July 8th

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

AN EVER-GROWING FREEDOM

The Seventh Step is where we make the change in our attitude which permits us, with humility as our guide, to move out from ourselves toward others and toward God.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 76

When I finally asked God to remove those things blocking me from Him and the sunlight of the Spirit, I embarked on a journey more glorious than I ever imagined. I experienced a freedom from those characteristics that had me wrapped up in myself. Because of this humbling step, I feel clean.

I am especially aware of this Step because I'm now able to be useful to God and to my fellows. I know that He has granted me strength to do His bidding and has prepared me for anyone, and anything, that comes my way today. I am truly in His hands, and I give thanks for the joy that I can be useful today.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

A.A. members will tell you that they can look back and clearly see that they were out of control long before they finally admitted it. Every one of us has gone through that stage when we wouldn't admit that we were alcoholics. It takes a lot of punishment to convince us, but one thing is certain. We all know from actual experience that when it comes to dishing out punishment, John Barleycorn has no equal. Have I any reservations as to my status as an alcoholic?

Meditation for the Day

There is a force for good in the world and when you are cooperating with that force for good, good things happen to you. You have free-will, the choice to be on the side of right or on the side of wrong. This force for good we call God's will. God has a purpose for the world and He has a purpose for your life. He wants you to bring all your desires into oneness with His desires. He can only work through people. If you try to make God's will your will, you will be guided by Him. You will be in the stream of goodness, carried along by everything that is right. You will be on God's side.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may try to make God's will my will. I pray that I may keep in the stream of goodness in the world.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

The "g" word

Page 198

"It is important for you to know that you will hear God mentioned at NA meetings. What we are referring to is a Power greater than ourselves that makes possible what seems impossible."

IP No. 22, Welcome to NA

Most of us come to Narcotics Anonymous with a variety of preconceptions about what the word "God" means, many of them negative. Yet the "G" word is used very regularly in NA, if not constantly. It occurs 92 times in the first 102 pages of our Basic Text, and appears prominently in a third of our Twelve Steps. Rather than sidestep the sensitivity many of us feel toward the word, let's address it head on.

It's true that Narcotics Anonymous is a spiritual program. Our Twelve Steps offer a way to find freedom from addiction through the help of a spiritual Power greater than we are. The program, however, doesn't tell us anything about what we have to think about that Power. In fact, over and over again, in our literature and our meetings, we hear it said, "the God of our understanding" - whatever that understanding may be.

We use the word "God" because it's used in our Basic Text and because it communicates most effectively to most people a basic understanding of the Power underlying our recovery. The word, we use for the sake of convenience. The Power behind the word, however, we use for more than convenience. We use that Power to maintain our freedom from addiction and to ensure our ongoing recovery.

Just for Today: Whether I believe in "God" or not, I will use the Power that keeps me clean and free.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

"When you come to the edge of all the light you have known, and are about to step out into darkness, faith is knowing one of two things will happen; there will be something to stand on, or you will be taught to fly."

--Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Feeling Good in the Morning

We often take for granted in the morning when we wake

That we do not feel awful, that our body does not shake

Or worry ‘bout what we have done before we went to bed

Unsure of how we acted, brain immersed in fog instead

It was not just our bodies that requires some relief

From what we drank the night before that caused this pain and grief

Guilt and shame accompanied us opening our eyes

We’d let the bottle take control; our will immobilized

Trying to remember if we drove home in our car

Or had the sense to call a cab before we left the bar

Judging by the way we felt when we got out of bed

Either one was possible, thank the Lord that we’re not dead

But once we put the bottle down these things began to change

A benefit we’ve been given since our lifestyle’s rearranged

We wake to see a different world from that old one we knew

One where we can take pleasure in the simple things we do

Enjoying morning solitude before we start our day

A time of peace to meditate or hit our knees and pray

Look forward to connecting with our family and friends

Be thankful when we do that there’s no need to make amends

That’s not to mean life’s perfect, we’re still human after all

Bad things will sometimes happen, even without alcohol

And when they do, we’ve learned about the way we need to cope

Refrain from temporary fix with booze or pills or dope

We’ve tried that other was before, sought transient relief

But that did not remove the cause, just added to our grief

In times of stress our program and the fellowship transpire

To guide us through and help restore the peace that we desire

Then when we lay our head down on our pillow every night

The bottle was just one thing that we did not have to fight

Without a belly full of booze, we’d soon commence to yawning

And know that when we wake, then we will feel good in the morning

Larry R.

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

The problem is not materialism as such. Rather, it is the underlying assumption that full satisfaction can arise from gratifying the senses alone. Unlike animals whose quest for happiness is restricted to survival and to the immediate gratification of sensory desires, we human beings have the capacity to experience happiness at a deeper level which, when achieved, can overwhelm unhappy experiences.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“You get there by realizing you are already there”. ~ Elkhart Tolle

(Thanks Ben R.)

Native American

"You are going to learn the most important lesson - that God is the most powerful thing there is."

--Mathew King, LAKOTA

The Medicine Wheel teaches that there are two worlds - the Seen World and the Unseen World, or the Physical World and the Spiritual World. We need information from both of these worlds in order to live our lives in a harmonious way. The most difficult way is to figure things out by ourselves and leave the Great Spirit out of it. When we do this, we are making decisions with information only from the Physical World. This can be called reliance on self. If we ask the Creator to help us, we then get information from the Unseen World or the Spiritual World. The Spiritual World is where we get our power. When we do this, we are God-reliant. Being God-reliant is the same as being on the Red Road.

Great Spirit, whisper the secrets of the Unseen World in my mind's ear.

Walk In Dry Places

God’s will for us.

Spiritual Guidance.

"I was afraid God would want me to do something unpleasant, like go off to become a monk," a young man said at a 12 Step meeting. "That’s why I had a hard time seeking God’s will for me." This sort of comment is heard now and then at meetings. It reveals a belief that God is a harsh taskmaster who delights in imposing difficult conditions on us.

The truth is that God’s purpose is to help us be more of what we ought to be, which is always something better than what we’re experiencing now. Few people are ever called to be monks, but those who do are pleased with their choice and devote themselves to it.

We must always be interested in finding God’s direction in our lives. It will turn out to be something far better than anything we could have planned.

I need not fear God’s direction in my life. It’s actually what I need in order to reach my true place.

Big Book

Chapter 9 The Family Afterwards (pg 124 & top 125)

Henry Ford once made a wise remark to the effect that experience is the thing of supreme value is life. That is true only if one is willing to turn the past to good account. We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets. The alcoholic’s past thus becomes the principal asset of the family and frequently it is almost the only one!

This painful past may be of infinite value to other families still struggling with their problem. We think each family which has been relieved owes something to those who have not, and when the occasion requires, each member of it should be only too willing to bring former mistakes, no matter how grievous, out of their hiding places. Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worth while to us now. Cling to the thought that, in God’s hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have-the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them.

It is possible to dig up past misdeeds so they become a blight, a veritable plague. For example, we know of situations in which the alcoholic or his wife have had love affairs. In the first flush of spiritual experience they forgave each other and drew closer together. The miracle of reconciliation was at hand. Then, under one provocation or another, the aggrieved one would unearth the old affair and angrily cast its ashes about. A few of us have had these growing pains and they hurt a great deal. Husbands and wives have sometimes been obliged to separate for a time until new perspective, new victory over hurt pride could be re-won. In most cases, the alcoholic survived this ordeal without relapse, but not always. So we think that unless some good and useful purpose is to be served, past occurrences should not be discussed.