DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
A PATH TO FAITH
True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith, and every A.A. meeting is an assurance that God will restore us to sanity if we rightly relate ourselves to Him.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 33
My last drunk had landed me in the hospital, totally broken. It was then that I was able to see my past float in front of me. I realized that, through drinking, I had lived every nightmare I had ever had. My own self-will and obsession to drink had driven me into a dark pit of hallucinations, blackouts and despair. Finally beaten, I asked for God's help. His presence told me to believe. My obsession for alcohol was taken away and my paranoia has since been lifted. I am no longer afraid. I know my life is healthy and sane.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
A night club crowded with men and women all dressed up in evening clothes looks like a very festive place. But you should see the rest rooms of that night club the next morning. What a mess! People have been sick all over the place and does it smell! The glamour of the night before is all gone and only the stink of the morning after is left. In A.A. we learn to take a long view of drinking instead of a short view. We learn to think less about the pleasure of the moment and more about the consequences. Has the night before become less important to me and the morning after more important?
Meditation for the Day
Only a few more steps and then God's power shall be seen and known in my life. I am now walking in darkness, surrounded by the limitations of space and time. But even in this darkness, I can have faith and can be a light to guide feet that are afraid. I believe that God's power will break through the darkness and my prayers will pierce even to the ears of God Himself. But only a cry from the heart, a trusting cry, ever pierces that darkness and reaches to the divine ear of God.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that the divine power of God will help my human weakness. I pray that my prayer may reach through the darkness to the ear of God.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
This is not a test
Page 39
"...we have found a loving, personal God to whom we can turn."
Basic Text, p. 27
Some of us come into recovery with the impression that life's hardships are a series of cosmic tests designed to teach us something. This belief is readily apparent when something traumatic happens and we wail, "My Higher Power is testing me!" We're convinced that it's a test of our recovery when someone offers us drugs, or a test of our character when faced with a situation where we could do something unprincipled without getting caught. We may even think it's a test of our faith when we're in great pain over a tragedy in our lives.
But a loving Higher Power doesn't test our recovery, our character, or our faith. Life just happens, and sometimes it hurts. Many of us have lost love through no fault of our own. Some of us have lost all of our material wealth. A few of us have even grieved the loss of our own children. Life can be terribly painful at times, but the pain is not inflicted on us by our Higher Power. Rather, that Power is constantly by our sides, ready to carry us if we can't walk by ourselves. There is no harm that life can do us that the God of our understanding can't heal.
Just for Today: I will have faith that my Higher Power's will for me is good, and that I am loved. I will seek my Higher Power's help in times of need.
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
Our very first problem is to accept our present circumstances as they are, ourselves as we are, and the people about us as they are. This is to adopt a realistic humility without which no genuine advance can even begin. Again and again, we shall need to return to that unflattering point of departure. This is an exercise in acceptance the we can profitably practice every day of our lives. Provided we strenuously avoid turning these realistic surveys of the facts of life into unrealistic alibis for apathy of defeatism, they can be the sure foundation upon which increased emotional health and therefore spiritual progress can be built.
AS BILL SEES IT pg 44
"When I am having a difficult time accepting people, places or events, I turn to this passage and it relieves me of many an underlying fear regarding others. or situations life presents me. The thought allows me to be human and not perfect, and to regain my peace of mind." Steve K.
On the Wings of an Angel
Wistful and weary, searching for solace,
deep in the depths of despair and dismay.
Numbing the pain, listless and aweless,
on the wings of an angel I lay.
... I am broken
I rise from the gallows of gloom,
out from the shadows of light.
Weaving my way from warmth of womb,
on the wings of an angel I launch into flight.
... I am reborn
Soaring higher and higher,
fair winds of faith I stream in stride.
Released from all my dire,
on the wings of an angel I freely glide.
... I am free
A brave new world awaits me,
unspoiled and unscathed.
Away I cast my sordid past,
embroiled and depraved.
Emancipated from ebriosity,
I shall no longer run nor hide.
God shed his loving grace on me,
on the wings of an angel I ride.
…I am restored
~~ Gordon R.
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
If you cling to an idea as the inalterable truth, then when the truth does come in person and knocks at your door, you will not be able to open the door and accept it.
-Udana Sutta
“How often do you win an argument with reality.” Adya Shanti (thanks Henry C.)
Native American
"I can tell you that understanding begins with love and respect. It begins with respect for the Great Spirit.All things- and I mean ALL things-have their own will and their own way and their own purpose; this is what is to be respected."
--Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE
Everything on earth has a purpose and is designed special. No two things are created identical. Sometimes in our minds we have a picture of how things should be, and often what we see is different from what they really are. When this happens we often want to control how things are, making them act or behave according to our picture. We need to leave things alone. God is running all things. How do we do this? In out minds we tell ourselves to love all things and respect all things just as they are. Accept what we cannot change.
Great Spirit, teach me the value of respect and help me to accept people, places and things just as they are.
Keep It Simple
I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work and my God. ... Helen Keller.
None of us ever wanted to be addicts. It's not what we would choose to be--- just as no one would choose to blind and deaf. Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf, told of how her problems became her biggest gift. Through them, she found true meaning in her life. We can accept our handicap---our addiction--- and learn from it. The truth is, we're all handicapped in some way. Recovery is about facing our addiction and learning to live with it. When we see we can't do things alone, we see the need for a Higher Power.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see myself as I really am. Give me the serenity that comes from accepting my handicaps.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list all the ways I am handicapped. I'll ask myself, "What gift does each of these hold for me?"
Big Book
"Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to
Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give
freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the
Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you
trudge the Road of Happy Destiny."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, A Vision For You, pg. 164
Achieving Harmony
When a pianist learns a new piece of music, he or she does not sit down and instantly play it perfectly. A pianist often needs to practice each hand's work separately to learn the feel, to learn the sound. One hand picks out a part until there is a rhythm and ease in playing what is difficult. Then, the musician practices with the other hand, picking through the notes, one by one, until that hand learns its tasks. When each hand has learned its part--the sound, the feel, the rhythm, the tones--then both hands can play together.
During the time of practice, the music may not sound like much. It may sound disconnected, not particularly beautiful. But when both hands are ready to play together, music is created--a whole piece comes together in harmony and beauty.
When we begin recovery, it may feel like we spend months, even years, practicing individual, seemingly disconnected behaviors in the separate parts of our life.
We take our new skills into our work, our career, and begin to apply them slowly, making our work relationships healthier for us. We take our skills into our relationships, sometimes one relationship at a time. We struggle through our new behaviors in our love relationships.
One part at a time, we practice our new music note by note.
We work on our relationship with our Higher Power--our spirituality. We work at loving ourselves. We work at believing we deserve the best. We work on our finances. On our recreation. Sometimes on our appearance. Sometimes on our home.
We work on feelings. On beliefs. On behaviors. Letting go of the old, acquiring the new. We work and work and work. We practice. We struggle through. We go from one extreme to the other, and sometimes back through the course again. We make a little progress, go backward, and then go forward again.
It may all seem disconnected. It may not sound like a harmonious, beautiful piece of music--just isolated notes. Then one day, something happens. We become ready to play with both hands, to put the music together.
What we have been working toward, note by note, becomes a song. That song is a whole life, a complete life, a life in harmony.
The music will come together in our life if we keep practicing the parts.
Today, I will practice my recovery behaviors through the individual parts of my life. I trust that, one day, things will come together in a full, complete song.
~The Language of Letting Go
Melody Beattie (thanks Stephen A.)
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