July 22nd

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

"THE GOOD AND THE BAD"

"My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad."

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76

The joy of life is in the giving. Being freed of my shortcomings, that I may more freely be of service allows humility to grow in me. My shortcomings can be humbly placed in God's loving care and be removed. The essence of Step Seven is humility, and what better way to seek humility than by giving all of myself - good and bad - to God, so that He may remove the bad and return to me the good.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

One of finest things about A.A. is the diversity of its membership. We come from all walks and stations of life. All types and classes of people are represented in an A.A. group. Being different from each other in certain ways, we can each make a different contribution to the whole. Some of us are weak in one respect, but strong in another. A.A. can use the strong points of all its members and can disregard their weaknesses. A.A. is strong, not only because we all have the same problem, but also because of the diversified talents of its members. Each person can contribute part. Do I recognize the good points of all my group's members?

Meditation for the Day

"And greater works than these shall ye do." Each individual has the ability to do good works through the power of God's spirit. This is the wonder of the world, the miracle of the earth that God's power goes out to bless the human race through the agency of so many people who are actuated by His grace. We need not be held back by doubt, despondency, and fear. A wonderful future can lie before any person who depends on God's power, a future of unlimited power to do good works.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may not limit myself by doubting. I pray that I may have confidence that I can be effective for good.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

Spiritual death

Page 212

"For us, to use is to die, often in more ways than one."

Basic Text, p. 82

As newcomers, many of us came to our first meeting with only a small spark of life remaining. That spark, our spirit, wants to survive. Narcotics Anonymous nurtures that spirit. The love of the fellowship quickly fans that spark into a flame. With the Twelve Steps and the love of other recovering addicts, we begin to blossom into that whole, vital human being our Higher Power intended us to be. We begin to enjoy life, finding purpose in our existence. Each day we choose to stay clean, our spirit is revitalized and our relationship with our God grows. Our spirit becomes stronger each day we choose life by staying clean.

Despite the fact that our new life in recovery is rewarding, the urge to use can sometimes be overwhelming. When everything in our lives seems to go wrong, a return to using can seem like the only way out. But we know what the consequence will be if we use-the loss of our carefully nurtured spirituality. We have traveled too far along the spiritual path to dishonor our spirit by using. Snuffing the spiritual flame we have worked so hard to restore in our recovery is too dear a price to pay for getting high.

Just for Today: I am grateful that my spirit is strong and vital. Today, I will honor that spirit by staying clean.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

Love cures people - both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.

~Karl A. Menninger

Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.

~Iris Murdoch

Out of self

by Angie M.

On the path of self forgetting

Looking out from Ego mind

Is me and mine and how I’m doing

Being “I” is what I find

On the path of self forgetting

Can I see you fearful, searching

Can I see you yet at all?

Looking out or looking inward

Who we were before the fall

Am I seeing mirrors rightly

Or glass reflections of myself

Are they windows opened outward

Look beyond to someone else

Angie M.

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?

Native American

"All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth."

--Chief Seattle, SUQWAMISH AND DUWAMISH

We are all connected. This is what the Elders have told us for a long time. If we are connected to all things, then whenever we harm anything, it causes harm to ourselves. If we destroy the air, then we will be affected by what we breathe in. If we poison the earth, we poison ourselves. We must respect our Mother Earth and She will respect us in return. We must open our eyes and obey the spiritual laws that govern the earth and ourselves.

Grandfather, today allow me to honor and respect the things You have made. Let me see the beauty of all things.

Keep It Simple

. . . for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. --- Luke 17:21

We want so much to be good. Even when we used alcohol or other drugs, we wanted to believe we were good people. But we often felt we couldn't measure up. We thought we had to live by a set of rules that we could never follow.

Now we're finding the goodness inside us. Goodness isn't something we do. Goodness is just being what we already are. Our Higher Power speaks to us in many ways, including through our hearts and minds. We don't have to try so hard top be good. We just learn to relax and invite our Higher Power to be part of our lives.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You have put peace, knowledge, love and joy in my heart today. Help me to always find these things.

Action for the Day: How's my Higher Power like a loving king or queen? How can I have a kingdom inside me? I'll talk with my sponsor about this today.

Big Book

Chapter 10 To Employers (pg 138 & top 139)

Here, for instance, is a typical example: An officer of one of the largest banking institutions in America knows I no longer drink. One day he told me about an executive of the same bank who, from his description, was undoubtedly alcoholic. This seemed to me like an opportunity to be helpful, so I spent two hours talking about alcoholism, the malady, and described the symptoms and results as well as I could. His comment was, “Very interesting. But I’m sure this man is done drinking. He has just returned from a three months’ leave of absence, has taken a cure, looks fine, and to clinch the matter, the board of directors told him this was his last chance.”

The only answer I could make was that if the man followed the usual pattern, he would go on a bigger bust than ever. I felt this was inevitable and wondered if the bank was doing the man an injustice. Why not bring him into contact with some of our alcoholic crowd? He might have a chance. I pointed out that I had had nothing to drink whatever for three years, and this in the face of difficulties that would have made nine out of ten men drink their heads off. Why not at least afford him an opportunity to hear my story? “Oh no,” said my friend, “this chap is either through with liquor, or he is minus a job. If he has your will power and guts, he will make the grade.”

I wanted to throw up my hands in discouragement, for I saw that I had failed to help my banker friend understand. He simply could not believe that his brother-executive suffered from a serious illness. There was nothing to do but wait.