05/17

DAILY PONDERABLES

Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny

Daily Reflections

. . . AND FORGIVE

Under very trying conditions I have had, again and again, to forgive others---also myself.

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 26

Forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others are just two currents in the same river, both hindered or shut off completely by the dam of resentment. Once that dam is lifted, both currents can flow. The Steps of A.A. allow me to see how resentment has built up and subsequently blocked off this flow in my life. The Steps provide a way by which my resentments may---by the grace of God as I understand Him---be lifted. It is as a result of this solution that I can find the necessary grace which enables me to forgive myself and others.

From the book Daily Reflections

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day

A lot of well-meaning people treat alcoholics like the priest and the Levite. They pass by on the other side by scorning them and telling them what low people they are, with no willpower. Whereas, they really have fallen for alcohol, in the same way as the man in the story fell among robbers. And the member of A.A. who is working with others is like the Good Samaritan. Am I moved with compassion? Do I take care of another alcoholic whenever I can?

Meditation for the Day

I must constantly live in preparation for something better to come. All of life is a preparation for something better. I must anticipate the morning to come. I must feet, in the night of sorrow, that understanding joy that tells of confident expectation of better things to come. "Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Know that God has something better in store for you, as long as you are making yourself ready for it. All your existence in this world is a training for a better life to come.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that when life is over, I will return to an eternal, space-less life with God. I pray that I may make this life a preparation for a better life to come.

From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Night Light - A Book of Nighttime Meditations

Imagine how little good music there would be if, for example, a conductor refused to play Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on the ground[s] that his audience may have heard it before.

-A. P. Herbert

Long ago, before printing presses, telephones, and instant replays, our ancestors kept records of people, information, and history by telling the same stories many times. These stories were passed down from generation to generation. People crowded into caves and huddled around roaring fires to hear the old sto- ries. They never grew tired of hearing them, for with each telling could come a new insight and a renewed interest.

When we hear the same things, we can tune in in- stead of tuning out. We can listen to each word as if it were the first time, feeling all the feelings and leaving our minds open to new insights. Perhaps we can gar- ner a few lines to include in our own storytelling or that relate to us in particular. Conversations and sto- ries can be the same with each telling. But we can keep them fresh by listening differently each time.

As I lie down tonight, I can imagine I've regained my hearing after years of silence. I can begin to listen as if it were the first time and gain so much more.

NA - Just for Today

"Defects"

Page 143

"We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character."

Step Six

After taking the Fifth Step, many of us spend some time considering "the exact nature of our wrongs" and the part they'd played in making us who we were. What would our lives be like without, say, our arrogance?

Sure, arrogance had kept us apart from our fellows, preventing us from enjoying and learning from them. But arrogance had also served us well, propping up our ego in the face of critically low self-esteem. What advantage would be gained if our arrogance were removed, and what support would we be left with?

With arrogance gone, we would be one step closer to being restored to our proper place among others. We would become capable of appreciating their company and their wisdom and their challenges as their equals. Our support and guidance would come, if we chose, from the care offered us by our Higher Power; "low self-esteem" would cease to be an issue.

One by one, we examined our character defects this way, and found them all defective after all, that's why they're called defects. And were we entirely ready to have God remove all of them? Yes.

Just for Today: I will thoroughly consider all my defects of character to discover whether I am ready to have the God of my understanding remove them.

From the book Just for Today

Thought for Today

The deal that God makes with us Alcoholics/Addicts

(thanks to Pham C.)

A drunk is walking home, feeling sick and hurt. He is at that magic moment of surrender.

On his way he sees God and notices He has something in his hand. The drunk asks "What's that?" God responds "This is sobriety". The drunk said "Oh man, I need that! Geez, I need sobriety. How much does that cost?" as he only understands buying things. God returns with "How much do you have?" The drunk says "I have about 20 dollars." God responds "All right, for you, sobriety costs 20 dollars." The man, trying to back out of says, "If I give you all twenty dollars, I won't be able to buy any gas for my car."

God responds "Oh! so you have a car? I'm sorry, but sobriety is going to cost you your car."

"Whoa, whoa!" Says the man. "If I give you my car, how am I going to get to my job?"

"You have a job?!" Exclaims God. "No, no, no. Sobriety is going to cost you your job."

The drunk responds "But, if I give you my job, how am I to pay for my house?" House!!

You have a house!?" God says with surprise. "I thought you lived in a cardboard box under the bridge! Your file is completely out of date! Sobriety is going to cost you your house."

The man responds "If I give you my house what about my wife and kids?"

"A family! That's right, you have a family! Yes, yes. Sobriety is going to cost you your family.

The drunk responds "But if I give you all that, what good is my life?"

God states "That's right. Sobriety costs you your life."

The alcoholic, because he is at that magic moment of surrender is willing to give his God his money, and his car, and his job, and his house, and his wife and his kids, and his life and for that God gives him sobriety.

Then God looks him deep in the eyes and says:

"All right. I'm going to give you your money back but, it's not your money anymore, it's my money. I'm going to let you spend it for me."

"I'm going to give your car back but, it's not your car anymore, it's my car. You get to drive it for me."

"I'm going to give you your job back but, it's not your job anymore, it's my job. You get to work at it for me."

"I give your house back but, it's not your house anymore, it's my home. But, you get to live in it for me."

"I give your family back to you but, it's not your family anymore, it's my family. You get to take care of them for me."

"I give your life back but, it's not your life ever again. But, you get to live it for me."

That's the deal a loving God makes with us in the 3rd step.

The early A.A.s knew from their own experience that, for the

alcoholic, nothing in this world is as reliable or as immediate as

the magic of alcohol, and they also knew that alcohol’s “magic”

inevitably destroyed spirituality. And so they discovered that

whatever spirituality they would find in sobriety would have to be

“earned” —earned in the original sense of “made one’s own.” by

the work, the building, the journey, the “toil, sweat, and tears”

that the ancients insisted was necessary if the soul was to “ripen.”

-- The Spirituality of Imperfection (thanks Bill C.)

Buddha/Zen Thoughts

Small waves and large waves

A small wave in the ocean laments "Poor me. Other waves are so great in size, yet I am so small. Other waves can travel so fast, yet I am so inferior." Another wave replies "This is because you do not know your true being, so you think you are suffering. A wave is your temporary phenomenon. In actual fact, you are water. When you realize that your true being is water, you will no longer be troubled by your physical form, and therefore will no longer suffer."

Native American

"If the Great Spirit wanted men to stay in one place He would make the world stand still; but He made it to always change..."

--Chief Flying Hawk, OGLALA SIOUX

The Elders tell us change occurs in two directions. They say, "That which is built is constantly being destroyed; that which is loose is being used to build the New." In other words, change is constantly going on. Many times we hear people say, "I hate change." Does it make sense that the Great Spirit would design people to hate it? The Great Spirit designed people with change abilities such as visioning, imagery and imagination. Maybe we need to learn to use these tools and then we'll look forward to change.

Great Spirit, today, let me see the harmony of Yours, truly changing world.

Keep It Simple

Each day provides its own gifts. --- Ruth P. Freedman

Spiritual growth is the greatest gift we can receive. And we earn it through taking risks. There is much risk involved in working the Steps: The risk of admitting that we're out of control. The risk of turning our will and lives over to a Power greater than ourselves. The risk of letting go of character defects. The risk of making amends to people we've harmed. The risk of admitting our wrongs. The risk of telling our stories as we carry the message of hope. To grow spiritually, we need these adventures. These challenges. These risk.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to take the risks that I need in order to grow.

Action for the Day: I will look at today as an adventure with my Higher Power. I will list the fears I'll need to let go of.

Big Book

Chapter 5 How It Works (pg 68 & top 69)

We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper, even though we had no resentment in connection with them. We asked ourselves why we had them. Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us? Self-reliance was good as far as it went, but it didn't go far enough. Some of us once had great self-confidence, but it didn't fully solve the fear problem, or any other. When it made us cocky, it was worse.

Perhaps there is a better way-we think so. For we are now on a different basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.

We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spirituality the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear.

Now about sex. Many of needed an overhauling there. But above all, we tried to be sensible on this question. It's so easy to get way off the track. Here we find human opinions running to extremes-absurd extremes, perhaps. One set of voices cry that sex is a lust of our lower nature, a base necessity of procreation. Then we have the voices who cry for sex and more sex; who bewail the institution of marriage; who think that most of the troubles of the race are traceable to sex causes. They think we do not have enough of it, or that it isn't the right kind. They see its significance everywhere. One school would allow man no flavor for his fare and the other would have us all on a straight pepper diet. We want to stay out of this controversy. We do not want to be the arbiter of anyone's sex conduct. We all have sex problems. We'd hardly be human if we didn't. What can we do about them?