DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
"THE QUALITY OF FAITH
"This . . . has to do with the quality of faith. . . . In no deep or meaningful sense had we ever taken stock of ourselves. . . . We had not even prayed rightly! We had always said, "Grant me my wishes" instead of "Thy will be done."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 32
God does not grant me material possessions, take away my suffering, or spare me from disasters, but He does give me a good life, the ability to cope, and peace of mind. My prayers are simple: first, they express my gratitude for the good things in my life, regardless of how hard I have to search for them; and second, I ask only for the strength and the wisdom to do His will. He answers with solutions to my problems, sustaining my ability to live through daily frustrations with a serenity I did not believe existed, and with the strength to practice the principles of A.A. in all my everyday affairs.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
During our thoughts about the rewards that have come to us as a result of our new way of living, we find that we have new kinds of homes, new relationships with our spouses and our children. Also peace, contentment, hope, faith, charity, and new ambition. What are some of the things we have lost? Each one of us can answer this question in many ways. I have lost much of my fear. It used to control me; it was my master. It paralyzed my efforts. Fear always got me down. It made me an introvert, an ingrown person. When fear was replaced by faith, I got well. Have I lost some of my fears?
Meditation for the Day
The world would sooner be brought close to God. His will would sooner be done on earth, if all who acknowledge Him gave themselves unreservedly to being used by Him. God can use every human being as a channel for divine love and power. What delays the bringing of the world closer to God is the backwardness of His followers. If each one lived each day for God and allowed God to work through him, then the world would soon be drawn much closer to God, its Founder and Preserver.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be used as a channel to express the Divine Love. I pray that I may so live as to bring God's spirit closer to the world.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
God's Guidance
"Our Higher power is accessible to us at all times. We receive guidance when we ask for knowledge of God's will for us."
Basic Text p. 92
It's not always easy to make the right decision. This is especially true for addicts learning to live by spiritual principles for the first time. In addiction, we developed self-destructive, anti-social impulses. When conflict arose, we took our cues from those negative impulses. Our disease didn't prepare us to make sound decisions.
Today, to find the direction we need, we ask our Higher Power. We stop; we pray; and, quietly, we listen within for guidance. We've come to believe that we can rely on a Power greater than ourselves. That Power is accessible to us whenever we need it. All we need do is pray for knowledge of our God's will for u and the power to carry it out.
Each time we do this, each time we find direction amidst our confusion, our faith grows. The more we rely on our Higher Power, the easier it becomes to ask for direction: We've found the Power we were lacking in our addiction, a Power that available to us at all times. To find the direction we need to live fully and grow spiritually, all we have to do is maintain contact with the God of our understanding.
Just for today: My Higher Power is a source of spiritual guidance within me that I can always draw upon. When I lack direction today. I will ask for knowledge of my Higher Power will.
pg. 323
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
Social lubricant, formerly alcohol, now humility.
"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can
collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few."
--Anne Morrow Lindbergh
WHO'S SITTING NEXT TO YOU?
March 1991 Grapevine
I know who you are. You are "X" who attends the ABC Meeting
at the XYZ Club where AA's meet in Anywhere, U.S.A.
I saw you there the other night at the eight o'clock meeting.
I don't know how long you've been clean, but I know you've been
coming around for a while because you spoke to a lot of people
who knew you. I wasn't one of them.
You don't know who I am. I wandered into your meeting place
alone the other night, a stranger in a strange town. I got a cup of
coffee, and sat down by myself. You didn't speak to me.
Oh, you saw me. You glanced my way, but you didn't recognize
me, so you quickly averted your eyes and sought out a familiar face.
I sat there through the meeting.
It was okay, a slightly different format but basically the same
kind of meeting as the one I go to at home.
The topic was gratitude. You and your friends spoke about how
much AA means to you. You talked about the camaraderie in your
meeting place. You said how much the people there had helped you
when you first came through the door how they extended the hand
of friendship to make you feel welcome, and asked you to come back.
And I wondered where they had gone, those nice people who made
your entrance so welcoming and so comfortable.
You talked about how the newcomer is the life blood of AA. I
agree, but I didn't say so. In fact, I didn't share in your meeting.
I signed my name in the book that was passed around, but the
chairperson didn't refer to it. He only called on those people in the
room whom he knew. So who am I? You don't know, because you didn't
bother to find out. Although yours was a closed meeting, you didn't
even ask if I belonged there.
It might have been my first meeting. I could have been full of
fear and distrust, knowing AA wouldn't work any better than
anything else I'd tried, and I would have left convinced that I
was right. I might have been suicidal, grasping at one last straw,
hoping someone would reach out and pull me from the pit of loathing
and self-pity from which, by myself, I could find no escape.
I might have been a student with a tape recorder in my pocket,
assigned to write a paper on how AA works - someone who shouldn't
have been permitted to sit there at all but could have been directed
to an open meeting to learn what I needed to know.
Or I could have been sent by the courts, wanting to know more, but
afraid to ask. It happens that I was none of the above.
I was just an ordinary addict with a few years of clean living in AA who
was traveling and was in need of a meeting.
My only problem that night was that I'd been alone with my own mind
too long. I just needed to touch base with my AA family.
I know from past experience that I could have walked into your
meeting place smiling, stuck out my hand to the first person I saw
and said, "Hi. My name is - . I'm an alcoholic from - ."If I'd felt like
doing that, I probably would have been warmly welcomed. You would
have asked me if I knew Old So-and-so from my state, or you might
have shared a part of your drunk-a-log that occurred in my part of
the country. Why didn't I? I was hungry, lonely, and tired. The only
thing missing was angry, but three out of four isn't a good place for
me to be.
So I sat silently through your meeting, and when it was over I
watched enviously as all of you gathered in small groups, talking
to one another the same way we do in my home town.
You and some of your friends were planning a meeting after the
meeting at a nearby coffee shop. By this time I had been silent too
long to reach out to you. I stopped by the bulletin board to read the
notices there, kind of hanging around without being too obvious,
hoping you might ask if I wanted to join you, but you didn't.
As I walked slowly across the parking lot to my car with the
out-of-state license plates you looked my way again. Our eyes
met briefly and I mustered a smile. Again, you looked away.
I buckled my seat belt, started the car, and drove to the motel
where I was staying.
As I lay in my bed waiting for sleep to come, I made a gratitude
list. You were on it, along with your friends at the meeting place.
I knew that you were there for me, and that I needed you far more
than you needed me. I knew that if I had needed help, and had asked
for it, you would have gladly given it. But I wondered . . . what if I hadn't
been able to ask?
I know who you are.
Do you remember me?
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Desires achieved increase thirst like salt water.
-Milarepa, "Drinking the Mountain Stream"
Native American
"You could study the ancestors, but without a deep feeling of communication with them it would be surface learning and surface talking. Once you have gone into yourself and have learned very deeply, appreciate it, and relate to it very well, everything will come very easily."
-- Ellen White, NANAIMO
Inside of every human being are our ancestors, and these ancestors still live. Today, the white man calls this DNA, but there is more than DNA. We have the ability to go inside of ourselves and learn from the ancestors. The ancestor teachings reside in the place of the center. The ancestors are waiting for us to come there so they can share the ancient teachings. It is said, "Be still and know".
Great Spirit, let me walk in the stillness.
Keep It Simple
Acceptance and faith are capable of producing 100% sobriety. --- Grapevine.
Acceptance and faith are the most important parts of our recovery. If we boil down Steps One
And Two, we'll find acceptance and faith. Acceptance means we see the world as it is, not as we want it to be. We start to see ourselves as humans, not as gods. We are good, and we are bad. We need to fit in the world, not run it.
Acceptance also guides us toward faith. Faith is believing. We start to believe that someone or something will take care of us. Faith is about giving up control of outcomes. We learn to say to our Higher Power, “Thy will be done.”
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power help me accept my illness. Give me the faith to know that You and I, together, will keep me sober.
Action for the Day: Throughout the day, I'll think of the 11th step. I'll pray to my Higher Power, “Thy Will be done, not mine.” Amen.
TWELVESTEPS
and
TWELVE TRADITIONS
Tradition Six (pgs 158-159)
At first glance, it did look like a good thing. Then doubt crept in. The association wanted to use our member’s full name in all its advertising; he was to be described both as its director of publicity and as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Of course, there couldn’t be the slightest objection if such an association hired an A.A. member solely because of his public relations ability and his knowledge of alcoholism. But that wasn’t the whole story, for in this case not only was an A.A. member to break his anonymity at a public level, he was to link the name Alcoholics Anonymous to this particular educational project in the minds of millions. It would be bound to appear that A.A. was now backing education—liquor trade association style.
The minute we saw this compromising fact for what it was, we asked the prospective publicity director how he felt about it. “Great guns!” he said. “Of course I can’t take the job. The ink wouldn’t be dry on the first ad before an awful shriek would go up from the dry camp. They’d be out with lanterns looking for an honest A.A. to plump for their brand of education. A.A. would land exactly in the middle of the wet-dry controversy. Half the people in this country would think we’d signed up with the drys, the other half would think we’d joined the wets. What a mess!”
“Nevertheless,” we pointed out, “you still have a legal right to take this job. I know that,” he said. “But this is no time for legalities. Alcoholics Anonymous saved my life, and it comes first. I certainly won’t be the guy to land A.A. in big-time trouble, and this would really do it!”
Concerning endorsements, our friend had said it all. We saw as never before that we could not lend the A.A. name to any cause other than our own.
Big Book
"The basic principles of the A.A. program, it appears, hold good for
individuals with many different lifestyles, just as the program has
brought recovery to those of many different nationalities. The
Twelve Steps that summarize the program may be called los Doce Pasos
in one country, les Douze Etapes in another, but they trace exactly
the same path to recovery that was blazed by the earliest members of
Alcoholics Anonymous."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Foreward To Third Edition, Page xxii~
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