Daily Recovery Readings - March

[bluidkiti]

March 31

Daily Reflections

NO ONE DENIED ME LOVE

On the A.A. calendar it was Year Two . . . . A newcomer appeared at
one of these groups . . . . He soon proved that his was a desperate
case, and that above all he wanted to get well. . . . [He said], "Since I
am the victim of another addiction even worse stigmatized than
alcoholism, you may not want me among you."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 141-42

I came to you -- a wife, mother, woman who had walked out on her
husband, children, family. I was a drunk, a pill-head, a nothing. Yet no
one denied me love, caring, a sense of belonging. Today, by God's grace
and the love of a good sponsor and a home group, I can say that --
through you in Alcoholics Anonymous -- I am a wife, a mother, a
grandmother and a woman. Sober. Free of pills. Responsible.
Without a Higher Power I found in the Fellowship, my life would be
meaningless. I am full of gratitude to be a member of good standing in
Alcoholics Anonymous.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Since I've been in A.A., have I made a start toward being more
unselfish? Do I no longer want my own way in everything? When things
go wrong and I can't have what I want, do I no longer sulk? Am I
trying not to waste money on myself? And does it make me happy to see
my family and my home have enough attention from me? Am I trying not
to be all "get" and no "give"?

Meditation For The Day

Each day is a day of progress, steady progress forward, if you make it
so. You may not see it, but God does. God does not judge by outward
appearance. He judges by the heart. Let Him see in your heart a simple
desire always to do His will. Though you may feel that your work has
been spoiled or tarnished, God sees it as an offering for Him. When
climbing a steep hill, people are often more conscious of the weakness of
their stumbling feet than of the view, the grandeur, or even of the
upward progress.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may persevere in all good things. I pray that I may advance
each day in spite of my stumbling feet.

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As Bill Sees It

To Watch Loneliness Vanish, p. 90

Almost without exception, alcoholics are tortured by loneliness. Even
before our drinking got bad and people began to cut us off, nearly all
of us suffered the feeling that we didn't quite belong. Either we were
shy, and dared not draw near others, or we were noisy good fellows
constantly craving attention and companionship, but rarely getting it.
There was always that mysterious barrier we could neither surmount
nor understand.

That's one reason we loved alcohol too well. But even Bacchus
betrayed us, we were finally struck down and left in terrified
isolation.

<< << << >> >> >>

Life takes on new meaning in A.A. To watch people recover, to see
them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow
up about you, to have a host of friends--this is an experience not to be
missed.

1. 12 & 12, p. 57
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 89

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Walk in Dry Places

A Journey, Not a Destination.
How it Works
"Now that you're sober, why do you stay in AA?" AA members frequently hear this from others not familiar with the fellowship, but it's understandable. They see AA as a place where one goes to be " cured," whereas we learn to see it as an ongoing recovery process that is never really completed.
Sobriety is not an object that one can acquire and then put on a shelf somewhere or on the wall like a diploma. It is more of a JOURNEY IN LIVING, with each day's march being a goal in itself.
You could also say that sobriety is like the "MANNA FROM HEAVEN" described in the Old Testament. Fresh manna arrived each day, but could not be saved for the future. It is the same with us. Today's experience in sobriety is what sustains us, and we're in trouble if we're trying to depend on what was accomplished in the past.
Though we do use the term "permanent sobriety", we never truly possess it. Our quest for sobriety is a lifetime journey.
I'll be on guard against any feeling of "having it made." Sure, past success should be helpful in maintaining today's sobriety. But the quality of today's sobriety will depend only on today's thinking and behavior.

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Keep It Simple

You grow up the day you have your first real laugh at yourself.---Ethel Barrymore
There was a time when we wouldn't let anyone laugh at us---even ourselves. We had to much shame. We had to much pain. We took the world too seriously. If we laughed it was at others---not at ourselves. Over time , real honest laughter returns to us. Laughter is a way of accepting ourselves as human. To be human means we can make mistakes. It means we can lighten up. It also means growing up. And growing up means being happy with all of who we are---even parts of us that may seem odd or funny. If we can't laugh at ourselves, we shut ourselves off from the world. We shut ourselves off from the parts of us we need to accept. Am I willing to accept the fact that I'm human.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You made laughter. Help me us it to make my life easier. Help me accept all of me a funny mistake I've made.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll share with someone close to me a funny mistake I've made.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Anger repressed can poison a relationship as surely as the cruelest words. --Joyce Brothers
Anger is familiar to us all. We feel it toward others and from others. The expression and acceptance of anger is where we often falter. Most of us were told when we were small girls that we shouldn't be angry, but we were. And we are, even yet. However, we often still feel like a little girl when it comes to angry feelings.
We need to accept our anger and learn to express it, honestly, openly and assertively, not aggressively. We can't afford to hang onto anger. It grows and then festers and then boils. Soon it is interfering in all our relationships, and it provides a ready excuse for an old, self-destructive pattern we don't want to entertain for even a moment.
Nothing we set out to do today will have the right outcome, if we carry anger within us. How we interpret life, how we treat our friends, what we do with our opportunities and our challenges--all these are determined by our attitudes. Repressed anger always blocks the way to a positive attitude.
Every experience can uplift me if anger doesn't weigh me down.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

Your husband knows he owes you more than sobriety. He wants to make good. Yet you must not expect too much. His ways of thinking and doing are the habits of years. Patience, tolerance, understanding and love are the watchwords. Show him these things in yourself and they will be reflected back to you from him. Live and let live is the rule. If you both show a willingness to remedy your own defects, there will be little need to criticize each other.

p. 118

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Foreword

This starting expansion brought with it very severe growing pains. Proof that alcoholics could recover had been made. But it was by no means sure that such great numbers of yet erratic people could live and work together with harmony and good effect.

pp. 17-18

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"Don't hurry, don't worry. You're only here for a short visit. So be sure
to stop and smell the flowers."
--Walter Hagen

Always put yourself in others' shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it
probably hurts the other person, too.

Getting sober is like learning to ride a horse, if you fall off, get back on,
you can't learn to ride on the ground....
--Patricia D.

"It is no disgrace to start all over. It is usually an opportunity."
--George Matthew Adams, author

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: if
you're alive, it isn't.
--Richard Bach

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

WORLD

"All wars are civil wars,
because all men are brothers . . .
Each one owes infinitely more to
the human race than to the
particular country in which he
was born."
-- Francois Fenelon

My disease of addiction kept me separate, isolated and alone. I was so
busy seeing how I was different from other people that I missed the
similarities. I missed the "oneness" of this creation by always placing
myself above it, below it, outside it: and I was the loser.

Even my religion kept me separate. I was a Christian and not a Jew,
Muslim or Hindu --- but I failed to see the similarities of these major
philosophies; I failed to see what all religious people have in common; I
failed to see the inclusiveness of Love, Truth and Forgiveness.

God is to be found in the "difference" and "sameness" of His people.

O Lord, I am discovering that even the differences, when understood,
become the same.

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"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him"
Hebrews 11:6

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him."
Psalm 62:5

"Thus says the Lord: 'Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my
salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. Blessed is the
man who does this."
Isaiah 56:1-2a

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Daily Inspiration

We have never before had today and we will never have it again. Lord, as I have the opportunity, let me use this day to do good.

Worse than being a quitter is the one who is afraid to begin. Lord, grant me the courage to believe in myself and the ability to focus on what I can do, not what I can't do.