June 24th

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

A SPIRITUAL KINDERGARTEN

We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to better effect.

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 95

When I came to A.A., I was run down by the bottle and wanted to lose the obsession to drink, but I didn’t really know how to do that. I decided to stick around long enough to find out from the ones who went before me. All of a sudden I was thinking about God! I was told to get a Higher Power and I had no idea what one looked like. I found out there are many Higher Powers. I was told to find God, as I understand Him, that there was no doctrine of the Godhead in A.A. I found what worked for me and then asked that Power to restore me to sanity. The obsession to drink was removed and--one day at a time--my life went on, and I learned how to live sober.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

Alcohol is our weakness. We suffer from mental conflicts from which we look for escape by drowning our problems in drink. We try through drink to push away from the realities of life. But alcohol does not feed, alcohol does not build, it only borrows from the future and it ultimately destroys. We try to drown our feelings in order to escape life's realities, little realizing or caring that in continued drinking we are only multiplying our problems. Have I got control over my unstable emotions?

Meditation for the Day

When I let personal piques and resentments interfere with what I know to be my proper conduct, I am on the wrong track and I am undoing all I have built up by doing the right thing. I must never let personal piques interfere with living the way I know God wants me to live. When I have no clear guidance from God, I must go forward quietly along the path of duty. The attitude of quiet faith will receive its reward as surely as acting upon God's direct guidance. I must not weaken my spiritual power by letting personal piques upset me.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may not let myself become too upset. I pray that I may go quietly along the path I have chosen.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

Tolerance

Page 182

"...ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."

Tradition Twelve

Sometimes it's hard to accept others' character defects. As we recover together, we not only listen to others talk in meetings, we also watch how they walk through their recovery. The more we get to know other members, the more we become aware of how they live their lives. We may form opinions about how they "work their program." We may find that certain members upset us, or we may even hear ourselves say, "If I worked their program, I would surely use."

We have found tolerance to be a principle that no only strengthens our own recovery, but also our relationships with individuals who are a source of irritation to us. It becomes easier to accept other members' frailties when we remember that we ourselves rarely turn over our own character defects until we become painfully aware of them.

Just for Today: I will strive to accept others as they are. I will try not to judge others. I will focus on the principles of love and acceptance.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.

--Vance Havner

THE MIDDLE OF THE BOAT

by Larry R.

I call myself the Captain. I'm the one that runs the ship

The crew fulfills my orders and they know I take no lip

I've got to be the one in charge, on land or out at sea

Can't let them down because it's my responsibility

Responsibility it seems has been my natural way of life

Protector of my children and a strong man for my wife

To keep them cool in summer and in winter keep them warm

But always be the one that keeps them sheltered from the storm

Life is but a trip we take, a beginning and an end

So seas get rough and winds blow hard your sails may need a mend

But remember to be cautious if you want to stay a float

The best place to be safe is in the middle of the boat

In the middle of the boat you find a so much smoother ride

Protected from the dangers that lurk there on either side

The same is true when life gets tough, you're heading for a slip

That is the time you truly need the AA fellowship

You do attend the meetings, say your prayers and read the books

Your fellows see a change in you, they say how good you look

Yet you know there's something missing, you're the only one to know

You can't afford to face the truth and let your true self show

Yes, life is but a trip we take, a journey to unfold

With good and bad along the way, and when your story's told

The tale is one of struggle, but, no need to boast or gloat

You found your way to safety in the middle of the boat

Once again you want to take command and be the one in charge

It feels good for a little while, you think you're living large

But then you find it's back again, that lifestyle you rejected

Your AA friends you do not call, you are no more connected

It's not too late to get it back, you know what you should do

More meetings make, pick up that phone and call a friend or two

For when we do the gift returns, again you have found peace

With fellowship and these 12 steps, these thoughts begin to cease

Life is like a trip they say, a journey you can't miss

So get on board, come meet with us, and open up your fist

For when you do you’ll quickly find new friends to help you tote

Your burdens when you stay inside the middle of the boat

You must not stray, get in today, the middle of the boat.

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

"Selflessness," Mark Epstein and HH Dalai Lama in Thoughts Without a Thinker

"Conceptual thought does not disappear as a result of meditative insight. Only the belief in the ego's solidity is lost. Yet, this insight does not come easily. It is far more tempting -- and easier -- to use meditation to withdraw from our confusion about ourselves, to dwell in the tranquil stabilization that meditation offers, and to think of this as approximating the teaching of egolessness. But this is not what the Buddha meant by Right View." (pg.99)

Native American

"Believing people can soar beyond ordinary life."

--Fools Crow, LAKOTA

We are created by God to be vision people. First we set the goal and then we see. If we create within ourselves a picture or vision and we hold that picture or vision in our mind, whatever we picture will show up in our reality. If we can see ourselves being educated, then schools and teachers will show up in our lives. If we picture in our mind a positive, spiritual person to be in our lives, we will attract this type of person in our relationships. How big can our dreams be?

Great Spirit, let my visions today be Your vision. Put within me a vision of the being you would have me be. Then help me to keep the vision in my mind.

Keep It Simple

Beauty is gift of God. --- Aristotle

In our addiction, we often went after what was ugly in life. Maybe we hung out in bad places.

Maybe we saw people's defects instead of their beauty. Addiction is ugly, painful disease. The worst part of addiction is how it doesn't let us see beauty in the world.

There is much beauty in each of us. Recovery is beautiful. Our stories are beautiful. The way we help each other is beautiful. The way we become loving family members is beautiful. But sometimes, we may still see the world as ugly. At these times, we need to turn to our program.

Maybe we need to help someone by working Step Twelve. Maybe we need ask to give the Step at our meeting. Maybe we just need to read the Big Book. Whatever we do, one thing is sure--- if we turn to our program, we'll see how beautiful the world is.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see beautiful today. Help me be beautiful today.

Action for the Day: Today I'll let myself feel beautiful. I'll see recovery as beautiful.

Big Book

Chapter 8 To Wives (pg 109 & 110)

Two: Your husband is showing lack of control, for he is unable to stay on the water wagon even when he wants to. He often gets entirely out of hand when drinking. He admits this is true, but is positive that he will do better. He has begun to try, with or without your cooperation, various means of moderating or staying dry. Maybe he is beginning to lose his friends. His business may suffer somewhat. He is worried at times, and is becoming aware that he cannot drink like other people. He sometimes drinks in the morning and through the day also, to hold his nervousness in check. He is remorseful after serious drinking bouts and tells you he wants to stop. But when he gets over the spree, he begins to think once more how he can drink moderately next time. We think this person is in danger. These are the earmarks of a real alcoholic. Perhaps he can still tend to business fairly well. He has by no means ruined everything. As we say among ourselves, “He wants to want to stop.”

Three: This husband has gone much further than husband number two. Though once like number two he became worse. His friends have slipped away, his home is a near-wreck and he cannot hold a position. Maybe the doctor has been called in, and the weary round of sanitariums and hospitals has begun. He admits he cannot drink like other people, but does not see why. He clings to the notion that he will yet find a way to do so. He may have come to the point where he desperately wants to stop but cannot. His case presents additional questions which we shall try to answer for you. You can be quite hopeful of a situation like this.