~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Trouble
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"In AA, we learned that trouble was really a fact of life for everybody--
a fact that had to be understood and dealt with.
Surprisingly, we found that our troubles could,
under God's grace, be converted into unimagined blessings.
Indeed, that was the essence of AA itself:
trouble accepted, trouble squarely faced with calm courage,
trouble lessened and often transcended.
This was the AA story, and we became a part of it.
Such demonstrations became our stock in trade
for the next sufferer."
Bill W., Letter, 1966
As Bill Sees It, p. 110
Copyright 1967 A.A.W.S. Inc.
Thought to Consider . . .
God enters us through our wounds.
P A C E = Positive Attitudes Change Everything
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
"Money-wise, Dr. Bob and I were still in a rather bad way. We were therefore allotted $30 a week [in 1940], and enough was on hand to keep this up for a year. Thereafter the [Rockefeller] dinner guests were solicited annually and the proceeds were always divided in the same way. Four years later we were able to write Mr. Rockefeller and his friends of the Union Club dinner that we needed no more funds. By then royalties from the book were giving Dr. Bob and me the help we needed, and the A.A. groups had begun to pick up the load of supporting the Headquarters office. At that point the A.A. Tradition of 'no outside contributions' went into full force and effect. Mr. Rockefeller and his friends had given us something more valuable than money. They had put A.A. on the map."
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs. 186-88
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
SELF-RESTRAINT
Our first objective will be the development of self-restraint.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 91
My drive to work provides me with an opportunity for self-examination. One day while making this trip, I began to review my progress in sobriety, and was not happy with what I saw. I hoped that, as the work day progressed, I would forget these troublesome thoughts, but as one disappointment after another kept coming, my discontent only increased, and the pressures within me kept mounting.
I retreated to an isolated table in the lounge, and asked myself how I could make the most of the rest of the day. In the past, when things went wrong, I instinctively wanted to fight back. But during the short time I had been trying to live the A.A. program I had learned to step back and take a look at myself. I recognized that, although I was not the person I wanted to be, I had learned to not react in my old ways. Those old patterns of behavior only brought sorrow and hurt, to me and to others. I returned to my work station, determined to make the day a productive one, thanking God for the chance to make progress that day.
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Faith - a Blueprint - and Work
"The idea of "twenty-four-hour living" applies primarily to the emotional life of the individual. Emotionally speaking, we must not live in yesterday, nor in tomorrow.
"But I have never been able to see that this means the individual, the group, or A.A. as a whole should give no thought whatever to how to function tomorrow or even in the more distant future. Faith alone never constructed the house you live in. There had to be a blueprint and a lot of work to bring it into reality.
"Nothing is truer for us of A.A. than the Biblical saying "Faith without works is dead." A.A.'s services, all designed to make more and better Twelfth Step work possible, are the "works" that insure our life and growth by preventing anarchy or stagnation."
LETTER, 1954
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: 'Once an
alcoholic, always an alcoholic.' Commencing to drink after a period
of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 33
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day
How good a sponsor am I? When I bring new members to a meeting, do
I feel that my responsibility has ended? Or do I make it my job to
stay with them until they have either become good members of A.A.
or have found another sponsor? If they don't show up for a meeting,
do I say to myself. "Well, they've had it put up to them, so if
they don't want it, there's nothing more I can do"? Or do I look
them up and find out whether there is a reason for their absences
or that they don't want A.A.? Do I go out of my way to find out if
there is anything more I can do to help? Am I a good sponsor?
Meditation for the Day
"First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your
gift to God." First I must get right with other people and then I
can get right with God. if I hold a resentment against someone,
which I find it very difficult to overcome, I should try to put
something else constructive into my mind. I should pray for the
one against whom I hold the resentment. I should put that person
in God's hands and let God show him or her the way to live. "if a
man say: 'I love God' and hateth his brother, he is a liar, for he
that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God
whom he hath not seen?"
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may see something good in every person, even one I
dislike, and that I may let God develop the good in that person.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012
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