03/21

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING

Fear . . . of economic insecurity will leave us.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84

Having fear reduced or eliminated and having economic circumstances improve, are two different things. When I was new in A.A., I had those two ideas confused. I thought fear would leave me only when I started making money. However, another line from the Big Book jumped off the page one day when I was chewing on my financial difficulties: "For us, material well-being always followed spiritual progress; it never preceded." (p.127). I suddenly understood that this promise was a guarantee. I saw that it put priorities in the correct order, that spiritual progress would diminish that terrible fear of being destitute, just as it diminished many other fears.

Today I try to use the talents God gave me to benefit others. I've found that is what others valued all along. I try to remember that I no longer work for myself. I only get the use of the wealth God created, I have never "owned" it. My life's purpose is much clearer when I just work to help, not to possess.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

In A.A. we forget about the future. We know from experience that as time goes on, the future takes care of itself. Everything works out well, as long as we stay sober. All we need to think about is today. When we get up in the morning and see the sun shining in the window, we thank God that He has given us another day to enjoy because we're sober, a day in which we may have a chance to help somebody. Do I know that this day is all I have and that with God's help I can stay sober today?

Meditation for the Day

All is fundamentally well. That does not mean that all is well on the surface of things. But it does mean that God's in His heaven and that He has a purpose for the World, which will eventually work out when enough human beings are willing to follow His way. "Wearing the world as a loose garment" means not being upset by the surface wrongness of things, but feeling deeply secure in the fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God may be with me in my journey through the world. I pray that I may know that God is planning that journey.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

A treatable illness

Page 83

"Addiction is a disease that involves more than the use of drugs."

Basic Text, p. 3

At our first meeting, we may have been taken aback at the way members shared about how the disease of addiction had affected their lives. We thought to ourselves, "Disease? I've just got a drug problem! What in the world are they talking about?"

After some time in the program, we began to see that our addiction ran deeper than our obsessive, compulsive drug use. We saw that we suffered from a chronic illness that affected many areas of our lives. We didn't know where we'd "caught" this disease, but in examining ourselves we realized that it had been present in us for many years.

Just as the disease of addiction affects every area of our lives, so does the NA program. We attend our first meeting with all the symptoms present: the spiritual void, the emotional agony, the powerlessness, the unmanageability.

Treating our illness involves much more than mere abstinence. We use the Twelve Steps, and though they don't "cure" our illness, they do begin to heal us. And as we recover, we experience the gift of life.

Just for Today: I will treat my illness with the Twelve Steps.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -

loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."

--Victor Hugo

I sought to make him my God

You taught me how to make me be His man

Scott L. Appalachian Regional Roundup

CAME 2 BELIEVE

Where is everyone?

I just feel so alone.

I've tried all the numbers.

I've picked up the phone!

It's two in the morning

Now what do i do!?

I'm restless, insane,

irritation i stew.

How did i get here,

this alcoholic Me.

A rhetorical question,

but to Him or to thee.

I was told by a sponsor,

My admission was free.

Let go and Let God

The ticket to sanity.

So here i still sit,

phone numbers no more.

My spirit just broken,

Sad,

tired

and torn.

I set out before,

destination in sight.

But my will, i can't do it.

I just don't have the might.

I get down on my knees,

I give up the fight.

And I came to believe

That He could.

That night. ....

Rae S.

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

The key, during both life and death, is to recognize illusions as illusions, projections as projections, and fantasies as fantasies. In this way we become free.

-Lama Thubten Yeshe, Introduction to Tantra

You live in illusions and the appearance of things.

There is a Reality, you are that Reality. When you

recognize this you will realize you are nothing,

and being nothing, you are everything. That is all.

-- Kalu Rinpoche (thanks Bill C.)

Native American

"The manner with which we walk through life is each man's most important responsibility, and we should remember this with every new sunrise."

--Thomas Yellowtail, CROW

Every spiritual person should carry a vision of God's will in every area of their life. One day at a time, each morning at sunrise, we should spend time praying to the Creator. We should say something like, my Creator, this morning I ask you to show me, in terms I can understand, what you have or me to do. By doing this daily, over time, we will develop an unquestionable vision. Each person is responsible for taking the time to do this. It will bring great joy and peace of mind to those warriors who do.

My Creator, give me the vision, today, of what you want me to do.

Keep It Simple

With each sunrise, we start anew. --- Anonymous

Like a tree, our life depends on new growth. There are many ways to bring new ideas and growth into our lives. We can attend Twelve Step retreats. We can study books and tapes on spirituality.

We can attend different Twelve Step meetings.

But our spiritual newness may not just come from the Twelve Steps. We can do volunteer work or be active in other types of groups. We need to invite new ideas into our lives. We need to stay open to change. It doesn’t matter what renews our spiritual growth. What matters is that we keep our spiritual lives fresh and growing.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, spring is one of the four seasons. Help me feel like spring. Help me to be strong but not stuck Help me be firm yet open to spiritual growth.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll try to do something new. When I get stuck or stubborn, I’ll see that it’s due to my fear of trying new ideas.

Big Book

Chapter 1 BILL'S STORY (pg 8 & top 9)

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.

Trembling, I stepped from the hospital a broken man. Fear sobered me for a bit. Then came the insidious insanity of that first drink, and on Armistice Day 1934, I was off again. Everyone became resigned to the certainty that I would have to be shut up somewhere, or would stumble along to a miserable end. How dark it is before the dawn! In reality that was the beginning of my last debauch. I was soon to be catapulted into what I like to call the fourth dimension of existence. I was to know happiness, peace, and usefulness, in a way of life that is incredibly more wonderful as time passes.

Near the end of that bleak November, I sat drinking in my kitchen. With a certain satisfaction I reflected there was enough gin concealed about the house to carry me through that night and the next day. My wife was at work. I wondered whether I dared hide a full bottle of gin near the head of our bed. I would need it before daylight.

My musing was interrupted by the telephone. The cheery voice of an old school friend asked if he might come over. He was sober. It was years since I could remember his coming to New York in that condition. I was amazed. Rumor had it that he had been committed for alcoholic insanity. I wondered how he had escaped. Of course he would have dinner, and then I could drink openly with him. Unmindful of his welfare, I thought only of recapturing the spirit of other days. There was that time we had chartered an airplane to complete a jag! His coming was an oasis in this dreary desert of futility. The very thing-an oasis! Drinkers are like that.