DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
A SENSE OF BELONGING
Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 105
That's what it is— -- belonging! After a session of meditation I knew that the feeling I was experiencing was sense of belonging because I was so relaxed. I felt quieter inside, more willing to discard little irritations. I appreciated my sense of humor. What I also experience in my daily practice is the sheer pleasure of belonging to the creative flow of God's world. How propitious for us that prayer and meditation are written right into our A.A. way of life.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
I am less self-centered. The world used to revolve around me at the center. I cared more about myself, my own needs and desires, my own pleasure, my own way, than I did about the whole rest of the world. What happened to me was more important than anything else I could think of. I was selfishly trying to be happy and therefore I was unhappy most of the time. I have found that selfishly seeking pleasure does not bring true happiness. Thinking of myself all the time cut me off from the best in life. A.A. taught me to care less about myself and more about the other person. Am I less self-centered?
Meditation for the Day
When something happens to upset you and you are discouraged, try to feel that life's difficulties and troubles are not intended to arrest your progress in the spiritual life, but to test your strength and to increase your determination to keep going. Whatever it is that must be met, you are to either overcome it or use it. Nothing should daunt you for long, nor should any difficulty entirely overcome or conquer you. God's strength will always be there, waiting for you to use it, Nothing can be too great to be overcome, or if not overcome, then used.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may know that there can be no failure with God. I pray that with His help I may live a more victorious life.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Fear Or Faith?
"No matter how far we ran, we always carried fear with us."
Basic Text p. 14
For many of us, fear was a constant factor in our lives before we came to Narcotics Anonymous. We used because we were afraid to feel emotional or physical pain. Our fear of people and situations gave us a convenient excuse to use drugs. A few of us were so afraid of everything that we were unable even to leave our homes without using first.
As we stay clean, we replace our fear with a belief in the fellowship, the steps, and a Higher Power. As this belief grows, our faith in the miracle of recovery begins to color all aspects of our lives. We start to see ourselves differently. We realize we are spiritual beings, and we strive to live by spiritual principles.
The application of spiritual principles helps eliminate fear from our lives. By refraining from treating other people in harmful or unlawful ways, we find we needn't fear how we will be treated in return. As we practice love, compassion, understanding, and patience in our relationships with others, we are treated in turn with respect and consideration. We realize these positive changes result from allowing our Higher Power to work through us. We come to believe - not to think, but to believe - that our Higher Power wants only the best for us. No matter what the circumstances, we find we can walk in faith instead of fear.
Just for today: I no longer need to run in fear, but can walk in faith that my Higher Power has only the best in store for me.
pg. 328
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
If you have a problem and you can fix it, don't worry about it.
If you have a problem and you can’t fix it, don’t worry about it.
People may forget what you did,
They may forget what you said,
But they will never forget the way you made them feel.
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
~Jim Elliot (thanks Stu C.)
The Great Awakening
To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness into light.. to see their lives quickly fill with a new purpose and a new meaning, to see families put back together to see the alcoholic accepted back into the community of the living.... is wonderful but the real gift I receive is to watch them awaken to the presence of a real God in their lives and to be freed from the compulsion to drink .... Oh what a gift ...Some come quickly , some come slowly , but it comes to all who seek Him... Oh what a gift to see...Then to sit in meetings and hear them share their experiences and listen to them share the message that saved my life too... The message of Hope that one Day at a time you don't have to live and feel that way anymore... Walk with us to Freedom as WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny.
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Native American
"The battle for Indian children will be won in the classroom, not on the streets or on horses. The students of today are our warriors of tomorrow."
--Wilma P. Mankiller, CHEROKEE
The world is constantly changing. One of the strengths of Indian people has been our adaptability. In today's world, education is what we need to survive. We need doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists. We can become these things and still live in a cultural way. We need to live in two worlds; the educated world and the Indian cultural world. Education will help protect our land, our people's health, and provide knowledge for our people. We must teach reading, writing and arithmetic. Also, we must teach the language, the culture, the ceremony and the tradition of our people.
Creator, let me remember You are my teacher.
Keep It Simple
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
--- Will Rogers
The greatest adventure ever is recovery, and action is what’s important in recovery. That’s because the Twelve Steps are full of action. The whole world has now opened up to us. At times, this will scare us. But we aren’t alone. Our Higher Power is there to help us. All we have to ask ourselves is, “Would this action keep me in touch with my Higher Power?” If the answer is yes, then we take action. If the answer is no, then we don’t.
In recovery, we’ll be busy. We admit our wrongs. We take inventories. We seek answers. We ask for help. We are to get as much as we can out of life. We can’t sit and watch; we have to get out and live life.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You gave me a second chance at life. Help me use it and not let my fear stop.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list five things I want to do but I’m afraid to try. I’ll talk to someone I trust about how I can do these things.
TWELVESTEPS
and
TWELVE TRADITIONS
Tradition Eight (pgs 167-168)
At last, however, a plain line of cleavage could be seen between professionalism and nonprofessionalism. When we had agreed that the Twelfth Step couldn’t be sold for money, we had been wise. But when we had declared that our Fellowship couldn’t hire service workers nor could any A.A. member carry our knowledge into other fields, we were taking the counsel of fear, fear which today has been largely dispelled in the light of experience.
Take the case of the club janitor and cook. If a club is going to function, it has to be habitable and hospitable. We tried volunteers, who were quickly disenchanted with sweeping floors and brewing coffee seven days a week. They just didn’t show up. Even more important, an empty club couldn’t answer its telephone, but it was an open invitation to a drunk on a binge who possessed a spare key. So somebody had to look after the place full time. If we hired an alcoholic, he’d receive only what we’d have to pay a nonalcoholic for the same job. The job was not to do Twelfth Step work; it was to make Twelfth Step work possible. It was a service proposition, pure and simple.
Neither could A.A. itself function without full-time workers. At the Foundation* and intergroup offices, we couldn’t employ nonalcoholics as secretaries; we had to have people who knew the A.A. pitch. But the minute we hired them, the ultraconservative and fearful ones shrilled, “Professionalism!” At one period, the status of these faithful servants was almost unbearable. They weren’t asked to speak at A.A. meetings because they were “making money out of A.A.” At times, they were actually shunned by fellow members. Even the charitably disposed described them as “a necessary evil.” Committees took full advantage of this attitude to depress their salaries. They could regain some measure of virtue, it was thought, if they worked for A.A. real cheap. These notions persisted for years. Then we saw that if a hardworking secretary answered the phone dozens of times a day, listened to twenty wailing wives, arranged hospitalization and got sponsorship for ten newcomers, and was gently diplomatic with the irate drunk who complained about the job she was doing and how she was overpaid, then such a person could surely not be called a professional A.A. She was not professionalizing the Twelfth Step; she was just making it possible. She was helping to give the man coming in the door the break he ought to have. Volunteer committeemen and assistants could be of great help, but they could not be expected to carry this load day in and day out.
____________
*In 1954, the name of the Alcoholic Foundation, Inc., was changed to the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc., and the Foundation office is now the General Service Office.
Big Book
"When working with a man and his family, you should take care not to
participate in their quarrels. You may spoil your chance of being
helpful if you do. But urge upon a man's family that he has been a
very sick person and should be treated accordingly. You should warn
against arousing resentment or jealousy. You should point out that
his defects of character are not going to disappear over night. Show
them that he has entered upon a period of growth. Ask them to
remember, when they are impatient, the blessed fact of his sobriety."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 100~
To subscribe click the link below:
https://app.getresponse.com/site/dailyponderables/webform.html?wid=108246