Daily Recovery Readings - May

[bluidkiti]

May 27

Daily Reflections

NO MAUDLIN GUILT

Day by day, we try to move a little toward God's perfection. So we
need not be consumed by maudlin guilt...
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 15

When I first discovered that there is not a single "don't" in the
Twelve Steps of A.A., I was disturbed because this discovery swung
open a giant portal. Only then was I able to realize what A.A. is for
me:
A.A. is not a program of "don'ts", but of "do's."
A.A. is not martial law; it is freedom.
A.A. is not tears over defects, but sweat over fixing them.
A.A. is not penitence; it is salvation.
A.A. is not "Woe to me" for my sins, past and present.
A.A. is "Praise God" for the progress I am making today.

************************************************** *********

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In twelfth-step work, the fifth thing is Continuance. Continuance
means our staying with prospects after they have started on the new
way of living. We must stick with them and not let them down. We
must encourage them to go to meetings regularly for fellowship and
help. They will learn that keeping sober is a lot easier in the fellowship
of others who are trying to do the same thing. We must continue to
help prospects by going to see them regularly or telephoning them or
writing them so that they don't get out of touch with A.A. Continuance
means good sponsorship. Do I care enough about other alcoholics to
continue with them as long as necessary?

Meditation For The Day

Every strong and beautiful flower must have a strong root in the
ground. It must send a root down so that it may be rooted and
grounded while at the same time it sends a shoot up to be the flower
that shall gladden the world. Both growths are necessary. Without a
strong root, it would soon wither. The higher the growth upward, the
deeper must be the rooting. My life cannot flower into success and
helpfulness unless it is rooted in a strong faith, or unless it feels deeply
secure in the goodness and purpose of the universe.

Prayer For The Day
I pray that my life may be deeply rooted in faith. I pray that I may feel
deeply secure.

************************************************** *********

As Bill Sees It

A.A.--the Lodestar, p. 147

We can be grateful for every agency or method that tries to solve the
problem of alcoholism--whether of medicine, religion, education, or
research. We can be open-minded toward all such efforts and we can
be sympathetic when the ill-advised ones fail. We can remember that
A.A. itself ran for years on "trial and error."

As individuals, we can and should work with those that promise
success--even a little success.

>> >> >>

Every one of the pioneers in the total field of alcoholism will
generously say that had it not been for the living proof of recovery in
A.A., they could not have gone on. A.A. was the lodestar of hope and
help that kept them at it.

Grapevine, March 1958

************************************************** *********

Walk in Dry Places

Who is important?
Respect for people.
The Twelve step movement grew out of an earlier society, the Oxford group, whose members believed in "key People." They embraced the idea that attracting promising individuals with high standing would, in turn, attract others.
We've also had such people in AA and other 12 step groups, and we are grateful for their examples and efforts. We've learned, however, not to view one person as more important than anotehrs. We could even harm a recovering person by focusing on his or her personal prestige in the community. Our purpose is to help people get well, not to run a club empasizing social standing.
We'll find our program working much better if we treat all people equally, and view them as equal in the sight of God. We have a standing in God's sight that is eternal and everlasting.
I'll extend kind and generous thoughts toward every person I meet today. We are all children of equal standing in the sight of God.

************************************************** *********

Keep It Simple

It's only by forgetting yourself that you draw near to God.---Henry David Thoreau
The biggest danger we face as recovering people is self-will. Do we try to control others?
Do we always put ourselves before others? Are we full of self-pity? These are all ways that bind us to our self-will.
In recovery, we put our lives in the hands of a loving God. Here, we find a new home. Our goal is to lose as much of our self-will as we can. We than put love in place of self-will. Recovery is truly about love.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I pray and offer my self-will to You, Self-will is a danger to my sobriety. I pray that I may be closer to You than to myself.
Action for the Day: I'll list the areas that self-will get in my way. I'll read my list every day next week, and I'll try to put love in place of self will.

************************************************** *********

Each Day a New Beginning

As the wheel of the decades turns, so do a person's needs, desires, and tasks. Each of us does, in effect, strike a series of "deals" or compromises between the wants and longings of the inner self, and an outer environment that offers certain possibilities and sets certain limitations. --Maggie Scarf
What life has measured out may not be what we had dreamed of. Life's lessons may not be those we'd have chosen to learn. Wisdom dictates that the joy of life is proportional to the ease with which we accept those possibilities for growth that have grown out of our inner desires.
Our desires are like an outline for a written assignment, a research project. They help us to see where we want to go at any one time, but as we move the direction may need to change. The natural flow of "the assignment" will help to refine it.
We may not have tried to "realize" many of our desires in the past. But the time has come. One of the joys of recovery is that we understand our desires are closely related to our spiritual program and our recovery. And we know we are not alone. We need to attend to the inner desires that beckon to us. They are calling us to move forward.
Today, I can take the first few steps.

************************************************** *********

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

My musing was interrupted by the telephone. The cheery voice of an old school friend asked if he might come over. HE WAS SOBER. It was years since I could remember his coming to New York in that condition. I was amazed. Rumor had it that he had been committed for alcoholic insanity. I wondered how he had escaped. Of course he would have dinner, and then I could drink openly with him. Unmindful of his welfare, I thought only of recapturing the spirit of other days. There was that time we had chartered an airplane to complete a jag! His coming was an oasis in this dreary desert of futility. The very thing - an oasis! Drinkers are like that.

pp. 8-9

************************************************** *********

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

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

But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends, and society at large that many of us have suffered the most. We have been especially stupid and stubborn about them. The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true partnership with another human being. Our egomania digs two disastrous pitfalls. Either we insist upon dominating the people we know, or we depend upon them far too much. If we lean too heavily on people, they will sooner or later fail us, for they are human, too, and cannot possibly meet our incessant demands. In this way our insecurity grows and festers. When we habitually try to manipulate others to our own willful desires, they revolt, and resist us heavily. Then we develop hurt feelings, a sense of persecution, and a desire to retaliate. As we redouble our efforts at control, and continue to fail, our suffering becomes acute and constant. We have not once sought to be one in a family, to be a friend among friends, to be a worker among workers, to be a useful member of society. Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap, or to hide underneath it. This self-centered behavior blocked a partnership relation with any one of those about us. Of true brotherhood we had small comprehension.

p. 53

************************************************** *********

"What worries you, masters you."
--Haddon W. Robinson

God, help me to have the strength to set reasonable limits for myself
and to tell others when I cannot help them. Help me learn to say no.
--Melody Beattie

God is watching over me, making my path easy.
--Alan Cohen

The Way To God
"Start the Day with Love; Spend the Day with Love; Fill the Day with
Love; End the Day with Love; This is the way to God."
--Sathya Sai Baba

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.
--Native American Proverb

Time is like a river - it flows by and doesn't return.
--Chinese Proverb

************************************************** *********

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

MOTIVES

"Lord, grant that I may always
desire more than I can
accomplish."
--Michelangelo

I must always "think big", not in an egotistical sense but as an
adventure in spirituality. When I had a small God, I always remained a
small person, with small aspirations and dreams. Today I have an
all-embracing inclusive God that fills the universe. Today I have hope
in my dreams.

As an alcoholic I missed so much. I observed very little about myself
and God's world, people and friends became inconsequential; nothing
really mattered except the desire to drink. My spiritual potential was
lost in my alcoholism.

Today I am realizing my potential and I can risk in sobriety. My motto
has become "go for it". Behind my dreams is my growth. I have a
sense of so much joy in the world that I wish to enthusiastically
experience my life.

God, I am so grateful to be alive.

************************************************** *********

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet
hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his
brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love
his brother.
1 John 4:19-21

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you,
so you must love one another.
John 13:34

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes
the proud but gives grace to the humble."
James 4:6

Though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the LORD holds us by the hand.
Psalm 37:24

************************************************** *********

Daily Inspiration

Too much of a good thing can actually diminish the joy and make it a burden. Lord, help me avoid excess and keep my life simpler and freer.

To know someone doesn't mean to know every detail of that person's life. It means to feel affection, confidence and to believe in that person. Lord, may I really know You and have it reflect in how I treat others.