THE IDEA OF FAITH

Do not let any prejudice you might have against
spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself
what they mean to you.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 47

The idea of faith is a very large chunk to swallow when
fear, doubt and anger abound in and around me. Sometimes
just the idea of doing something different, something I
am not accustomed to doing, can eventually become an act
of faith if I do it regularly, and do it without
debating whether it's the right thing to do. When a bad
day comes along and everything is going wrong, a meeting
or a talk with another drunk often distracts me just
enough to persuade me that everything is not quite as
impossible, as overwhelming as I had thought. In the
same way, going to a meeting or talking to a fellow
alcoholic are acts of faith; I believe I'm arresting
my disease. These are ways I slowly move toward faith
in a Higher Power.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In A.A., we must surrender, give up, admit that we're
helpless. We surrender our lives to God and ask Him for
help. When He knows that we're ready, He gives us
by His grace the free gift of sobriety. And we can't take
any credit for having stopped drinking, because we didn't
do it by our own willpower. There's no place for pride or
boasting. We can only be grateful to God for doing for us
what we could never do for ourselves. Do I believe that
God has made me a free gift of the strength to stay sober?

Meditation For The Day

I must work for God, with God and through God's help. By
doing all I can to bring about a true fellowship of human beings,
I am working for God. I am also working with God, because
this is the way God works, and He is with me when I am
doing such work. I cannot do good work, however, without
God's help. In the final analysis, it is through the
grace of God that any real change in human personality
takes place. I have to rely on God's power and anything
I accomplish is through His help.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may work for God and with God. I pray that
I may be used to change human personalities through
God's help.
***********************************************************

As Bill Sees It

Growth By The Tenth Step, p. 65

In the years ahead A.A. will, of course, make mistakes. Experience
has taught us that we need have no fear of doing this, providing that
we always remain willing to admit our faults and to correct them
promptly. Our growth as individuals has depended upon this healthy
process of trial and error. So will our growth as a fellowship.

Let us always remember that any society of men and women that
cannot freely correct its own faults must surely fall into decay if not
into collapse. Such is the universe penalty for the failure to go on
growing. Just as each A.A. must continue to take his moral inventory
and act upon it, so must our whole Society if we are to survive and if
we are to serve usefully and well.

A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 231

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Walk in Dry Places
 
Example, not exception___Helping Others.
It's always heady stuff when others congratulate us on our victory over alcohol.  Fair-minded people will have considerable admiration for what appears to be a bootstrap effort to make a comeback from despair and defeat.
We can accept this praise with grace and modesty.  At some point, however, we should emphasize that our recovery was an example of spiritual principles at work and that thousands have been able to follow in the same path.  Sober AA members are not exceptions; they are examples of what the program can do in people's lives.
It is important to emphasize that we are ordinary people.  The marvelous thing about the program is that it works for ordinary people like ourselves.  Many people in the fellowship have great talent and ability, but those gifts have nothing to do with staying sober.  The gifted person gets sober the same way anybody does.....  by admitting powerlessness over alcohol and by accepting the program.
We are also helped most by people who can serve as examples in our lives.  It is always inspiring to know that we can follow in their paths and find what has been given to them.
I want to provide a good example for others today.  I will go through the day remembering that my sobriety is a gift that can be bestowed on anybody___it was not an exception just for me.

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

Keep It Simple

When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.
Remember how we tried to make others think we were not in trouble? We walked and talked like addicts. We acted like addicts. Most everyone knew the truth but us. We were like ducks pretending to be eagles.
We see ourselves as we really are. But sometimes we can't see ourselves that way. This is normal.
That's why we need others to help us see what we can't. We were addicts. We are now recovering addicts. We need friends, sponsors, and family members to tell us when we may be acting like addicts again. It may save our lives. 
Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, give my friends and family members the strength to tell me when I'm acting like an addict.
Action for the Day:  I'll go to people whom I trust and ask them to tell me when I'm acting like an addict.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

Life is made up of desires that seem big and vital one minute, and little and absurd the next. I guess we get what's best for us in the end.  --Alice Caldwell Rice
It is often said that we will be granted our heart's "pure desires." When we have many unmet desires, maybe we should be grateful. Wants, ultimately not for our good, can open the way to many unneeded and painful experiences.
How often we sit, wishing for a better job, a more loving relationship, a different weather forecast. How seldom we take positive advantage of what is at hand, not realizing that whatever is, right now, is the ticket to the next act in the drama of our lives.
We have before us a very limited picture. We cannot possibly know just what we need to travel the distance that's in store for us. Our desires, when they are pure, will carry us to the right destination. They are inspired. But the desires that are motivated by our selfish egos will lead us astray. Many times in the past we did not give up those desires. And the painful memories linger.
Desiring God's will is my most fruitful desire. It's also what is best for me; thus, what I need. All things are working for good when I let my higher power determine my desires.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 7 - WORKING WITH OTHERS

After they have seen tangible results, the family will perhaps want to go along. These things will come to pass naturally and in good time provided, however, the alcoholic continues to demonstrate that he can be sober, considerate, and helpful, regardless of what anyone says or does. Of course, we all fall much below this standard many times. But we must try to repair the damage immediately lest we pay the penalty by a spree.

p. 99

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

Jim's Story

This physician, one of the earliest members of A.A.'s first black group, tells of how freedom came as he worked among his people.

This was around 1935, and it was about this time that I actually started drinking.  During the years 1930 to 1935, due to the Depression and its aftermath, business went from bad to worse.  I then had my own medical practice in Washington, but the practice slackened and the mail-order business started to fall off.  Dad, due to having spent most of his time in a small Virginia town, didn't have too much money, and the money he had saved and the property he had acquired were in Washington.  He was in his late fifties, and all that he had undertaken fell upon my shoulders at this death in 1928.  For the first couple of years it wasn't too bad because the momentum kept things going.  But when things became crucial, everything started going haywire and I started going haywire with them.  At this point I believe I had only been intoxicated on maybe three or four occasions, and certainly whiskey was no problem to me.

pp. 235-236

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Nine - "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others."

This atmosphere of approval and praise is apt to be so exhilarating as to put us off balance by creating an insatiable appetite for more of the same. Or we may be tipped over in the other direction when, in rare cases, we get a cool and skeptical reception. This will tempt us to argue, or to press our point insistently. Or maybe it will tempt us to discouragement and pessimism. But if we have prepared ourselves well in advance, such reactions will not deflect us from our steady and even purpose.

p. 85

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We surrender to win.

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is
never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants
kindness gathers love.
--Basil (329-379 A.D.)

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for."
--John Lubbock

"Age is a matter of feeling...not of years."
--George William Curtis

"The future comes one day at a time."
--Dean Acheson

Sharing love and life with someone is the one of the greatest gifts of
all. Take the time to appreciate it and enjoy it.

"Joy is the feeling of grinning on the inside."
--Dr. Melba Colgrove

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

HYPOCRISY

"Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo."
-- Ambrose Bierce

As a religious person I could be such a hypocrite. I thought that my
"goodness" was dependent upon my judging others to be inferior. I
was always putting other people down so that I could appear terrific.

But a part of me always knew this was wrong. I ignored the religious
teaching that emphasized forgiveness and acceptance and instead
focused on judgment and condemnation. It was all part of my sickness.
Inside I was hurting and feeling guilty but I hid these feelings with a
mask of hypocrisy and respectability.

Today I do not need to do this. I have a religion that can accept the
non-religious and rejoice in the different cultures and creeds. I do not
fear those who are different, and I am slowly beginning to accept my
many imperfections.

You, who have loved me through forgiveness, help me to forgive.

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

"Put away your former way of life, your old self ... be renewed in the spirit of your
minds ... according to the likeness of God."
Ephesians 4:22-24

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body
more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom
or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you
by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing,
why do you worry about the rest?
Luke 12:22-26

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Daily Inspiration

Repeatedly remind yourself what a wonderful person you are. Lord, help me to believe in myself as You believe in me and focus on my goodness.

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.

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NA Just For Today

Rationalizing Away Our Recovery

"As a result of the Twelve Steps, I'm not able to hold on to old ways of deceiving myself."
Basic Text, pg. 176

We all rationalize. Sometimes we know we are rationalizing, admit we are rationalizing, yet continue to behave according to our rationalizations! Recovery can become very painful when we decide that, for one reason or another, the simple principals of the program don't apply to us.

With the help of our sponsors and others in NA we can begin to look at the excuse we use for our behavior. Do we find that some principals just don't apply to us? Do we believe that we know more that everyone else in Narcotics Anonymous, even those who have been clean for many years? What makes us think that we're so special

There is no doubt, we can successfully rationalize our way through part of our recovery. But, eventually, we must squarely face the truth and start acting accordingly. The principals in the Twelve Steps guide us to a new life in recovery. There is little room for rationalization there.

Just for today: I cannot work the steps and also continue deceiving myself. I will examine my thinking for rationalizations, reveal them to my sponsor, and be rid of them.

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This Mouse must give up one of the Mouse ways of seeing things in order that he may grow. --Hyemeyohsts Storm
There is an American Indian tale of a mouse who heard a roaring in his ears and set out to discover what it was. He encountered many animals who helped him on his way. Finally, the mouse had a chance to offer help to another. He gave away his eyes to help two other animals.
Without his sight, defenseless, he waited for the end. Soon he heard the sound eagles make when they dive for their prey. The next thing the mouse knew, he was flying. He could see all the splendor around him. Then he heard a voice say, "You have a new name. You are Eagle."
Like the mouse, we also feel something inside us we'd like to explore. That secret, like all others, has its answer hidden deep within us, yet right under our very nose. Often, we merely have to give up our eyes and see in a different way. When we do this, we are rewarded with a new kind of vision, one that lets us discover our true potential.
How can I look at things differently today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
A boy must be initiated into the world of men. It doesn't happen by itself; it doesn't happen just because he eats Wheaties. And only men can do this work. --Robert Ely
Many of us grew into manhood with a surface picture of what it means to be masculine. We had images of tough guys playing rough, but we weren't emotionally close enough to another man to really know him. Many of us never knew our fathers' strengths, passions, and weak points. It left us with a distorted picture of masculinity and not with an inner knowing. Getting close to other men is a new experience, and it may feel frightening or threatening.
We can develop close friendships with other males and let them know us as we are, rather than as this picture we try to imitate. This kind of relationship in play and work and troubled times is a central part of our spiritual recovery. Close relationships with other men teach us confidence in ourselves and give us inner security.
I will be aware today of men with whom 1 can develop a friendship and will take one small step toward them.


You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Peace
Anxiety is often our first reaction to conflict, problems, or even our own fears. In those moments, detaching and getting peaceful may seem disloyal or apathetic. We think: If I really care, Ill worry; if this is really important to me, I must stay upset. We convince ourselves that outcomes will be positively affected by the amount of time we spend worrying.
Our best problem solving resource is peace. Solutions arise easily and naturally out of a peaceful state. Often, fear and anxiety block solutions. Anxiety gives power to the problem, not the solution. It does not help to harbor turmoil. It does not help.
Peace is available if we choose it. In spite of chaos and unsolved problems around us, all is well. Things will work out. We can surround ourselves with the resources of the Universe: water, earth, a sunset, a walk, a prayer, a friend. We can relax and let ourselves feel peace.
Today, I will let go of my need to stay in turmoil. I will cultivate peace and trust that timely solutions and goodness will arise naturally and harmoniously out of the wellspring of peace. I will consciously let go and let God.


I am learning to trust my instincts and move away from unpleasant and stressful people, places and things. I no longer have to stay in situations that bring me unhappiness and pain. I am turning around today to see the joy. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey to the Heart

Let Your Sexuality Be Connected to Your Heart

He was a handsome man. An acotr. “Something happened to me lately,” he shared. “It’s about my sexuality. I used to be sexual when and where I felt like it. No more. And it’s not connected to fear of disease, although that’s certainly a concern. What happened to me is that my sexuality has become connected to my heart.”

Let go of sexual shame. Embrace your sexuality. Value your senses, all of them– touch, smell, taste, seeing, and hearing. Value your other senses,too– your intuition, your spirituality, your spirit’s reaction to the world that dances around you. Open up to colors, textures, scents, and sounds.

Open up to your energy, all of it, including your sexuality. Let yourself see that all expressions of your love and your being are beautiful. Let yourself learn to express and receive love in sensual ways, ways that work for you.

Be done with sexual shame. Trust your body and what it likes. We aren’t disconnected parts. Open up. Discover your sexuality. Let it be connected to your heart.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Neutralize conflicts

Unless you want a fight or an argument, don’t give people anything to push against.

Here is a key to harmonizing with people who are upset or have a point of view different from your own. Stay so relaxed when you talk to them that you allow yourself to empathize with how they think and feel. That doesn’t mean that you give in to people’s every whim. It means, instead, that you are so clear and focused that you can genuinely let other people be who they are, too.

It’s both naive and egotistical to think that everyone thinks and feels the same as us. It’s ridiculous to beliieve that everyone will agree with our point of view. One of the true signs of a person who is growing in consciousness is that he or she recognizes that each person has individual motives, desires, and feelings.

“Instead of meeting a verbal attack with a verbal conterattack you respond first by coming around to your attacker’s point of view, seeing the situation from his or her viewpoint,” wrote George Leonard in the Way of Akido.

He was talking about using a concept called “blending” to deal with verbal confromtations in our daily lives. “The response, whether physical or verbal, is quite disarming, leaving the attacker with no target to focus on. It’s a means by which you can multiply your options in responding to any kind of attack.”

If the person espousing his or her point of view is just trying to get us to react or has no desire for reconciliation, we can still neutralize the conflict by staying relaxed, letting the other person be, and responding by saying “hmmmm.” It’s a polite way of saying whatever, when expressing your disagreement would only lead to a senseless fight. At the least, you’ll become a great conversationalist, a respectable art to be acquired. At best, you’ll bring about world peace, at least in your corner of the world.

God, help me be so clear on who I am that I can generously afford to let other people be who they are,too. Help me to set aside my defensive behavior, and teach me to blend with other people and see their point of view while not relinquishing my own.

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Exploring an Alternate Universe
What Makes People Tick?

by Madisyn Taylor

Interacting peacefully with people from all walks of life is a matter of first understanding where they are coming from.


All people have their own way of being in the world. It is easiest to comprehend this basic yet profound fact when we consider that every human being on the planet occupies a distinct role in the universe. We grow up in different environments, affected by a unique range of influences. The preferences, values, and beliefs we embrace are frequently related intimately to our origins. And the need to individualize our experiences is instinctive, as doing so enables us to cope when we must face challenges on our own. Consequently, each of us has developed a perspective that is uniquely ours. Interacting peacefully and constructively with people from all walks of life is a matter of first understanding where they are coming from. Then we can adjust our expectations so that we avoid making undue assumptions about what they are about.

In the face of emerging interpersonal conflict, it is easy to assume that others are being difficult, unreasonable, or stubborn. We are apt to grow frustrated when someone in our environment does not share our opinions or feel compelled to support us in our endeavors. It is likely that the individual or individuals before us may simply possess differing notions with regard to what is and what is not important in this life. We can ease the tension that exists between us by reaffirming our belief in the fundamental right of all beings to determine their own destinies. To foster a harmonious relationship, we need to do our best to relate to the unique universes they inhabit. And as we discover what makes them tick, our ability to find a mode of interaction that is pleasing to both of us is enhanced.

When there are barriers keeping you from connecting with someone else, think of questions you can ask them to gain a more thorough understanding of their point of view. You may discover that in addition to the differences in perspective dividing you, they are subject to insecurities and other personal issues that influence their way of seeing the world. It is likely that you will never fully grasp the myriad complexities embodied by humanity, but you can go a long way toward encouraging mutually satisfying relations by reaching out to others in the spirit of sympathetic comprehension. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

There is no advantage, no profit and certainly no growth when I deceive myself merely to escape the consequences of my own mistakes. When I realize this, I know I’ll be making progress. “We must be true inside, true to ourselves, before we can know a truth that is outside us,” wrote Thomas Merton in No Man Is An Island. “But we make ourselves true inside by manifesting the truth as we set it.” Am I true to myself?

Today I Pray

May I count on my Higher Power to help me carry out the truth as I see it. May I never duck a consequence again. Consequence-ducking became a parlor game for chemically addictive persons like me, until we lost all sense of relationship between action and outcome. Now that I am healing, please God, restore my balance.

Today I Will Remember

Match the Act with the consequence.

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One More Day

The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones.
–Somerset Maugham

Old habits often die hard, especially bad ones. We may need to be tactfully silent when we become irritated with the behavior or habits of our loved ones. It may seem at times as though everyone around us is either nail biting, smoking, cussing, or overeating. When illness enters the scene, or any other stressor for that matter, bad habits tend to resurface. We may be less tolerant of others’ faults and even of their good health.

It’s hard to put away old habits, especially the old pattern of being critical, but we can learn to let go. Even with extra stress in our lives we can begin to work on developing new habits. We can learn to recognize the growth we’ve achieved and to feel proud.

I can begin today to develop strong, new habits and to hold on to my old, strong habits.

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

Food For Thought

Living Now

When we were eating compulsively, we left the here and now. We escaped into fantasy, and we were often unaware of how much we were eating. By some strange mental quirk, we were able to forget that we should have been burning up our excess fat, not adding more.

God is now. To make contact with Him is to bring ourselves in touch with what is real. When we first came to OA, we may have had doubts, if not downright disbelief, about the reality of God, but concrete experience has convinced most of us that a Higher Power is indeed in control.

In order to be rid of the mental obsession which drives us to the insane behavior of compulsive overeating, we practice being constantly tuned in to our Higher Power. He can restore us to sanity and keep us living in the present. By giving Him our past resentments and future fears, we become free to focus on the here and now. Without resentment and fear, we can see the beauty of the present moment.

Lord, keep me living in the here and now.

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One Day At A Time

Scars

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls;
the most massive characters are seared with scars."
~ Kahlil Gibran
I’ve lived most of my life filled with bitterness towards people, God and myself. My mind, soul, and body were consumed by hatred, self-pity, pain, hopelessness, and a complete sense of powerlessness. I focused my energy on reviewing my scars. I counted them, checked them, nurtured them, and flaunted them. They were proof of all the wrongs I’d endured. They were my source of energy. They were my identity. They were my badge of sorrow.

As I work my recovery, I am beginning to see everything from a new perspective. Gradually my head is lifted and my eyes are turned away from my once-beloved scars. The more I allow myself to accept that my powerlessness is not a prison of doom, the more I discover that it is my doorway to faith, surrender, and serenity.

My scars are still here. There is no magic potion to remove them. What is magical, however, is that I see them so differently. I find that I have a choice to make every day: I can cherish my scars as proof of the pain I have suffered, or I can be thankful for them as evidence of things I have survived. Scar tissue forms and creates a stronger, thicker skin in its place. I can either pick at it and make it bleed, or I can welcome the lessons and endurance it has built into my life.

One day at a time...
I will choose to see my scars as proof of the difficulties I have survived. I will choose to appreciate them as evidence that God has brought me through suffering and has used all things to strengthen my faith in Him, my hope for tomorrow, and my serenity for today.

Lisa
A TRG Member

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

This fourth edition of 'Alcoholics Anonymous' came off the press in November 2001, at the start of a new millennium. Since the third edition was published in 1976, worldwide membership of A.A. has just about doubled, to an estimated two million or more, with nearly 100,800 groups meeting in approximately 150 countries around the world. - Pg. xxiii - Forward To Fourth Edition

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Even in the confusion and chaos of beginning sobriety, a place exists for spiritual promise and character. Freud once remarked, gazing on a crystal, that the place where that crystal is broken is the very place where we can see its structure. The place where you are broken is the very place that reveals your character.

I use my broken places to show what I am made of--integrity, courage, and determination.

Prayer

Prayer helps me to heal. Study after study scientifically prove that prayer is beneficial to my health. I will pray for my healing throughout my day when ever it occurs to me. I will accept and be grateful or the prayers of others knowing that they are being carried to me by unseen hands. Just as radio waves pulse through the air and become voices, prayers come to me in an inner voice. I will ask my body to hear the prayers that are coming toward me and to invite them into each and every cell.

I accept the power of prayer to heal

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

You certainly are not good at every aspect of service to your group. You may be good at opening meetings, emptying ash trays, remembering to contact people, or going out on Twelve Step calls. Maybe you are lousy at greeting people at the door, holding office, getting birthday cakes, or paying the rent. Whatever you lack skills for, others can pick up; whatever you are good at, recognize!

For my shortcomings, I delegate; for my strengths, I congratulate.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

The smallest deed is better than the grandest intention.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am learning to trust my instincts and move away from unpleasant and stressful people, places and things. I no longer have to stay in situations that bring me unhappiness and pain. I am turning around today to see the joy.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Being a speaker is not the measure of an alcoholic. Some of the finest speakers I've heard in AA died drunk. And some of the finest AA members I've ever known never spoke from podiums. - Gayle W.

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AA Thought for the Day

March 6

Challenges
There is no easier, softer way.
To bring the great escape act into sobriety is to travel with a companion
that led me to despair long ago.
The teaching I receive in Alcoholics Anonymous about courage and love
helps me to continue to grapple with the challenges of life as they are given to me, one day at a time.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol.3], p. 320

Thought to Ponder . . .
Life is a steady drizzle of small things -- carry an umbrella.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S W A T = Surrender, Willingness, Action, Trust.

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

Lessons
"I find the willingness to give thanks by contemplatingthe lessons learned from past suffering--lessons which have led to
blessings I now enjoy. I can remember how the agonies of alcoholism,the pain of rebellion and thwarted pride,have often
led me to God's grace,and so to a new freedom.
"Bill W., Box 1980: The AA Grapevine, March 1962As Bill Sees It, p. 266

Thought to Consider . . .
Remember that we deal with alcohol --
cunning, baffling, powerful!

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
TRUST
Try Relying Upon The Steps

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

Self-sufficient
>From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":
"At the Foundation, meanwhile, we had taken a significant action that was incorporated in these Traditions. In 1945 we
wrote [our early supporters] Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the 1940 dinner guests that we would no longer need their
financial help. The book royalties could now look after Dr. Bob and me; group contributions could pay the general office
expenses. If these were insufficient, the reserve accumulated out of literature sales could meet the deficit. This meant
that we had finally declared for full self-support. Since that time A.A.'s Board of Trustees has steadfastly refused outside
contributions."
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs. 203-04

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Today, my short version of the Third Step is this: Keep taking care of me, Lord, because I appreciate it now."
Berrien Springs, Mich., April 1991
"Dear God: Keep Coming Back"
AA Grapevine

~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show,
humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done." We
are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-
pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do
not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we
did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 87~

"Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We
must, or it kill us! God makes that possible. And there often seems
no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us
had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live
up to them even though we would have liked to."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 62~

It is when we try to make our will conform with God’s that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a most wonderful revelation. Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God’s intention for us. To make this increasingly possible is the purpose of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, and Step Three opens the door.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 40

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Growth by the Tenth Step
In the years ahead A.A. will, of course, make mistakes. Experience has taught us that we need have no fear of doing this, providing that we always remain willing to admit our faults and to correct them promptly. Our growth as individuals has depended upon this healthy process of trial and error. So will our growth as a fellowship.
Let us always remember that any society of men and women that cannot freely correct its own faults must surely fall into decay if not into collapse. Such is the universal penalty for the failure to go on growing. Just as each A.A. must continue to take his moral inventory and act upon it, so must our whole Society if we are to survive and if we are to serve usefully and well. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 231

Prayer For The Day: Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Please give me the strength to move in the direction I need to go. Help me realize that if I just stay were I am I will get no where.