Saturday, February 04, 2023

Thoughts For The Day~*~Faith ^*^*^ February 5

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~A.A. ThoughtFor The Day~

^*^*^*^*^
(\    ~~    /)
(     \(AA)/     )
(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\

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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


Thought to Consider . . .

Feed your faith and starve your doubts.


*~*AACRONYMS*~*

B I G  B O O K
Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge


*~*^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 God's 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 alcohol's 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

*~*^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.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012



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Friday, February 03, 2023

Thoughts For The Day~*~Humility ^*^*^ February 4

~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~
^*^*^*^*^
(\    ~~    /)
(     \(
AA)/     )
(_ /
AA
\ _)
/
AA\

^*^*^*^*^
Humility

E
very newcomer in A.A. is told, and soon realizes for himself, that his humble admission of powerlessness over alcohol is his first step toward liberation from its paralyzing grip. So it is that we first see humility as a necessity. But this is the barest beginning . . . A whole lifetime geared to self-centeredness cannot be set in reverse all at once. Rebellion dogs our every step at first.
c. 1952 AAWS
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 72-73


Thought to Consider . . .

M
any people haven't even a nodding acquaintance with humility as a way of life.

*~*AACRONYMS*~*

H O P E
Helping Other People Everyday


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

Relief
From "More about Alcoholism":

"They grinned, which I didn't like too much, and then asked me if I thought myself alcoholic and if I were really licked this time.

Then they outlined the spiritual answer and program of action which a hundred of them had followed successfully. Though I had been only a nominal churchman, their proposals were not, intellectually, hard to swallow. But the program of action, though entirely sensible, was pretty drastic. It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window. That was not easy. But the moment I made up my mind to go through with the process, I had the curious feeling that my alcoholic condition was relieved, as in fact it proved to be."
2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition
Alcoholics Anonymous, pg.42

*^Daily Reflections^*

Sometimes A.A. comes harder to those who have lost or rejected faith than to those who never had any faith at all, for they think they have tried faith and found it wanting. They have tried the way of faith and the way of no faith.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 28

I was so sure God had failed me that I became ultimately defiant, though I knew better, and plunged into a final drinking binge. My faith turned bitter and that was no coincidence. Those who once had great faith hit bottom harder. It took time to rekindle my faith, though I came to A.A. I was grateful intellectually to have survived such a great fall, but my heart felt callous. Still, I stuck with the A.A. program; the alternatives were too bleak! I kept coming back and gradually my faith was resurrected.
Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.


*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*


Suffering Transmuted


"While A.A. has restored thousands of poor Christians to their churches, and has made believers out of atheists and agnostics, it has also made good A.A.'s out of those belonging to the Buddhist, Islamic, and Jewish faiths. For example, we question very much whether our Buddhist members in Japan would ever have joined this Society had A.A. officially stamped itself a strictly Christian movement."
<<< >>>
"You can easily convince yourself of this by imagining that A.A. started among the Buddhists and that they then told you you couldn't join them unless you became a Buddhist, too. If you were a Christian alcoholic under these circumstances, you might well turn your face to the wall and die."

LETTER, 1954

*~*^Big Book Quote^*~*

"When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is or He isn't."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition
We Agnostics, pg. 53


*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*

A.A. Thought for the Day


Treating others to drinks gave us a kind of satisfaction. We liked to say, "Have a drink on me." But we were not really doing the other people a favor. We were only helping them to get drunk, especially if they happened to be alcoholic. In A.A. we really try to help other alcoholics. We build them up instead of tearing them down. Drinking created a sort of fellowship. But it really was a false fellowship, because it was based on selfishness. We used our drinking companions for our own pleasure. In A.A. we have real fellowship, based on unselfishness and a desire to help each other. And we make real friends, not fair-weather friends. With sobriety, have I got everything that drinking's got, without the headaches?

Meditation for the Day

I know that God cannot teach anyone who is trusting in a crutch. I will throw away the crutch of alcohol and walk in God's power and spirit. God's power will so invigorate me that I shall indeed walk on to victory. There is never any limit to God's power. I will go step by step, one day at a time. God's will shall be revealed to me as I go forward.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may have more and more dependence on God. I pray that I may throw away my alcoholic crutch and let God's power take its place.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012



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You have 2 Other Ways to Participate in Transitions Daily:

1. Join the Transitions Daily Private Facebook Group: Search for Transitions Daily on Facebook and request to join, or click
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2. Subscribe to the Transitions Daily Podcast: We cannot sign you up for a podcast. Depending on your phone, you will need to pick a podcast provider. There are many free options. You will have to investigate yourself or ask a friend that listens to podcasts to explain the process.

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For the iPhone, most use iTunes. Search "how to sign up for podcasts on an iPhone" in your favorite search engine or go to iTunes for more information.

For Android:
Android is not as simple. There are several different podcast app options. We know several who use the free version of the Stitcher app. Search "how to sign up for podcasts on android" in your favorite search engine.

We also list many recovery resources, including recovery podcasts, at www.DailyAAEmails.com.

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TransitionsDaily.org is an Open A.A. Online Meeting Service #000720350.
 
Did someone forward this message to you? For more Information and to join go to http://www.DailyAAEmails.com.
 
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