Thoughts For The Day~*~Miracles ^*^*^*^*^ February 11, 2009

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

Miracles
Since these things have happened among us,
they can happen with you.
Should you wish them above all else,
and be willing to make use of our experience,
we are sure they will come.
The age of miracles is still with us.
Our own recovery proves that!
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 153
^*^*^*^*^

Thought to Consider . . .

Don't give up before the miracle happens.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
H O P E =  Happy Our Program Exists

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

Request

From "Into Action":

"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."

2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 86

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
THE LIMITS OF SELF-RELIANCE

We asked ourselves why we had them [fears].  Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us?

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.  68

All of my character defects separate me from God's will.  When I ignore my association with Him I face the world and my alcoholism alone and must depend on self-reliance.  I have never found security and happiness through self-will and the only result is a life of fear and discontent.  God provides the path back to Him and to His gift of serenity and comfort.  First, however, I must be willing to acknowledge my fears and understand their source and power over me.  I frequently ask God to help me understand how I separate myself from Him.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Self-Confidence and Will Power

When first challenged to admit defeat, most of us revolted. We had approached A.A. expecting to be taught self-confidence. Then we had been told that so far as alcohol was concerned, self-confidence was no good whatever; in fact, it was a total liability. There was no such thing as personal conquest of the alcoholic compulsion by the unaided will.

<<<>>>

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 will power. 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.

TWELVE AND TWELVE - 1. p. 22 - 2. p. 40
Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within.
Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. I was to sit quietly
when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my
problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except
as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I
expect to receive. But that would be in great measure."


~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, Page 13~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

If we're going to stay sober, we've got to learn to want something else more than we want to drink. When we first came into A.A., we couldn't imagine wanting anything else so much or more than drinking. So we had to stop drinking on faith, on faith that some day we really would want something else more than drinking. But after we've been in A.A. for a while, we learn that a sober life can really be enjoyed. We learn how nice it is to get along well with our family, how nice it is to do our work well, whether at home or outside, how nice it is to try to help others. Have I found that when I keep sober, everything goes well for me?

Meditation for the Day

There is almost no work in life so hard as waiting. And yet God wants me to wait. All motion is more easy than calm waiting, and yet I must wait until God shows, me His will. So many people have marred their work and hindered the growth of their spiritual lives by too much activity. If I wait patiently, preparing myself always, I will be some day at the place where I would be. And much toil and activity could not have accomplished the journey so soon.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may wait patiently. I pray that I may trust God and keep preparing myself for a better life.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

---

Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near you now.

Thoughts For The Day~*~Let Go ^*^*^*^*^ February 10, 2009

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

Let Go
If you have decided you want what we have
and are willing to go to any length to get it --
then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked.
We thought we could find an easier, softer way.
But we could not.
With all the earnestness at our command,
we beg of you to be fearless and thorough
from the very start.
Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas
and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 58
^*^*^*^*^

Thought to Consider . . .

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
G I F T S =  Getting It From The Steps

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

Stereotypes

Tradition Two: For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority- a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

"Former group leaders divide into two classes known in A.A. slang as 'elder statesmen' and 'bleeding deacons.' The elder statesman is the one who sees the wisdom of the group's decision, who holds no resentment over his reduced status, whose judgment, fortified by considerable experience, is sound, and who is willing to sit quietly on the sidelines awaiting developments. The bleeding deacon is one who is just as surely convinced that the group cannot get along without him, who constantly connives for reelection to office, and who continues to be consumed with self-pity."

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, 2005, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., pg. 135

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
I DON'T RUN THE SHOW

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.   What was our choice to be?

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.  53

Today my choice is God.  He is everything.  For this I am truly grateful.  When I think I am running the show I am blocking God from my life.  I pray I can remember this when I allow myself to get caught up into self.  The most important thing is that today I am willing to grow along spiritual lines, and that God is everything.  When I was trying to quit drinking on my own, it never worked; with God and A.A., it is working.  This seems to be a simple thought for a complicated alcoholic.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Membership Rules

Around 1943 or 1944, the Central Office asked the groups to list their membership rules and send them in. After they arrived we set them all down. A little reflection upon these many rules brought us to an astonishing conclusion.
If all of these edicts had been in force everywhere at once it would have been practically impossible for any alcoholic to have ever joined A.A. About nine-tenths of our oldest and best members could never have got by!

<<<>>>

At last experience taught us that to take away any alcoholic's full chance for sobriety in A.A. was sometimes to pronounce his death sentence, and often to condemn him to endless misery. Who dared to be judge, jury, and executioner of his own sick brother?

1. GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1946 - 2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 141
Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

As we look back, we feel we had gone on drinking many years beyond
the point where we could quit on our will power. If anyone questions
whether he has entered this dangerous area, let him try leaving
liquor alone for one year. If he is a real alcoholic and very far
advanced, there is scant chance of success. In the early days of our
drinking we occasionally remained sober for a year or more, becoming
serious drinkers again later. Though you may be able to stop for a
considerable period, you may yet be a potential alcoholic. We think
few, to whom this book will appeal, can stay dry anything like a
year. Some will be drunk the day after making their resolutions; most
of them within a few weeks."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 34~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

Since I realized that I had become an alcoholic and could never have any more fun with liquor and since I knew that from then on liquor would always get me into trouble, common sense told me that the only thing left for me was a life of sobriety. But I learned another thing in A.A., the most important thing anyone can ever learn. That I could call on a Higher Power to help me keep away from liquor. That I could work with that Divine Principle in the universe, and that God would help me to live a sober, useful, happy life. So now I no longer care about the fact that I can never have any more fun with drinking. Have I learned that I am much happier without it?

Meditation for the Day

Like a tree, I must be pruned of a lot of dead branches before I will be ready to bear good fruit. Think of changed people as trees that have been stripped of their old branches, pruned, cut, and bare. But through the dark, seemingly dead branches flows silently, secretly, the new sap, until with the sun of spring comes new life. There are new leaves, buds, blossoms, and fruit, many times better because of the pruning. I am in the hands of a Master Gardener, who makes no mistakes in His pruning.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may cut away the dead branches of my life. I pray that I may not mind the pruning, since it helps me to bear good fruit later.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

---

Nothing says I love you like flowers! Find a florist near you now.