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

In many self-governing countries we are now seeing the inroads of ignorance, apathy, and power-seeking
upon democratic systems. Their spiritual resources of right purpose and collective intelligence are waning.
Consequently, many a land has become so helpless that the only answer is dictatorship.
Happily for us, there seems little prospect of such a calamity in AA. The life of each individual and of each group is built around our Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. We very well know that the penalty for
extensive disobedience to these principles is death for the individual and dissolution for the group.
An even greater force for AA's unity is in the compelling love that we have for our fellow members

and for the principles upon which our lives today are founded. Bill W.
c. 1962 AAWS, Twelve Concepts for World Service, 26th printing,  p. 8
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Thought to Consider . . .
Only those who see the invisible
can accomplish the impossible.

*~*~*AKRONYMS*~*~*
P R O G R A M =  People Relying On God Relay A Message

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

Giving 

From "I Must Learn:"

"I think God gave each of us a unique personality, so that we in turn might give it to others.  Now I CAN give it, with joy in life, warm, friendly, happy, sober!... "I am convinced that there is some one thing I can do better than anyone else in this world. God thinks so. And he wants me to do it!  Through the Twelve Steps, a good many A.A. members have found out what THEIR assigned chores on earth are.  And they are doing them."

c. 1973, Came to Believe..., page 101

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
NO REGRETS

We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.  83

Once I became sober, I began to see how wasteful my life had been and I experienced overwhelming guilt and feelings of regret.  The program's Fourth and Fifth Steps assisted me enormously in healing those troubling regrets.  I learned that my self-centeredness and dishonesty stemmed largely from my drinking and that I drank because I was an alcoholic.  Now I see how even my most distasteful past experiences can turn to gold because, as a sober alcoholic, I can share them to help my fellow alcoholics, particularly newcomers.  Sober for several years in A.A., I no longer regret the past; I am simply grateful to be conscious of God's love and of the help I can give to others in the Fellowship.

©Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.©
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Newcomer Problems

The temptation is to become rather possessive of newcomers. Perhaps we try to give them advice about their affairs which we aren't really competent to give or ought not give at all. Then we are hurt and confused when the advice is rejected, or when it is accepted and brings still greater confusion.

<<<>>>

"You can't make a horse drink water if he still prefers beer or is too crazy to know what he does want. Set a pail of water beside him, tell him how good it is and why, and leave him alone."If people really want to get drunk, there is, so far as I know, no way of stopping this - so leave them alone and let them get drunk. But don't exclude them from the water pail, either."

1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 111 - 2. LETTER, 1942
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue
from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade
the vessel from steerage to Captain's table. Unlike the feelings of
the ship's passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does
not subside as we go our individual ways. The feeling of having shared
in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us.
But that in itself would never have held us together as we are now joined."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 17~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

When we first came into A.A., a sober life seemed strange. We wondered what life could possibly be like

without ever taking a drink. At first, a sober life seemed unnatural. But the longer we're in A.A., the more

natural this way of life seems. And now we know that the life we're living in A.A., the sobriety, the fellowship,

the faith in God, and the trying to help each other, is the most natural way we could possibly live. Do I

believe it's the way God wants me to live?

Meditation for the Day

I will learn to overcome myself, because every blow to selfishness is used to shape the real, eternal, unperishable me. As I overcome myself, I gain that power which God releases in my soul. And I too will be victorious. It is not the difficulties of life that I have to conquer, so much as my own selfishness.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may obey God and walk with Him and listen to Him.

I pray that I may strive to overcome my own selfishness