Daily Recovery Readings - September

[bluidkiti]

September 16

Daily Reflections

WE STAND--OR FALL--TOGETHER

. . . no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for
continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that
we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally
die alone.
Alcoholics Anonymous, p.563

Just as the Twelve Steps of A.A. are written in a specific sequence for
a reason, so it is with the Twelve Traditions. The First Step and the
First Tradition attempt to instill in me enough humility to allow me a
chance at survival. Together they are the basic foundation upon which
the Steps and Traditions that follow are built. It is a process of ego
deflation which allows me to grow as an individual through the Steps,
and as a contributing member of a group through the Traditions. Full
acceptance of the First Tradition allows me to set aside personal
ambitions, fears and anger when they are in conflict with the common
good, thus permitting me to work with others for our mutual survival.
Without Tradition One I stand little chance of maintaining the unity
required to work with others effectively, and I also stand to lose the
remaining Traditions, the Fellowship, and my life.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Today, let us begin a short study of The Twelve Suggested Steps of
A.A. These Twelve Suggested Steps seem to embody five principles.
The first step is the membership requirement step. The second, third,
and eleventh steps are the spiritual steps of the program. The fourth,
fifth, sixth, seventh and tenth steps are the personal inventory steps.
The eighth and ninth steps are the restitution steps. The twelfth step
is the passing on of the program, or helping others, step. So the five
principles are membership requirement, spiritual basis, personal
inventory, restitution, and helping others. Have I made all these steps
a part of me?

Meditation For The Day

We seem to live not only in time but also in eternity. If we abide with
God and He abides with us, we may bring forth spiritual fruit which
will last for eternity. If we live with God, our lives can flow as some
calm river through the dry land of earth. It can cause the trees and
flowers of the spiritual life--love and service--to spring forth and yield
abundantly. Spiritual work may be done for eternity, not just for now.
Even here on earth we can live as though our real lives were eternal.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may try to make my life like a cool river in a thirsty land.
I pray that I may give freely to all who ask my help.

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As Bill Sees It

Beneath the Surface, p.258

Some will object to many of the questions that should be answered in
a moral inventory, because they think their own character defects
have not been so glaring. To these, it can be suggested that a
conscientious examination is likely to reveal the very defects the
objectionable questions are concerned with.

Because our surface record hasn't looked too bad, we have frequently
been abashed to find that this is so simply because we have buried
these selfsame defects deep down in us under thick layers of
self-justification. Those were the defects that finally ambushed us
into alcoholism and misery.

12 & 12, pp. 53-54

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Walk In Dry Places

The world will recover
Belief
If our recovery program is working properly, an amazing thing can
happen. Instead of being the bad actors of society, we become people
who can be considered solid citizens in every way.. So square that we
might even have sharp corners.
We might then start becoming critical of the world in general. "I've
recovered, so why does the rest of the world have to be the way it is?"
A person might say. "Why don't other people do something about their
resentments and fears, just as I have?"
In asking such a question, we're already in danger of becoming self-righteous.
We can remember, however, that our Higher Power has the same concern
for others that was shown to us. By the grace of God, and in God's own
good time, the world can and will recover.
I'll remember today that God is in charge of the world and will set all
things straight, just as I was brought to recovery.

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Keep It Simple

Here’s my Golden Rule: Be fair with others but then keep after them
until they’re fair with you. ---Alan Alda
Often in our illness we were ashamed, so we let people take advantage
of us. We acted as if we had no rights. In recovery, we work hard to be
fair with others. And we deserve to be treated with fairness too. If
people are mean to us, we talk with them about it. If people cheat us,
we ask them to set it right. In recovery, we live by our human rights.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to stand for fairness.
Help me respect myself and others.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list people who have wronged me.
I will make plans to talk to those with whom I feel will listen.
I will let love, not shame or fear, control my actions.

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Each Day a New Beginning

I long to speak out the intense inspiration that comes to me from lives
of strong women. --Ruth Benedict
Each day that we thoughtfully make choices about our behavior and our
attitudes, we offer ourselves as examples to others--examples of strength.
As women on recovery paths, we find encouragement from one another's
successes. No one of us met our experiences very successfully before
discovering this program. In most cases we lacked the structure that comes
with the Steps. Direction was missing from our lives. Too often we passively
bounced from man to man, job to job, drunk to drunk.
When working the Steps, we are never in doubt about the manner for
proceeding in any situation. The Steps provide the parameters that secure
our growth. They help us to see where we've been and push us toward the
goals, which crowd our dreams.
We have changed. We will continue to grow. The past need haunt us no
more. The future can be faced with confidence. Whatever strength is needed
to fulfill our destinies will find us. And our forward steps will make the way
easier for the women who follow.
What a blessing these Steps are! They answer my every question.
They fulfill my every need.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Alcoholic Anonymous Number Three

Pioneer member of Akron's Group No. 1, the first A.A. group in the world. He kept the faith; therefore, he and countless others found a new life.

During the first six months of 1935, I was hospitalized eight times for intoxication and shackled to the bed two or three days before I even knew where I was.

p. 184

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Ten - "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it."

Aren't these practices joy-killers as well as time-consumers? Must A.A.'s spend most of their waking hours drearily rehashing their sins of omission or commission? Well, hardly. The emphasis on inventory is heavy only because a great many of us have never really acquired the habit of accurate self-appraisal. Once this healthy practice has become grooved, it will be so interesting and profitable that the time it takes won't be missed. For these minutes and sometimes hours spent in self-examination are bound to make all the other hours of our day better and happier. And at length our inventories become a regular part of everyday living, rather than something unusual or set apart.

pp. 89-90

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Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for
that determines our success or failure.
--Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

"Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it."

"If you spend more time asking appropriate questions rather than giving
answers or opinions, your listening skills will increase."
--Brian Koslow

"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far
more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."
--Benjamin Franklin

"You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water."
--Rabindranath Tagore

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

DENIAL

"The worst vice of the fanatic is
his sincerity."
-- Oscar Wilde

The disease of alcoholism is "cunning, baffling and powerful", and it
manipulates us to believe "the lie". There is a point that we reach in
our disease where we believe that crazy behavior is acceptable.
Insanity becomes the order of the day. And when friends or therapists
try to give us a message, we discount them.

How can we break down this wall of denial? Well, there is strength in
numbers. If everybody we respect is disagreeing with us, then it is time
that we change. If our isolation has become a source of martyrdom,
then we need to reorganize our attitude for living. Insanity and
isolation are often companions; they feed off each other.

We need always to stay close to our recovering community. Strength
and sobriety is in numbers.

God, You gave me the message to become the message. Help me to
live it in the recovering community.

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O lord hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
Psalm 130:2

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make
your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

God...comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in
any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

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Daily Inspiration

Never lose your laughter even in the face of trouble and your troubles will
not be as heavy. Lord, I will remain cheerful and peaceful as proof of my faith in You.

To love and be loved is the greatest of joys. Lord, inspire me with ways to show my love.