A Prayer & Some Thoughts - April

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April 16


After the Winter, God Sends the Spring

Springtime is a season
Of hope and joy and cheer.
There’s beauty all around us
To see and touch and hear.
So, no matter how downhearted
And discouraged we may be,
New hope is born when we behold
Leaves on a budding tree,
Or when we see a timid flower
Push through the frozen sod
And open wide in glad surprise
Its petaled eyes to God,
For this is just God saying,
“Lift up your eyes to Me,
And the bleakness of your spirit,
Like the budding Springtime tree,
Will lose its wintry darkness
And your heavy heart will sing” –
For God never sends the Winter
Without the joy of Spring.

by Helen Steiner Rice

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Just a Thought

The program of Alcoholics Anonymous involves a continuous striving for improvement.

There can be no long resting period. We must try to work at it all the time. We must continually keep in mind that it is a program not to be measured in years, because we never fully reach our goals nor are we ever cured. Our alcoholism is only kept in abeyance by daily living of the program. It is a timeless program in every sense. We live it day by day, or more precisely, moment by moment - now.

So ............

Am I always striving for improvement?

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Just a Contemplation

Err is Human

It’s okay to make mistakes. But we shouldn’t live a life of excuses. We shouldn’t slide over our mistakes; we should learn from them.

Excuses keep us apart from ourselves and others. People don’t trust us if we won’t admit and accept our mistakes. Relying on excuses dooms us to repeat the same mistakes. In recovery, we admit and accept our behavior. We do this by continuing to take an inventory of our lives. We do this so we can learn from our mistakes. “Owning” our mistakes helps us grow.

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Meeting Adversity

Our spiritual and emotional growth in A.A. does not depend so deeply upon success as it does upon our failures and setbacks. If you will bear this in mind, I think that your slip will have the effect of kicking you upstairs, instead of down.

We A.A.'s have had no better teacher than Old Man Adversity, except in those cases where we refuse to let him teach us.

As Bill Sees It Page 184

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Just a Quote

"The past is not always an indication of your future. Do not engross yourself in grief and shame over past deeds. Forgive yourself and move on." ~ Aulus Persius Flaccus (Roman writer & poet)