DAILY PONDERABLES
Together WE Trudge The Road OF Happy Destiny
Daily Reflections
THE LAST PROMISE
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84
The last promise in the Big Book came true for me on the very first day of sobriety. God kept me sober that day, and on every other day I allowed Him to operate in my life. He gives me the strength, courage and guidance to meet my responsibilities in life so that I am then able to reach out and help others stay sober and grow. He manifests within me, making me a channel of His word, thought and deed. He works with my inner self, while I produce in the outer world, for He will not do for me what I can do for myself. I must be willing to do His work, so that He can function through me successfully.
From the book Daily Reflections
© Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought for the Day
Let us continue with Steps Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Ten. In taking a personal inventory of ourselves, we have to face facts as they really are. We have to stop running away. We must face reality. We must see ourselves as we really are. We must admit our faults openly and try to correct them. We must try to see where we have been dishonest, impure, selfish, and unloving. We do not do this once and forget it. We do it every day of our lives, as long as we live. We are never done with checking up on ourselves. Am I taking a daily inventory of myself?
Meditation for the Day
In improving our personal lives, we have Unseen help. We were not made so that we could see God. That would be too easy for us and there would be no merit in obeying Him. It takes an act of faith, a venture of belief, to realize the Unseen Power. Yet we have much evidence of God's existence in the strength that many people have received from the act of faith, the venture of belief. We are in a box of space and time and we can see neither our souls nor God. God and the human spirit are both outside the limitations of space and time. Yet our Unseen help is effective here and now. That has been proved in thousands of changed lives.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may make the great venture of belief. I pray that my vision may not be blocked by intellectual pride.
From the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day
© Copyright 1975 by Hazelden Foundation
NA - Just for Today
Prayer
"Prayer takes practice, and we should remind ourselves that skilled people were not born with their skills."
Basic Text, p.45
Many of us came into recovery with no experience in prayer and worried about not knowing the "right words!" Some of us remembered the words we'd learned in childhood but weren't sure we believed in those words anymore. Whatever our background, in recovery we struggled to find words that spoke truly from our hearts.
Often the first prayer we attempt Is a simple request to our Higher Power asking for help in staying clean each day. We may ask for guidance and courage or simply pray for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out. If we find ourselves stumbling in our prayers, we may ask other members to share with us about how they learned to pray. No matter whether we pray in need or pray in joy, the important thing is to keep making the effort.
Our prayers will be shaped by our experience with the Twelve Steps and our personal understanding of a Higher Power. As our relationship with that Higher Power develops, we become more comfortable with prayer. In time, prayer becomes a source of strength and comfort. We seek that source often and willingly.
Just for today: I know that prayer can be simple. I will start where I am and practice.
From the book Just for Today
© Copyright 1991-2013 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought for Today
"I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention." --Diane Sawyer
"Many people may listen, but few people actually hear." --Harvey Mackay
Intelligence is not what I know but what I do when I don't know
I am thankful to be alive. The joy of just being is enough ... to live in this world/universe of beauty, of goodness, of grandeur, of mystery, of unexplainable bliss, all Created with deep and abiding Love.
(Jim H. Little Rock)
Buddha/Zen Thoughts
Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draws it. Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.
~The Dhammapada
Native American
"everything is laid out for you. Your path is straight ahead of you. Sometimes it's invisible but it's there. You may not know where it's going, but still you have to follow that path. It's the path to the Creator. That's the only path there is."
--Leon Shenandoah, ONONDAGA
Everything on the earth has a purpose and a reason for its existence. Every human being is a warrior and every warrior has a song written in his/her heart and that song must be sung or the soul forever remains restless. This song is always about serving the Great Spirit and helping the people. This song is always sung for the people. Many times I need to learn much about the difficulties of life. I need to know this, so I must experience it. Then I can be of use to the people. Because I am experiencing difficulty does not mean I have left the path or that I have done something wrong. It means I'm doing the will of the Great Spirit during these times of testing. I need to pray constantly to keep a good attitude.
Great Spirit, this I know - You will never leave me, only my doubting makes it seem like You do. This I know - Your love is always dependable, only my doubting makes it seem like You don't. Today remove the doubts from my belief system and allow me to stand straight and see You with straight eyes.
Keep It Simple
Love doesn’t make the world go around. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. --- Franklin Jones
Before recovery, anger, self-pity, and sadness often filled our hearts. The world went on. We came to hate the ride.
In recovery, love fills our hearts. We begin to love life. Love is really caring about what happens to other people. Love is what makes the ride worth it
We find much love in our program. People really mater to us. We really matter to others. For many of us, we learn how to love in our meetings. The program teaches love because the program is love
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll welcome love into my heart and others into my life. Love brings me closer to my Higher Power.
Action for the Day: I’ll list all the people I love and why they matter to me.
TWELVE STEPS
and
TWELVE TRADITIONS
Step Eight (pgs 78-80)
When listing the people we have harmed, most of us hit another solid obstacle. We got a pretty severe shock when we realized that we were preparing to make a face-to-face admission of our wretched conduct to those we had hurt. It had been embarrassing enough when in confidence we had admitted these things to God, to ourselves, and to another human being. But the prospect of actually visiting or even writing the people concerned now overwhelmed us, especially when we remembered in what poor favor we stood with most of them. There were cases, too, where we had damaged others who were still happily unaware of being hurt. Why, we cried, shouldn’t bygones be bygones? Why do we have to think of these people at all? These were some of the ways in which fear conspired with pride to hinder our making a list of all the people we had harmed.
Some of us, though, tripped over a very different snag. We clung to the claim that when drinking we never hurt anybody but ourselves. Our families didn’t suffer, because we always paid the bills and seldom drank at home. Our business associates didn’t suffer, because we were usually on the job. Our reputations hadn’t suffered, because we were certain few knew of our drinking. Those who did would sometimes assure us that, after all, a lively bender was only a good man’s fault. What real harm, therefore, had we done? No more, surely, than we could easily mend with a few casual apologies.
This attitude, of course, is the end result of purposeful forgetting. It is an attitude which can only be changed by a deep and honest search of our motives and actions.
Though in some cases we cannot make restitution at all, and in some cases action ought to be deferred, we should nevertheless make an accurate and really exhaustive survey of our past life as it has affected other people. In many instances we shall find that though the harm done others has not been great, the emotional harm we have done ourselves has. Very deep, sometimes quite forgotten, damaging emo-
tional conflicts persist below the level of consciousness. At the time of these occurrences, they may actually have given our emotions violent twists which have since discolored our personalities and altered our lives for the worse.
Big Book
'God, here I am and here are all my troubles. I've made a mess of things and can't do anything about it. You take me, and all my troubles, and do anything you want with me.'
A Third Step Prayer from 'Our Southern Friend' pg. 215 BB 4th edition
________________________________________
Steps Conversation with God
Step one: God help me, I can't keep going like this.
Step two: I understand, can you believe in Me?
Step three: Think this over, Can you trust Me?
Step four: Are you a good candidate for Me. Do things exist that separate you from Me?
Step five: Show Me what you have found.
Step six: Are there things that you could eliminate?
Step seven: Do want Me to take care of defects that you can't handle?
Step eight: Now that you and I are good, what about My people?
Step nine: You really need to get right with them so that while you are working for Me you won't have to carry baggage.
Step ten: Remember that resentments and fears can hinder your performance while working for Me.
Step eleven: Communications is essential for our working relationship. I will talk to you through meditation and your response will be in the form of prayer. We will have conscious contact, which is what you always wanted.
Step twelve: You have gone from lost to being a gainful employee. I need your help.
(thanks Diana F. Auckland, New Zealand)