Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Thoughts For The Day~*~Spiritual Growth ^*^*^ March 13

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

"When we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you. At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious relation with God as we understood Him. If we wished to grow we had to begin somewhere. So we used our own conception, however limited it was."
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 47

Thought to Consider . . .

Spirituality is the ability to get our minds off ourselves.

*~*AACRONYMS*~*

W I S D O M
When Into Self, Discover Our Motives

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

Traditions
From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":

"Please don't talk any more about those damned Traditions." [in the late 1940s]

"Time has changed all that. Several years later it was recognized that the Twelve Traditions were going to be just as necessary to the life of our society as the Twelve Steps were to the life of each member. We saw that the A.A. Traditions were the key to the unity, the functioning, and even the survival of Alcoholics Anonymous."
2001 AAWS, Inc.
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 204

*^Daily Reflections^*

A WORLD OF THE SPIRIT

We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, P. 84

The word "entered" . . . and the phrase "entered into the world of the Spirit" are very significant. They imply action, a beginning, getting into, a prerequisite to maintaining my spiritual growth, the "Spirit" being the immaterial part of me. Barriers to my spiritual growth are self-centeredness and a materialistic focus on worldly things. Spirituality means devotion to spiritual instead of worldly things, it means obedience to God's will for me. I understand spiritual things to be: unconditional love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control and humility. Any time I allow selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear to be a part of me, I block out spiritual things. As I maintain my sobriety, growing spiritually becomes a lifelong process. My goal is spiritual growth, accepting that I'll never have spiritual perfection.
Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.

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

Dependence - Unhealthy or Healthy

"Nothing can be more demoralizing than a clinging and abject dependence upon another human being. This often amounts to the demand for a degree of protection and love that no one could possibly satisfy. So our hoped-for protectors finally flee, and once more we are left alone - either to grow up or to disintegrate."
<<< >>>
"We discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice, forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where nothing else would. If we really depended upon God, we couldn't very well play God to our fellows, nor would we feel the urge to rely wholly on human protection and care."
1. LETTER, 1966
2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 116
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

*~*^Big Book Quote^*~*

". . . the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. This is a point we wish to emphasize and re-emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it has been revealed to us out of bitter experience."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition
More About Alcoholism, pg. 39

*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*

A.A. Thought for the Day

We've gotten rid of our false, drinking selves and found our real, sober selves. And we turn to God, our Father, for help, just as the Prodigal Son arose and went to his father. At the end of the story, the father of the Prodigal Son says: "He was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found." We alcoholics who have found sobriety in A.A. were certainly dead and are alive again. We were lost and are found. Am I alive again?

Meditation for the Day

Gently breathe in God's spirit, that spirit which, if not barred out by selfishness, will enable you to do good works. This means rather that God will be enabled to do good works through you. You can become a channel for God's spirit to flow through you and into the lives of others. The works that you can do will only be limited by your spiritual development. Let your spirit be in harmony with God's spirit and there is no limit to what you can do in the realm of human relationships.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may become a channel for God's spirit. I pray that God's spirit may flow through me into the lives of others.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012


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Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Thoughts For The Day~*~Fear ^*^*^ March 12

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

"Unreasonable fear that our instincts will not be satisfied drives us to covet the possessions of others, to lust for sex and power, to become angry when our instinctive demands are threatened, to be envious when the ambitions of others seem to be realized while ours are not. These fears are the termites that ceaselessly devour the foundations of whatever sort of life we try to build."
Bill W., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 49

Thought to Consider . . .

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the action in spite of fear.

*~*AACRONYMS*~*

A N O N Y M O U S
Actions Not Our Names Yield Maintenance Of Unity & Service

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

Awakening
From Fear of Fear":

"As we walked back through the hall, I, for the first time in my life, said to another human being, 'I'm having trouble with my drinking too.' She took me by the hand and introduced me to the woman that I'm very proud to call my sponsor. This woman and her husband are both in A.A., and she said to me, 'Oh, but you're not the alcoholic; it's your husband.' I said, 'Yes.' She said, 'How long have you been married?' I said, 'Twenty-seven years.' She said 'Twenty-seven years to an alcoholic! How did you ever stand it?' I thought, now here's a nice sympathetic soul! This is for me. I said, 'Well, I stood it to keep the home together, and for the children's sake.' She said, 'Yes, I know. You're just a martyr, aren't you?' I walked away from that woman grinding my teeth and cursing under my breath. But that night I tried to go to sleep. And I thought, 'You're some martyr, Jane! Let's look at the record.' And when I looked at it, I knew I was just as much a drunk as George was, if not worse. I nudged George next morning, and I said I'm in,' and he said, 'Oh, I knew you'd make it.'"
2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition
Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 289-90

*^Daily Reflections^*

A  DAY'S  PLAN

On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 86

Every day I ask God to kindle within me the fire of His love, so that love, burning bright and clear, will illuminate my thinking and permit me to better do His will. Throughout the day, as I allow outside circumstances to dampen my spirits, I ask God to sear my consciousness with the awareness that I can start my day over any time I choose; a hundred times, if necessary.
Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.

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

"How Can You Roll With A Punch?"

On the day that the calamity of Pearl Harbor fell upon our country, a great friend of A.A. was walking along a St. Louis Street. Father Edward Dowling was not an alcoholic, but he had been one of the founders of the struggling A.A. group in his city. Because many of his usually sober friends had already taken to their bottles that they might blot out the implications of the Pearl Harbor disaster, Father Ed was anguished by the thought that his cherished A.A. group would probably do the same. Then a member, sober less than a year, stepped alongside and engaged Father Ed in a spirited conversation - mostly about A.A. Father Ed saw, with relief, that his companion was perfectly sober. "How is it that you have nothing to say about Pearl Harbor? How can you roll with a punch like that?" "Well," replied the yearling, "each of us in A.A. has already had his own private Pearl Harbor. So why should we drunks crack up over this one?"
GRAPEVINE, JANUARY 1962
Copyright 1967
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc

*~*^Big Book Quote^*~*

"The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition
There Is A Solution, pg. 17

*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*

A.A. Thought for the Day

The Prodigal Son "took his journey into a far country and wasted his substance with riotous living." That's what we alcoholics do. We waste our substance with riotous living. "When he came to himself, he said: 'I will arise and go to my father.'" That's what you do in A.A. You come to yourself. Your alcoholic self is not your real self. Your sane, sober, respectable self is your real self. That's why we alcoholics are so happy in A.A. Have I come to myself?

Meditation for the Day

Simplicity is the keynote of a good life. Choose the simple things always. Life can become complicated if you let it be so. You can be swamped by difficulties if you let them take up too much of your time. Every difficulty can be either solved or ignored and something better substituted for it. Love the humble things of life. Reverence the simple things. Your standard must never be the world's standard of wealth and power.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may love the simple things of life. I pray that I may keep my life uncomplicated and free.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012



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Sunday, March 09, 2025

Thoughts For The Day~*~The Light ^*^*^ March 9

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

 A L C O H O L I C S
A Life Centered On Helping Others Live In Complete Sobriety

*~*^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 instead of fear!"
Toronto, Ontario/Canada
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^*~*

"We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning. A much more important demonstration of our principles lies before us in our respective homes, occupations and affairs."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition
There Is A Solution, pg. 19

*^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.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012


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