AA Thoughts For Today - January

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AA Thought for the Day

January 28

Twelfth Step Work

We sit in A.A. meetings and listen, not only to receive something
ourselves, but to give the reassurance and support which our
presence can bring. If our turn comes to speak at a meeting,
we again try to carry A.A.’s message. Whether our audience
is one or many, it is still Twelfth Step work.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 110

Thought to Ponder . . .
Service is spirituality in action.

AA-related 'Alconym'
E S H = Experience, Strength, Hope.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~

Thankfulness
I try to hold fast to the truth
that a full and thankful heart
cannot entertain great conceits.
When brimming with gratitude,
one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love,
the finest emotion that we can ever know.
Bill W., AAGrapevine, March 1962
c. 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 37

Thought to Consider . . .

The peaks and valleys of my life
have become gentle rolling hills.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*

G I F T S = Getting It From The Steps

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Puzzle
From "More about Alcoholism":
"The actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self
-knowledge. This is a point we wish to emphasize and re-emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it
has been revealed to us out of bitter experience."
2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 39

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Nothing improves if you drink."
El Granada, Calif., March 2003
"How an Atheist Works the Steps,"
Beginners' Book:
Getting and Staying Sober in AA

~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

"The minute we put our work on a service plane, the alcoholic
commences to rely upon our assistance rather than upon God. He
clamors for this or that, claiming he cannot master alcohol until
his material needs are cared for. Nonsense. Some of us have taken very
hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job wife or no wife we
simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other
people ahead of dependence on God."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 98~

"Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more
alcoholics than anything else."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 64~

He thought it better to give comfort than to receive it; better to understand than to be understood; better to forgive than to be forgiven.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 101

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Few of us are any longer afraid of what any newcomer can do to our A.A. reputation or effectiveness. Those who slip, those who panhandle, those who scandalize, those with mental twists, those who rebel at the program, those who trade on the A.A. reputation - all such persons seldom harm an A.A. group for long.
Some of these have become our most respected and best loved. Some have remained to try our patience, sober nevertheless. Others have drifted away. We have begun to regard the troublesome ones not as menaces, but rather as our teachers. They oblige us to cultivate patience, tolerance, and humility. We finally see that they are only people sicker than the rest of us, that we who condemn them are the Pharisees whose false righteousness does our group the deeper spiritual damage.

Prayer for the Day: Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas - Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.