July 29th

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

ANONYMOUS GIFTS OF KINDNESS

As active alcoholics we were always looking for a handout in one way or another.

A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 232

The challenge of the Seventh Tradition is a personal challenge, reminding me to share and give of myself. Before sobriety the only thing I ever supported was my habit of drinking. Now my efforts are a smile, a kind word, and kindness.

I saw that I had to start carrying my own weight and allow my new friends to walk with me because, through the practice of the Twelve Steps and Twelve traditions, I've never had it so good.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days that should be kept from fear and apprehension. One of these days is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone beyond recall. Do I still worry about what happened yesterday?

Meditation for the Day

"God will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation He will also find a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." If you have enough faith and trust in God, He will give you all the strength you need to face every temptation and to overcome it. Nothing will prove too hard for you to bear. You can face any situation. "Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." You can overcome any temptation with God's help. So fear nothing.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may face every situation without fear. I pray that nothing will prove too hard for me to bear.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

Expectations

Page 219

"As we realize our need to be forgiven, we tend to be more forgiving."

Basic Text, p. 39

Our behavior toward other people in our life is a mirror of our behavior toward ourselves. When we demand perfection of ourselves, we come to demand it from others around us, too. As we strive to repair and heal our lives in recovery, we may also expect others to work just as hard and to recover at the same pace as we do. And just as we are often unforgiving of our own mistakes, we may shut out friends and family members when they don't meet our expectations.

Working the steps helps us understand our own limitations and our humanity. We come to see our failures as human mistakes. We realize that we will never be perfect, that we will, at times, disappoint ourselves and others. We hope for forgiveness.

As we learn to gently accept ourselves, we can start to view others with the same accepting and tolerant heart. These people, too, are only human, trying to do their best and sometimes falling short.

Just for Today: I will treat others with the tolerance and forgiveness I seek for myself.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

"It’s easier to eat crow when it’s young and tender than when it’s old and tough." David P. Buffalo Men's Zoom

An Uncomfortable Benefit

We came into the rooms to seek release for alcohol

It beat us down, controlled our thoughts, our backs against the wall

Little did we realize how much more we had to gain

A plethora of benefits as we learned how to abstain

Benefits like self-respect, a value we’d destroyed

Or grateful that we got the help to let us be employed

A fellowship with folks like us who showed they really cared

And people who could understand the things that we had shared

Benefits are good things, they add value to our lives

Forgiveness, renewed trust from our husbands and our wives

But part of what we need to do to gain one benefit

Is make amends for what we’ve done, though it may hurt a bit

Our program has a way to often alter our perception

Of why we did the things we did, removing self-deception

While drinking it was easy to blame others for our actions

But upon examination, this was only a distraction

Us alcoholic in our cups revolt at criticism

Cannot admit that we were wrong, controlled by egotism

We’re told that if we want to change, this drinking thing to beat

We’d need to make the effort to clean up our side of the street

As we approach the ninth step, very few are overjoyed

To humbly face those we had wronged, preferring to avoid

But face we must, admit our part, and hope we are forgiven

Yet, even if we’re not we know we made the right decision

Although it is uncomfortable to face up to our past

It’s essential to our program for serenity to last

And once it’s done, we feel relief, by having to admit

Our old misdeeds, now left behind, an uncomfortable benefit

Larry R.

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

The threshold between right and wrong is pain.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Imagine All the People

Native American

"When we want to talk to Him we burn tobacco and it takes our prayers all the way up to the Sky World."

--Louis Farmer, ONONDAGA

Our herbs and our medicines are all here for the purpose of serving. Offering tobacco as a gift to the Creator is proper use of our medicine. In this way, we are able to communicate from the physical world to the spiritual world. Sometimes we have a hard time coming up with the right words when we pray especially if we are really mixed up. The tobacco and the sage will take the intent to the spirit world. The meaning behind the words are more important the the words. The Creator always knows our intent. The tobacco helps us get to the Sky World.

Today, my Creator, I offer You this tobacco. I want to thank You for being in my life. I want to tell You how much I appreciate the honor of being here to serve You. Tell me this morning what I can do for You. You are the reason I live.

Keep It Simple

They have rights who dare defend them. --- Roger Baldwin

In recovery, we regain our right to have choices, our right to have honest relationships. Do we claim these rights, or do we let them go by?

Sometimes, standing up for our rights will mean going against the crowd. It will mean turning down that drink when everyone else has one. It will mean telling your honest opinion when it's different from the others think. Being sober will mean, at times being different. Lots of times, we find being different hard. We want to fit in. This is normal.

But we don't stand alone. We have friends who will stand with us during hard times. We have a Higher Power who will guide and comfort us. We are people with rights. Let's work hard so nothing takes away our rights.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, please help me keep and defend my dignity and human rights.

Action for the Day: I'll take time out to list the rights I've gotten back due to my recovery.

Big Book

Chapter 10 To Employers (pg 145 & top 146)

In this connection, can you remain undisturbed if the man proceeds to tell you shocking things? He may, for example, reveal that he has padded his expense account or that he has planned to take your best customers away from you. In fact, he may say almost anything if he has accepted our solution which, as you know, demands rigorous honesty. Can you charge this off as you would a bad account and start fresh with him? If he owes you money you may wish to make terms.

If he speaks of his home situation, you can undoubtedly make helpful suggestions. Can he talk frankly with you so long as he does not bear business tales or criticize his associate? With this kind of employee such an attitude will command undying loyalty.

The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear. Wherever men are gathered together in business there will be rivalries and, arising out of these, a certain amount of office politics. Sometimes we alcoholics have an idea that people are trying to pull us down. Often this is not so at all. But sometimes our drinking will be used politically.

One instance comes to mind in which a malicious individual was always making friendly little jokes about an alcoholic’s drinking exploits. In this way he was slyly carrying tales. In another case, an alcoholic was sent to a hospital for treatment. Only a few knew of it at first but, within a short time, it was billboarded throughout the entire company. Naturally this sort of thing decreased the man’s chance of recovery. The employer can many times protect the victim from this kind of talk. The employer cannot play favorites, but he can always defend a man from needless provocation and unfair criticism.