoy life's journey; but leave no tracks.

Keep It Simple, April 15th

That day is lost on which one has not laughed.   --- French proverb

For a long time, we didn't really laugh. It's surprising when we think about it: We hadn't really laughed for so long . . . we almost forgot how good we could feel. It feels so good to laugh again!

Now our spirits come more alive each day. Now we feel what alcohol and other drugs stuffed deep inside us. Pain, fear and anger come up. But so do happiness and joy, thankfulness and a sense of humor. In early recovery, we work through the hard feelings. As we grow in the program, we have more and more room for happiness.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, wake me up to the joy and laughter that today holds for me. Don't let me miss it!

Action for the Day: Today, I'll spread some laughter. I will learn a joke and tell it to three people.

Big Book, April 15th

Chapter 3 More About Alcoholism (pg 35)

What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who repeats time after time the desperate experiment of the first drink? Friends who have reasoned with him after a spree which has brought him to the point of divorce or bankruptcy are mystified when he walks directly into a saloon. Why does he? Of what is he thinking?

Our first example is a friend we shall call Jim. This man has a charming wife and family. He inherited a lucrative automobile agency. He had a commendable World War record. He is a good salesman. Everybody likes him. He is an intelligent man, normal so far as we can see, except for a nervous disposition. He did no drinking until he was thirty-five. In a few years he became so violent when intoxicated that he had to be committed. On leaving the asylum he came into contact with us.

We told him what we knew of alcoholism and the answer we had found. He made a beginning. His family was re-assembled, and he began to work as a salesman for the business he had lost through drinking. All went well for a time, but he failed to enlarge his spiritual life. To his consternation, he found himself drunk half a dozen times in rapid succession. On each of these occasions we worked with him, reviewing carefully what had happened. He agreed he was a real alcoholic and in a serious condition. He knew he faced another trip to the asylum if he kept on. Moreover, he would lose his family for whom he had a deep affection.