DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
THE LOVE IN THEIR EYES
Some of us won't believe in God, and still others who do believe that God exists have no faith whatever He will perform this miracle.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 25
It was the changes I saw in the new people who came into the Fellowship that helped me lose my fear, and change my negative attitude to a positive one. I could see the love in their eyes and I was impressed by how much their "One Day at a Time" sobriety meant to them. They had looked squarely at Step Two and came to believe that a power greater than themselves was restoring them to sanity. That gave me faith in the Fellowship and hope that it could work for me too. I found that God was a loving God, not that punishing God I feared before coming to A.A. I also found that He had been with me all those times I had been in trouble before I came to A.A. I know today that he was the one who led me to A.A. and that I am a miracle.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
Alcohol is poison to the alcoholic. Poison is not too strong a word, because alcoholism leads eventually to the death of the alcoholic. It may be a quick death or a slow death. When we go by package stores and see various kinds of liquor all dressed up in fancy packages to make it look attractive, we should always make it a point to say to ourselves so we'll never forget it: "That stuffs all poison to me." And it is. Alcohol poisoned our lives for a long time. Do I know that since I'm an alcoholic all liquor is poison to me?
Meditation for the Day
I must somehow find the means of coming nearer to God. That is what really matters. I must somehow seek the true bread of life, which is communion with Him. I must grasp for the truth at the center of all worship. This central truth is all that matters. All forms of worship have this communion with God as their purpose and goal.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may meet God in quiet communion. I pray that I may partake of the soul-food that God has provided for me.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Carrying the message, not the addict
Page 49
"They can be analyzed, counseled, reasoned with, prayed over, threatened, beaten, or locked up, but they will not stop until they want to stop."
Basic Text, p. 65
Perhaps one of the most difficult truths we must face in our recovery is that we are as powerless over another's addiction as we are over our own. We may think that because we've had a spiritual awakening in our own lives we should be able to persuade another addict to find recovery. But there are limits to what we can do to help another addict.
We cannot force them to stop using. We cannot give them the results of the steps or grow for them. We cannot take away their loneliness or their pain. There is nothing we can say to convince a scared addict to surrender the familiar misery of addiction for the frightening uncertainty of recovery. We cannot jump inside other peoples' skins, shift their goals, or decide for them what is best for them.
However, if we refuse to try to exert this power over another's addiction, we may help them. They may grow if we allow them to face reality, painful though it may be. They may become more productive, by their own definition, as long as we don't try and do it for them. They can become the authority on their own lives, provided we are only authorities on our own. If we can accept all this, we can become what we were meant to be - carriers of the message, not the addict.
Just for Today: I will accept that I am powerless not only over my own addiction but also over everyone else's. I will carry the message, not the addict.
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
"Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, then watching the evidence change. ... Simply put, faith makes hope possible. And hope is the single most important ingredient for changing the world."
--Jim Wallis ("Faith Works" in The Impossible Will Take a While )
Carrying Resentments Against People
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen. To know that the mind is empty is to see the Buddha...Using the mind to look for reality is delusion. Not using the mind to look for reality is awareness. Freeing oneself from words is liberation.
-Bodhidharma
Native American
"Silence and self-control permeate the entirety of our lives."
--Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA
The Creator gave us all the Red Road and on this Red Road we are required to think and act in a spiritual way. To make sure I conduct myself according to the Red Road, I must make sure I develop my self discipline. Self control works best when we pray for the courage and power t do the will of the Great Spirit. We are here on the earth to do the will of the Great Spirit. Sometimes, we must battle ourselves to do this.
Great Spirit, help me to have my self- control guided by spiritual ways.
Keep It Simple
. . . no one who learns to know himself remains just what he was before.
--- Thomas Mann
Deep inside, we all know that we're changing. It started when we took Step One. We learned and accepted something new about ourselves. That changed us, just a little. We no longer wanted to live as addicts. That meant we had to change and to learn to live sober. It's been nonstop ever since: learn about ourselves, change a little, learn about ourselves, change a little more, and so on. All we know is that each step of learning and changing makes life better. How long can it keep getting better? As long as we keep learning to know ourselves.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, teach me about myself today. Teach me gently.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll think about what I've learned about myself by working the program. I'll list five things.
Big Book
"No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that
bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all
directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol
was my master."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, pg.
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The Sobriety Daily Big Game
Fighting alcohol on my own is like playing football with only one person on my team – ME against Team Alcohol of eleven strong, powerful team members. There is absolutely no chance for me to win that game.
I must have support from an entire AA Super Team.
Most important . . . The Quarterback, My Higher Power
The other AA Team members are:
The Coach – My Sponsor
The Linemen - The Fellowship
The Backfield - My closest AA friends
The Fullback - Me I am in the game for every play.
All my team members are there to help me make daily progress against Team Alcohol. Not a touchdown every play, but consistent progress toward the AA Goal Line – Sobriety.
Every morning my AA Big Game starts with a Team Meeting with most members, especially the Quarterback. I tell Him my plans and He listens. Sometimes suggesting how and when to carry the AA Ball and what plays would work best for the day.
Then the Kickoff. The Ball is in my hands. I zig and zag across the Playing Field of Life avoiding the Alcohol Tacklers and any temptation to take that “First Drink”.
When my Game Clock hits zero and the Final Whistle blows, I will always be thankful for my AA Brothers and Sisters that helped me find the AA Sobriety Goal Line.
The AA Big Game final score can not be determined only by the number of days sober, but by how I lived those days. Hopefully helping others, being of service, loving all and living Happy, Joyous and Free.
James Patrick M.
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