~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Faith
People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about. Actually, we used to have no reasonable
conception whatever. We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and

 practices when we might have observed that many  spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors

and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and usefulness
which we should have sought ourselves.
c. 2002 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 49
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Thought to Consider . . .

Feed your faith and starve your doubt.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F A I T H =  Finding Answers In The Heart.

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

Faith

Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

"'When we encountered A.A., the fallacy of our defiance was revealed. At no time had we asked what Gods will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant reliance, not defiance. In A.A. we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohols final catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions. We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay.'"

1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 31


*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
A GLORIOUS RELEASE

"The minute I stopped arguing, I could begin to see and feel.  Right there, Step Two gently and very gradually began to infiltrate my life.  I can't say upon what occasion or upon what day I came to believe in a Power greater than myself, but I certainly have that belief now.  To acquire it, I had only to stop fighting and practice the rest of A.A.'s program as enthusiastically as I could.  "

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.  27

After years of indulging in a "self-will run riot," Step Two became for me a glorious release from being all alone.  Nothing is so painful or insurmountable in my journey now.  Someone is always there to share life's burdens with me.  Step Two became a reinforcement with God, and I now realize that my insanity and ego were curiously linked.  To rid myself of the former, I must give up the latter to one with far broader shoulders than my own.
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Humility First

"A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted,

under grace, into spiritual progress."

<<<>>>

For Dr. Bob, the insatiable craving for alcohol was evidently a physical phenomenon which bedeviled several of his first years in A.A., a time when only days and nights of carrying the message to other alcoholics could cause him to forget about drinking. Although his craving was hard to withstand, it doubtless did account for some part of the intense incentive that went into forming Akron's Group Number One. Bob's spiritual release did not come easily; it was to be painfully slow. It always entailed the hardest kind of work and the sharpest vigilance.


1. LETTER, 1959 - 2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p, 69 - 3. LETTER, 1954
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"...with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a
spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely
grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings
we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity
of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die."

Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 66
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

One thing we learn in A.A. is to take a long view of drinking instead of a short view. When we were drinking we thought more about the pleasure or release that a drink would give us than we did about the consequences that would result from our taking that drink. Liquor looks good from the short view. When we look in a package store window, we see liquor dressed up in its best wrappings, with fancy labels and decorations. They look swell. But have I learned that what's inside those beautiful bottles is just plain poison to me?

Meditation for the Day

I believe that life is a school in which I must learn spiritual things. I must trust in God and He will teach me. I must listen to God and He will speak through my mind. I must commune with Him in spite of all opposition and every obstacle. There will be days when I will hear no voice in my mind and when there will come no intimate heart-to-heart communion. But if I persist, and make a life habit of schooling myself in spiritual things, God will reveal Himself to me in many ways.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may regularly go to school in things of the spirit.

 I pray that I may grow spiritually by making a practice of these things