~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\
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The Light
"To what extent I was personally
responsible for my drinking, I don't know. Yet I'm not one to take complete refuge
in the idea that I was a sick man only. In earlier years, I certainly had some
degree of free will. That free will I used badly, to the great misery of my
mother and countless others. I am deeply ashamed. As one who knows me a little,
you may have heard how, ten years ago, a friend, himself a liberated alcoholic,
came to me bearing the light which finally led me out of the toils. There will
come a day like that for you and yours--I'm so confident!"
Bill
W., Letter to the Mother of an Alcoholic,
Dec. Language of the
Heart, p. 102
Thought to Consider . . .
It's impossible for me to love God and
hate myself.
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
ISM = I, Self, Me
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Substitute
From "Stay Sober
on Love":
"The things I thought I needed for
so many years no longer seem important, now that I
have become aware of the spiritual
resources God has given me. With these, I don't need alcohol to
function. What a joy to stay sober on love on love instead
of fear!"
1973 AAWS, Inc.;
Came to Believe, 30th printing 2004, pg. 35
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
SURRENDERING SELF-WILL
Made a
decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 34
No matter how
much one wishes to try, exactly how can one turn his own will and his own life
over to the care of whatever God he thinks there is? In my search for the
answer to this question, I became aware of the wisdom with which it was
written: that this is a two-part Step.
I could see many times where I should
have died, or at least been injured, during my previous style of living, and it
never happened. Someone, or something, was looking after me. I choose
to believe my life has always been in God's care. He alone controls the
number of days I will be granted until physical death.
The matter of will (self-will or God's
will) is the more difficult part of the Step for me. It is only when I
have experienced enough emotional pain, through failed attempts to fix myself, that I become willing to surrender to God's will for
my life. Surrender is like the calm after the storm. When my will
is in line with God's will for me, there is peace within.
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS
ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Renew Your Effort
"Though I
know how hurt and sorry you must be after this slip, please do not worry about
a temporary loss of your inner peace. As calmly as you can, just renew your
effort on the A.A. program, especially those parts of it which have to do with
meditation and self-analysis. "Could I also
suggest that you look at excessive guilt for what it is? Nothing
but a sort of reverse pride. A decent regret for what has happened is
fine. But guilt - no. "Indeed, the slip could well have been brought
about by unreasonable feelings of guilt because of other moral failures, so
called. Surely, you ought to look into this possibility. Even here you should
not blame yourself for failure; you can be penalized only for refusing to try
for better things."
LETTER,
1958
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous
World Services, Inc.
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
Now about health: A body badly burned by alcohol does not often
recover overnight nor do
twisted thinking and depression vanish
in a twinkling.
-
Pg. 133 - The Family Afterward
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day
If we had
absolute faith in the power of God to keep us from drinking and if we turned
our drink problem entirely over to God without reservations, we wouldn't have
to do anything more about it. We'd be free from drink once and for all. But
since our faith is apt to be weak, we have to strengthen and build up this
faith. We do this in several ways. One way is by going to meetings and
listening to others tell how they have found all the strength they need to
overcome drink. Is my faith being strengthened by this personal witness of
other alcoholics?
Meditation
for the Day
It is the quality of my life that
determines its value. in order to judge the value of a
person's life, we must set up a standard. The most valuable life is one of
honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. All people's lives ought to be judged
by this standard in determining their value to the world. By this standard,
most of the so-called heroes of history were not great men. "What shall it
profit a man if he gain the whole world, if he loseth his own soul?"
Prayer for
the Day
I pray
that I may be honest, pure, unselfish, and loving.
I pray that I may make the quality of my life good by these standards.