Daily Recovery Readings - May

[bluidkiti]

May 26

Daily Reflections

TURNING NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE

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.
AS BILL SEES IT , p. 184

In keeping with the pain and adversity which our founders
encountered and overcame in establishing A.A., Bill W.
sent us a clear message: a relapse can provide a positive
experience toward abstinence and a lifetime of recovery.
A relapse brings truth to what we hear repeatedly in
meetings - "Don't take that first drink!" It reinforces
the belief in the progressive nature of the disease, and
it drives home the need for, and beauty of, humility in
our spiritual program. Simple truths come in complicated
ways to me when I become ego driven.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In twelfth-step work, the fourth thing is conversion.
Conversion means change. Prospects must learn to change
their way of thinking. Until now, everything they've done
has been connected with drinking. Now they must face a new
kind of life, without liquor. They must see and admit that
they cannot overcome drinking by their own willpower, so
they must turn to a Higher Power for help. They must start
each day by asking this Higher Power for the strength to
stay sober. This conversion to belief in a Higher Power
comes gradually, as they try it and find that it works. Do
I care enough about other alcoholics to help them to make
this conversion?

Meditation For The Day

Discipline of yourself is absolutely necessary before the
power of God is given to you. When you see others manifesting
the power of God, you probably have not seen the discipline
that went before. They made themselves ready. All your life
is a preparation for more good to be accomplished when God
knows that you are ready for it. So keep disciplining yourself
in the spiritual life every day. Learn so much of the spiritual
laws that your life cannot again be a failure. Others will see
the outward manifestation of the inward discipline in your
daily living.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may manifest God's power in my daily living.
I pray that I may discipline myself so as to be ready to
meet every opportunity.

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As Bill Sees It

"Do as I Do . . .", p. 146

Perhaps more often than we think, we make no contact at depth with
alcoholics who are suffering the dilemma of no faith.

Certainly none are more sensitive to spiritual cocksureness, pride,
and aggression than they are. I'm sure this is something we too often
forget.

In A.A.'s first years, I all but ruined the whole undertaking with this
sort of unconscious arrogance, God as I understood Him had to be for
everybody. Sometimes my aggression was subtle and sometimes it
was crude. But either way it was damaging--perhaps fatally so--to
numbers of nonbelievers.

Of course this sort of thing isn't confined to Twelfth Step work. It is
very apt to leak out into our relations with everybody. Even now, I
catch myself chanting that same old barrier-building refrain: "Do as
I do, believe as I do--or else!

Grapevine, April 1961

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Walk in Dry Places

Today's problem_____ Orderly living
Facing a vexing or even threatening problem, we sometimes feel a sense of hopefulness or futility. "How will I ever get through this situation?" we think.
The truth is we have probably worked our way through many situations much like today's problem. It is a wonder, for example, that most of us survived the crises brought on by our compulsion. We will certainly be able to work through or around today's problem.
The Twelve step program is a plan for mastering the problems of life. As we apply its principles in all of our affairs, we find improvements beginning to appear. We also can find the confidence and fortitude that we've always needed.
Knowing that my Higher power is in the midst of the situation, I'll face today's problem with the assurance of an outcome that will be for my highest good.

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Keep It Simple

When I look at the future, it's so bright, it burns my eyes.---Oprah Winfrey
During our illness, it was as if our spirit lived in a deep, dark cave. Our spirit became gloomy, cold, and lonely. Our spirit didn't know how to get out of the cave. We were dying.
Recovery brings us into the sunlight. At first, we can't see a thing---it's too bright! The world stretches around us---it's so big! There are so many way to go! We don't know what to do.
But our eyes get used to the light, and we feel the warm rays of the sun. We see we aren't alone anymore. We relax. We know our spirit is in a better place---a place where we can live!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me feel at home in the sunlight of my new life.
Action for the Day: Addiction made my world so small. It made my future so dark. Today, I'll list three new choices I want to make to better my life.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Out of every crisis comes the chance to be reborn, to reconceive ourselves as individuals, to choose the kind of change that will help us to grow and to fulfill ourselves more completely. --Nena O'Neill
Before choosing to recover, most of us lived through crisis after crisis. Many days we sought the oblivion of alcohol and drugs rather than face fears that ate away at us. It probably wasn't possible for most of us to realize that a crisis was a tool for growth.
Even today, even in our recovery program, even though the clouds are clearing and we are feeling better about ourselves, a crisis may overwhelm us for a time. We do find help for it, though. We can breathe deeply, look to our higher power, listen for the messages that are coming through from our friends. And we can choose among the many options for the right action to take at this time.
Life is a series of lessons. Crises can be seen as the homework. They aren't there to defeat us but to help us grow--to graduate us into the next stage of life.
Today, I will look for my lessons and feel exhilarated by the growth that is guaranteed.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

Near the end of that bleak November, I sat drinking in my kitchen. With a certain satisfaction I reflected there was enough gin concealed about the house to carry me through that night and the next day. My wife was at work. I wondered whether I dared hide a full bottle of gin near the head of our bed. I would need it before daylight.

p. 8

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Four - "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."

Suppose that financial insecurity constantly arouses these same feelings. I can ask myself to what extent have my own mistakes fed my gnawing anxieties. And if the actions of others are part of the cause, what can I do about that? If I am unable to change the present state of affairs, am I willing to take the measures necessary to shape my life to conditions as they are? Questions like these, more of which will come to mind easily in each individual case, will help turn up the root causes.

pp. 52-53

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Choose to make a life, rather than a living... There is no need to
recriminate yourself. Simply notice what you've been choosing and
choose again!
--unknown

As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in
his way.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Knowledge of 'the answers' never made anyone relapse. It was
failing to practice 'the answers' known."
--Anonymous

Today is the most important day I have lived.
--SweetyZee

God, help me be clear with you and myself about what I really want.
Then, help me let go of my intentions and surrender to your plan.
--Melody Beattie

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

SPACE

"That's one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind."
--Neil A. Armstrong

Man is able to do such wonderful things in this world. There is no end
to what man can achieve when he behaves responsibly and honestly,
working together with others to discover more about himself and the
universe. God has truly made man in His own image with all the power
and creativity that that implies.

The danger that forever surrounds man is greed, pride and the misuse
of "power".

As a recovering alcoholic I understand this only too well. I wanted to
be out in front, and ego made me arrogant and selfish. If this is true
for me and other human beings, it is also true for governments,
countries and alliances. Countries don't make wars, people do;
countries don't have achievements, people do - and this universe must
be seen as belonging to everyone or it will belong to no one!

Let us learn to enjoy and share Your garden and not destroy it.

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Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8a

Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock
eternal.
Isaiah 26:4

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust
in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God
lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.
So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face
him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this
world. Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all
fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows
that his love has not been perfected in us. We love each other
as a result of his loving us first.
1 John 4: 16-19

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

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Daily Inspiration

Avoid becoming defensive and possibly causing conflict by taking a moment to think before you respond. Lord, help me to believe in myself strongly so that I am able to turn down invitations that make me feel bad.

God's plans for you are beyond your imagination. Lord, may I not limit myself to my past experiences, but be willing to accept new opportunities and challenges into my life.