05/11

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

A NEW SENSE OF BELONGING

Until we had talked with complete candor of our conflicts, and listened to someone else do the same thing, we still didn't belong.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 57

After four years in A.A. I was able to discover the freedom from the burden of buried emotions that had caused me so much pain. With the help of A.A., and extra counseling, the pain was released and I felt a complete sense of belonging and peace. I also felt a joy and a love of God that I never experienced before. I am in awe of the power of Step Five.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

We can depend on those members of any group who have gone all out for the program. They come to meetings. They work with other alcoholics. We don't have to worry about their slipping. They're loyal members of the group. I'm trying to be a loyal member of the group. When I'm tempted to take a drink, I tell myself that if I did I'd be letting down the other members who are the best friends I have. Am I going to let them down, if I can help it?

Meditation for the Day

Wherever there is true fellowship and love between people, God's spirit is always there as the Divine Third. In all human relationships, the Divine Spirit is what brings them together. When a life is changed through the channel of another person, it is God, the Divine Third, who always makes the change, using the person as a means. The moving power behind all spiritual things, all personal relationships between people is God, the Divine Third, who is always there. No personal relationships can be entirely right without the presence of God's spirit.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be used as a channel by God's spirit. I pray that I may feel that the Divine Third is always there to help me.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

NA - Just for Today

Balancing the scales

Page 137

"A lot of our chief concerns and major difficulties come from our inexperience with living without drugs. Often when we ask an old timer what to do, we are amazed at the simplicity of the answer."

Basic Text, p. 43

Finding balance in recovery is quite a bit like sitting down with a set of scales and a pile of sand. The goal is to have an equal amount of sand on each side of the scales, achieving a balance of weight.

We do the same thing in recovery. We sit down with the foundation of our clean time and the Twelve Steps, then attempt to add employment, household responsibilities, friends, sponsees, relationships, meetings, and service in equal weights so that the scales balance. Our first try may throw our personal scales out of kilter. We may find that, because of our over-involvement in service, we have upset our employer or our family. But when we try to correct this problem by resigning from NA service altogether, the other side of the scales go out of balance.

We can ask for help from members who have stabilized their scales. These people are easy to recognize. They appear serene, composed, and self-assured. They'll smile in recognition at our dilemma and share how they slowed down, added only a few grains of sand at a time to either side of the scales, and were rewarded with balance in recovery.

Just for Today: I seek balance in my life. Today, I will ask others to share their experience in finding that balance.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

True surrender is putting yourself at His feet, becoming that flower, or the flame, or the fruit you usually offer to Him. It is becoming the offering, rather than the offerer, the sacrifice rather than the sacrificer.

Performing a ritual to fulfill your desire through the power of God is not an act of devotion. It is a mere declaration of your devotion to your desires and attachment

In that you seek security in exchange for a few offerings that do not really belong to you anyway.

When I am willing to do the right thing, I am rewarded with inner peace no amount of liquor could ever provide. When I am unwilling to do the right thing, I become restless, irritable and discontent. It's always my choice.

"Serenity is not the absence of chaos in your life … it’s the ability to deal with it." Men Who Trudge 7:30am Zoom Mtg

Light versus dark

Good versus evil

I am a lost child

Where is my leader?

How many days

I wandered alone.

How many nights

I fought for my own.

Who could I turn to?

Where could I go?

As I look for myself

Under the snow.

I weep and I weep

My heart is broken

I've sold my soul

For a small, small token

How did I get here?

Where is my maker?

I left Him long ago

Willing to be taken

By the devils lies

I let myself be lead.

To the pits of hell

I'll soon be dead.

Night turns to day

Day turns to light

I will not give up

Without a fight.

So I look high above

For the Maker I sought

Looking for his love

Not willing to be forgot

Faithful is He

This Maker of mine

I open my heart

To the Lord who is kind

Mighty is He

The Father of all

The One who forgives

When we decide to call

Free of the shame

No longer alone

With this Father of mine

I am at home

JBW

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

The Purpose of Zen

Over the course of centuries, Zen has branched out into different schools with individual methods, but the purpose is still the same - to point directly to the human mind. Once the ground of mind is clarified there is no obstruction at all - you shed views and interpretations that are based on concepts such as victory and defeat, self and others, right and wrong. Thus you pass through all that and reach a realm of great rest and tranquility.

Zen Master Yuanwu

Native American

"[The Old People] would gather words as they walked a sacred path across the Earth, leaving nothing behind but prayers and offerings."

---- Cleone Thunder, NORTHERN ARAPAHOE

Whenever we walk on the Earth, we should pay attention to what is going on. Too often our minds are somewhere else, thinking about the past or thinking about the future. When we do this, we are missing important lessons. The Earth is a constant flow of lessons and learnings which also include a constant flow of positive feelings. If we are aware as we walk, we will gather words for our lives, the lessons to help our children; we will gather feelings of interconnectedness and calmness. When we experience this, we should say or think thoughts of gratitude. When we do this, the next person to walk on the sacred path will benefit even more.

My Creator, today, let me be aware of the sacred path.

Keep It Simple

An honest man's the noblest work of God. --- Alexander Pope

Step five says," Admitted to God, to ourselves, and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs." When we did this Step, the person we admitted our wrongs to didn't run away or reject us. That person stuck with us. Chances are, we were told that we are quite human. And working Step Five helped us to see that we can change, now that we're sober.

The most important part of Step five is the act of being totally honest about ourselves. Then we know that relationships---with our Higher Power, ourselves, and others---can be built. We have faced the truth. Now we know we never have to lie.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I know no Fifth Step is perfect. Please help me be as honest as I can in doing my Fifth Step and at other times.

Action for the Day: If I’ve avoided doing a Fifth Step, I'll talk to my sponsor about it today.

Big Book

Chapter 5 How It Works (pg 62)

Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God's help.

This is the how and the why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn't work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most Good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.