Today's Thought - July

[bluidkiti]

July 1

Giving with no strings attached is true giving.

The disease of addiction is reflected in myriad ways. As we’ve learned, the entire family is affected. We have sought recovery because our behavior causes us problems too. Getting well might be even more difficult for us than for alcoholics or other addicts. Their first step is to give up alcohol or other drugs; ours is to stop most of the behaviors we’ve perfected over the years, behaviors we developed to control and manipulate others.

Giving is one such behavior. Of itself, giving is a very worthy characteristic. However, most of us have used giving as a not so subtle way to control. Too often it worked, at least in the short run, and giving became a tool to get what we wanted. Recovery can help us practice true giving. We might not get from others what we’d like, but we will feel rewarded just the same. Giving up manipulation gives us back our self-worth.

I will check my motives before giving anything today. If I hope to get something in return, I’ll begin again.

Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own, Meditations on Hope and Acceptance

[bluidkiti]

July 2

Our “small-self” ego mind is designed to create and achieve goals, a function necessary for survival and life enhancement. It is the ultimate event planner.

The ego is the metal between the hammer of life experience and the anvil of our essential nature. Because it is programmed for survival, it tenaciously holds on to self-serving behaviors and does not easily give up old patterns, even those we must shift in order to heal. We know how this aspect of ourselves—with its pride, stubbornness, and independence—contributed to our resistance to getting help, even when we were hitting bottom.

Our minds are also capable of perceiving the oneness thread that connects us to all of life. Most of us have had moments where we felt joined with everyone and everything—a temporary suspension of our ego mind along the ego-to-oneness continuum. Both are necessary; the ego keeps us rooted in our ordinary life and is important to survival, yet those instances of being one with the cosmos are transformative. When we experience this connectedness, we feel a tender opening toward all that is, filled with a depth of kindness beyond ordinary reality.

Instances when I feel at one with all of life are healing and filled with lovingkindness.

Today's reading is from the book Cornerstones, Daily Meditations for the Journey into Manhood and Recovery

[bluidkiti]

July 3

Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

~Step Seven of Al-Anon

In the Sixth and Seventh Steps of the program, we become willing to let go of our defects of character—issues, behaviors, old feelings, unresolved grief, and beliefs that are blocking us from the joy that is ours. Then we ask God to take them from us.

Isn’t that simple? We don’t have to contort ourselves to make ourselves change. We don’t have to force change. For once, we don’t have to “do it ourselves.” All we have to do is strive for an attitude of willingness and humility. All we have to do is ask God for what we want and need, and then trust God to do for us that which we cannot do and do not have to do for ourselves.

We do not have to watch with bated breath for how and when we shall change. This is not a self-help program. In this miraculous and effective program that has brought about recovery and change for millions, we become changed by working the Steps.

Today, God, help me surrender to recovery and to the process by which I become changed. Help me focus on the Step I need. Help me do my part, relax, and allow the rest to happen.

Today's reading is from the book The Language of Letting Go, Daily Meditations on Codependency

[bluidkiti]

July 4

Reflection for the Day

I am free to be, to do, to accept, to reject. I am free to be the wise, loving, kind, and patient person I want to be. I’m free to do that which I consider wise—that which will in no way harm or hinder another person. I’m free to do that which will lead me into paths of peace and satisfaction. I’m free to decide for or against, to say no and to say yes. I’m free to live life in a productive way and to contribute what I have to give to life. Am I coming to believe that I’m free to be the best self I’m able to be?
Today I Pray

Let the freedom I am now experiencing continue to flow through my life into productiveness, into the conviction of life’s goodness I have always wanted to share. May I accept this freedom with my Higher Power’s blessing—and use it wisely.
Today I Will Remember

Let freedom ring true.

Today's reading is from the book A Day at a Time, Daily Reflections for Recovering People

[bluidkiti]

July 5

Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it.

~Marguerite de Angeli

Sometimes we are stumped. We want to do the right thing, but we just don’t know what it is. It seems like there is an invisible wall in front of us, blocking our vision and holding us back.

If we keep praying and listening, we begin to see the shape of the wall in front of us, and we can explore that wall. Sooner or later, we find a way to a door that leads to the other side.

It’s a funny thing, but we seem to always find that door at just the right time—in our Higher Power’s time. Once we get used to this happening in our recovery, we understand that our Higher Power uses these walls to guide us sometimes. They are okay. We asked for guidance, and now we are getting it. We learn to welcome the walls and to welcome the doors through them.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me learn to appreciate the walls as well as the doors. The walls keep me safe until it’s the right time to go through.
Today's Action

Was there a time when I stood face-to-face with a wall I could not get through? What happened? Today I will write three lessons I learned from that experience.

Today's reading is from the book God Grant Me, More Daily Meditations from the Authors of Keep It Simple

[bluidkiti]

July 6

Anonymity represents to most people a liberating even more than a threatening phenomenon.

~Harvey Cox

When we join a group for addicts, we make a promise to respect the confidentiality of each and every member. We call one another by our first names, and we don’t gossip about the social lives of our brothers and sisters in recovery.

Our groups act anonymously. We have no leaders, no spokespersons, no political affiliations. We meet and act on the basis of all for one and one for all.

When we talk in our groups, we can let go of our social identity and reveal the real human being beneath. Each of us is a unique person, but we share the sickness of addiction that goes beyond the individual and links us to one another in our common suffering. Even though we may not know one another on a social level, we understand and sympathize and love one another as women and men journeying together on the road to recovery. I come to know you and you come to know me in a way that few, if any, other people know us. Anonymity allows us to be intensely personal and yet secure and unafraid.

I am glad that I can let go in the anonymous haven of our group meetings.

Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart, Daily Meditations for Men and Women Recovering from Sex Addiction

[bluidkiti]

July 7

Spirituality is the ability to get our minds off ourselves.

~Anonymous

The early days of recovery were a strange time for us. We were used to a very different lifestyle. There were so many new things coming into our lives all at once. Everything was whirling. We stuck close to our sponsor and home group. We needed a touchstone to make sense out of what was happening.

The early days of recovery were times of physical healing. We knew we were sick. Some of us didn’t realize how sick we were. We went slow and kept our eyes, our minds, and our hearts focused on our First Step.

We didn’t find instant spirituality in those days. That was okay. There would be time enough for that; first, we had to get started. After time on the program, after we had worked some Steps, we were asked to get our minds off ourselves. This was the time when we started making progress with our spiritual lives.

I have learned that spirituality is the ability to get my mind off myself.

Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It, A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations

[bluidkiti]

July 8

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy.

~Corrie ten Boom

On the spiritual pathway, we often ambush ourselves. We can be our own worst enemy. Or, as some in our program are fond of saying, “Our head is out to get us.” The unchecked ego is humankind’s only natural enemy, and the only one we need worry about. It is a great hindrance to spiritual progress.

Our ego is the accumulation of all our beliefs, beginning with those we formed in childhood, and it gives off confusing signals. It makes us afraid of failure, but it can also make us afraid of success. It makes us feel all-knowing at times, and then utterly stupid. Its definitions depend on the circumstance; its rules constantly change. But God’s rules never change because they’re based on love for one another.

I will listen closely to distinguish the voice of God from the voice of my ego.

Today's reading is from the book In God's Care, Daily Meditations on Spirituality in Recovery

[bluidkiti]

July 9

Spiritual power can be seen in a person's reverence for life—hers and all others, including animals and nature, with a recognition of a universal life force referred to by many as God.

~Virginia Satir

Taking the time, daily, to recognize the spiritual force in everyone and everything that is all about us encourages us to feel humble, to feel awe. Reflecting on our inter* connections, our need for one and all to complete the universe, lessens whatever adversity we might feel as we struggle with our humanity.

Our spiritual power is enhanced with each blessing we give. And as our spiritual power is enhanced, life's trials are fewer. Our struggle to accept situations, conditions, and other people, or our struggle to control them, lessens every day that we recognize and revere one another's personhood, one another's existence.

I can teach myself reverence, and I can begin today. I will look for "the Spirit" everywhere, and l will begin to see it.

Today's reading is from the book Each Day a New Beginning, Daily meditations for Women

[bluidkiti]

July 10

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

~Albert Einstein

Many of us stubbornly hold on to our long-established, preferred ways of looking at things. We don’t think we are stubborn, only that we rely on what worked for us in the past. Perhaps as young guys, we coped with stress by keeping our thoughts to ourselves, or we figured out that we wouldn’t get hurt if we didn’t trust anyone. All the patterns that we developed as youngsters were our best attempts at the time to deal with our lives. The greater the stress we felt, the harder won were our coping responses, and the stronger our attachment to them.

Our best answers from boyhood may not fit our lifetimes as men. Holding too dearly to childhood solutions freezes us in immature and weaker levels of growth. What was charming and harmless behavior in a child can be manipulating and dishonest in a man. Thus, we create new problems. We need to let ourselves become more vulnerable—to give up the security of our old ways and open ourselves to the messages coming from our friends, our program, and our experiences.

Today, I will be open to insecurity and create the possibility of growing stronger.

Today's reading is from the book Stepping Stones, More Daily Meditations for Men

[bluidkiti]

July 11

AA Thought for the Day

In Twelfth-Step work, the second part is confession. By frankly sharing with prospects, we get them talking about their own experiences. They will open up and confess things to us that they haven’t been able to tell other people. And they feel better when this confession has been made. It’s a great load off their minds to get these things out into the open. It’s the things that are kept hidden that weigh on the mind. They feel a sense of release and freedom when they have opened up their hearts to us. Do I care enough about other alcoholics to help them make a confession?
Meditation for the Day

I should help others all I can. Every troubled soul that God puts in my path is the one for me to help. As I sincerely try to help, a supply of strength will flow into me from God. My circle of helpfulness will widen more and more. God hands out the spiritual food to me and I pass it on to others. I must never say that I have only enough strength for my own need. The more I give away, the more I will keep. That which I keep to myself, I will lose in the end.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may have a sincere willingness to give. I pray that I may not hold back the strength I have received for myself alone.

Today's reading is from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day, A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life

[bluidkiti]

July 12

When you feel rejected, start accepting yourself, and then go out and accept someone.

~Sondra Ray

There was once a mother who felt rejected when her children grew up and needed to separate from her. She felt hurt when they pushed her away and no longer wanted all the love and caring that she wanted to give them. She thought, What's wrong with me?

Encouraged by her friends, she began to ask herself another question: What's right with me? The more answers she found to that question, the better she liked herself. The better she liked herself, the more she was able to see her children's need to separate from her as their own natural and healthy urge for independence, and not the result of her shortcomings.

Our good points may seem undesirable to others, but that's not our fault. Sometimes, too much of a good thing can be inappropriate, but that doesn't make it bad.

What's right with me today?

[bluidkiti]

July 13

Most of the evils of life arise from man’s being unable to sit still in a room.

~Blaise Pascal

Our program teaches us to slow down. We learn to slow down by taking time out. During these time-outs, we look at our values and see if we’re staying true to them.

Because of that, meditation is an important part of our program. It asks us to take a bit of time to let ourselves not be rushed. We get to just look inside and connect with what we need. Focusing on our breathing and noticing how that breath flows through us is one way to stop and connect. Feeling the discomfort of stopping when we want to rush and unpacking that is another way to connect. In all of this we are able to slow down, be present, and follow our Higher Power’s plan.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, I pray for patience. In this patience, allow me to realign with my values and be entirely present.
Action for the Day

Today I’ll list three times when rushing has gotten me in trouble. How has my inability to pause led to a problem? I will take a moment today to take a break.

Today's reading is from the book Keep it Simple, Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal

[bluidkiti]

July 14

Many things are lost for want of asking.

~English proverb

It’s a principle of this program that we grow, in part, by learning to ask for what we need. Perhaps today we are struggling with a problem that could be eased if we talked to another man in the program. We could call him on the phone and just ask him if he has a few minutes to talk. Maybe we’re wondering about a physical pain. Maybe we feel strange about something we said and would like to ask someone’s opinion.

Mistaken notions about masculinity get in the way of recovery when we refuse to ask for help. We think we should know the answers and be self-sufficient. Maybe we feel stupid if we have to ask. Those notions drop by the wayside as we get healthier and learn the rewards of connecting with others to satisfy our mutual needs. No longer does false pride have to keep us isolated and struggling alone.

Today, I will notice what I need and practice asking for help.

Today's reading is from the book Touchstones, A Book of Daily Meditations for Men

[bluidkiti]

July 15

Taking just one

It’s that first fix, pill, or drink that gets us high. It’s not the second or third or fourth one, or the second day or the second week of using that gets us into trouble. It is the first one. And until we understand this concept, we will keep trying—without success—to gain control over our drug use.

For us, control no longer exists. And it never will. When we start thinking, Well, just one won’t hurt me, we are on our way back to that same pain and discouragement of a drug-filled life.

Do I believe that even one is too many?

Higher Power, please help me remember that I can never regain control over my drug use.

I will avoid taking that first drink or drug today by…

Today's reading is from the book Day by Day, Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts

[bluidkiti]

July 16

Recovery is…spending more time building relationships than worrying about losing them.

~Anonymous

Recovery means walking in the sun. It means progressively living in favor of what might be rather than defending ourselves from the disasters we are sure life has in store for us.

Adult children routinely live in debilitating fear of what might happen in their relationships. We tend to spend so much time worrying about the calamity that may befall us, we find it impossible to enjoy what is there and put out the energy and time to create new, exciting connections.

Nothing is forever. Some relationships simply are not destined to be eternal. As we recover, we come to understand this truth. We grow to where our self-esteem and sense of self is not based on this relationship or that one but on our ability to move with the flow of life. Recovery is being open to the possibilities of what might be.

In accepting that I can’t control outcomes, I have much less fear of the future.

Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy, Daily Meditations for Adult Children

[bluidkiti]

July 17

A lesson exists in everything we experience.

It often seems ludicrous to believe that every situation involving us is by design. For instance, how could we have chosen to experience so closely and personally the disease of addiction? And why were we attracted to lovers who repeatedly abused us emotionally, if not physically? Lots of us absolutely intended to be good parents. So why did our children become substance abusers?

There are no adequate answers to these questions. We simply have to trust that what comes our way is meant for our ultimate good. Hindsight provides acceptance, if not always understanding.

Old-timers in this Twelve Step program tell us we are in the right place at the right time. It may sound crazy, but those whom we perceive wise seem to believe it. With time and experience, we’ll come to trust their wisdom. We’ll also come to value the lessons gained through today’s experiences.

I will not fret over whatever is happening today; instead, I’ll trust that today’s circumstances will make me a wiser person.

Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own, Meditations on Hope and Acceptance

[bluidkiti]

July 18

We create a harmonious life when we consistently practice all that our inner healer promotes: forgiveness, surrender, appreciation, loving kindness or lovingkindness, compassion, and empathy. We can, ourselves, become a healing presence for others, a light on a dark path, calm within a storm. We may even decide to redirect our life path to include a profession that is focused on service.

Of necessity, when we were at our worst in the clutches of our addictive behaviors, we had to receive support from others. With recovery, it may be payback time, not in any narrow sense of “tit for tat,” but rather out of the generosity of spirit we experience as we heal. From health care workers to frontline emergency personnel, massage and physical therapists to social workers, many diverse individuals comprise the helping, healing community.

Maybe our toolbox of healing should include some first aid, CPR, knowledge of nutritional supplements, and basic counseling skills. Volunteering with a nonprofit or working for the common good can also help us extend beyond what is needed for our own personal healing, widening the circle of helping hands and hearts while we grow our own well-being.

The more I feel in harmony with myself, the greater my capacity to assist others.

Today's reading is from the book Cornerstones, Daily Meditations for the Journey into Manhood and Recovery

[bluidkiti]

July 19

Survivor Guilt

We begin recovering. We begin taking care of ourselves. Our recovery program starts to work in our life, and we begin to feel good about ourselves. Then it hits. Guilt.

Whenever we begin to experience the fullness and joy of life, we may feel guilty about those we’ve left behind—those not recovering, those still in pain. This survivor guilt is a symptom of codependency.

We may think about the husband we’ve divorced who is still drinking. We may dwell on a child, grown or adult, still in pain. We may get a phone call from a nonrecovering parent who relates his or her misery to us. And we feel pulled into their pain.

How can we feel so happy, so good, when those we love are still in misery? Can we really break away and lead satisfying lives, despite their circumstances? Yes, we can.

And yes, it hurts to leave behind those we love. But keep moving forward anyway. Be patient. Other people’s recovery is not our job. We cannot make them recover. We cannot make them happy.

We may ask why we were chosen for a fuller life. We may never know the answer. Some may catch up in their own time, but their recovery is not our business. The only recovery we can truly claim is our own.

We can let go of others with love, and love ourselves without guilt.

Today, I am willing to work through my sadness and guilt. I will let myself be healthy and happy, even though someone I love has not chosen the same path.

Today's reading is from the book The Language of Letting Go, Daily Meditations on Codependency

[bluidkiti]

July 20

Next year I’m going to be better than I am now, but today I’m the best Jeanie I can be.

~Jeanie F.

It is quite possible to waste a lot of time and energy trying to make impossible changes. Many of us, inspired by the dynamics of the program and driven more by enthusiasm than prudence, strike out on missions that cannot be accomplished—missions we cannot win and should never undertake.

Turning back the clock is one of these. It can’t be done. Controlling someone else’s behavior is another. We can set the stage for the desired behavior, encourage it, and improve the odds by getting out of the way—but we don’t have it in our bag of tricks to make people think, feel, or do any one thing.

The program addresses the art of the possible. The only options we have are the options that are available to us. If our former partners don’t want to reconcile with us, that’s not an available option. A happily-ever-after marriage is not possible if we have yet to learn how to have a healthy relationship. Instead, we can focus on acquiring these people skills by building on our own possibilities.

Today, I will examine my range of available choices.

Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy, Daily Meditations for Adult Children

[bluidkiti]

July 21

It’s not easy to learn to whistle if there’s no one to show you how.

~Janusz Korczak

How lucky we are for those who have gone before us. They have worked hard to find sobriety and develop it into a program where millions can be touched by it. They developed the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions so we have guides in how to get sober and develop lives of dignity and respect.

We also need to see that we are responsible to teach those who need to learn to whistle. We are responsible to serve and reach out to the still-suffering addicts around us. We will teach those we meet to whistle, and they will teach still others to whistle. This is our way. We are to be there for each other and for those who will follow. We pass it on so we can keep it and allow it to get deeper into our hearts and souls.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me to embrace my responsibilities for the still-suffering of the world. Help me use my energy to serve.
Today's Action

Today I will reach out to the newest members of my group. I will call them to see how they are doing and to see if they want to go out for coffee. My treat.

Today's reading is from the book God Grant Me, More Daily Meditations from the Authors of Keep It Simple

[bluidkiti]

July 22

It is easy to fly into a passion—anybody can do that—but to be angry with the right person to the right extent and at the right time and with the right object and in the right way—that is not easy, and it is not everyone who can do it.

~Aristotle

Perhaps we were brought up in a household where anger was taboo and voices were never raised. Perhaps everything was bottled up because we were afraid of anger. But we were angry.

It’s hard to be angry appropriately. It needs to be learned, like so many things in our emotional life. If we haven’t learned to direct our anger in appropriate ways, we may find ourselves flying into sudden, inexplicable, and unfocused rages that scare us and people around us. Or else we behave sullenly and irritably for no apparent reason. Or we get mad now for something that happened twenty years ago.

In our program we learn to direct our anger and get angry in a justifiable and appropriate way. It’s good to get rid of our anger for the past so that we can concentrate on living fully in the present.

Today I’m going to try and deal honestly with my feelings, especially my anger.

Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart, Daily Meditations for Men and Women Recovering from Sex Addiction

[bluidkiti]

July 23

Knowledge

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it: this is knowledge.

~Confucius

How is it we can hear so much better after we have worked our Steps? Does someone clean the wax out of our ears at night? We find ourselves able to listen to what people are actually saying, not just to what we think they are saying. Our program teaches us not to judge words before or after they are spoken. We leave judging to God. We try to learn from everybody, for each person we meet has knowledge.

Knowledge has become available to us as never before. We no longer fear new ideas and opinions that are not our own. Our recovery becomes deeper each moment we open our minds to new ideas.

Knowledge is freely offered. In turn, I keep myself growing and accepting the knowledge that comes my way. When I don’t know something, I admit it. Knowing that I don’t know is also knowledge.

Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It, A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations

[bluidkiti]

July 24

Imagination has always had powers of resurrection that no science can match.

~Ingrid Bengis

Our ability to create an image of ourselves—successfully handling a conflict with a friend or stranger; growing in confidence regarding our role as parent, worker, or friend; communicating frequently with our Higher Power—is a tool that can enhance our sense of wellbeing throughout every moment of the twenty-four hours that lie ahead.

How lucky we are to have the ability to think what we want to think and to visualize situations that will bring us pleasure. God is in control of the outcomes of our life, but we’re in control of our contributions toward those outcomes. And one way we contribute most productively is by thinking positively and imagining ourselves fulfilled and content through our acts of love toward others.

My Higher Power and I are in partnership in the outcomes of my life. I know how to fulfill my part, and I can trust God to fulfill God’s part.

Today's reading is from the book In God's Care, Daily Meditations on Spirituality in Recovery

[bluidkiti]

July 25

At fifteen, life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.

~Maya Angelou

We had to surrender to a power greater than ourselves to get to where we are today. And each day, we have to turn to that power for strength and guidance. For us, resistance means struggle—struggle with others as well as an internal struggle.

Serenity isn't compatible with struggle. We cannot control forces outside of ourselves. We cannot control the actions of our family or our co-workers. We can control our responses to them. And when we choose to surrender our attempts to control, we will find peace and serenity.

That which we abhor, that which we fear, that which we wish to conquer seems suddenly to be gone when we decide to resist no more—to tackle it no more.

The realities of life come to us in mysterious ways. We fight so hard, only to learn that what we need will never be ours until the struggle is forsaken. Surrender brings enlightenment.

Life's lessons are simple once I give up the struggle.

Today's reading is from the book Each Day a New Beginning, Daily meditations for Women

[bluidkiti]

July 26

When the mind is still…it returns to itself, and by means of itself ascends to the thought of God.

~Saint Basil the Great

Our path is not leading us toward a physical place but toward the kind of person we are becoming. The Twelve Steps guide us to use daily meditation as a tool that helps us shape this new person. We take time for quiet moments, we still our thoughts, and in the stillness, without effort, our minds naturally open to introduce ourselves to ourselves. We become increasingly honest with ourselves, and some would say we hear the voice of God.

Daily readings can set a calming tone. Then we take a period of time, perhaps twenty minutes, for solitude undisturbed by others or by distracting phones or television. We find that when we set aside this quiet time, we actually seem to have more time, not less, for the other demands in our lives.

Today, I will take a period of quiet time to come back to myself.

Today's reading is from the book Stepping Stones, More Daily Meditations for Men

[bluidkiti]

July 27

AA Thought for the Day

To paraphrase Psalm 19: “We alcoholics declare the power of liquor and drunkenness showeth its handiwork. Day unto day uttereth hangovers, and night unto night showeth suffering. The law of AA is perfect, converting the drunk. The testimony of AA is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of AA are right, rejoicing the heart. The program of AA is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the first drink is clean, enduring forever.” Have I any doubt about the power of liquor?
Meditation for the Day

“Walk humbly with thy Lord.” Walking with God means practicing the presence of God in your daily affairs. It means asking God for strength to face each new day. It means turning to Him often during the day in prayer for yourself and for other people. It means thanking Him at night for the blessings you have received during the day. Nothing can seriously upset you if you are “walking with God.” You can believe that He is beside you in spirit, to help you and to guide you on your way.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may try to walk humbly with God. I pray that I may turn to Him often as to a close friend.

Today's reading is from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day, A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life

[bluidkiti]

July 28

You are here for a purpose. There is not a duplicate of you in the whole wide world; there never has been, there never will be. You were brought here now to fill a certain need. Take time to think that over.

~Lou Austin

No other person is exactly like you or me. No one can do exactly what we can, or touch another person in exactly the way we can. Out of all the people who could have been created, we were chosen to be a part of this time and place.

We are needed to fulfill a plan, in our families as well as in our relationships. Knowing we have unique abilities, we will spend less time feeling jealous of what others can do.

Through our dreams and yearnings, God shows us who we can be. It is up to us to have the courage to follow that dream with action.

What unique gift can I offer the world today?

Today's reading is from the book Today's Gift, Daily Meditations for Families

[bluidkiti]

July 29

The closest to perfection a person ever comes is when he fills out a job application form.

~Stanley J. Randall

Trying to be perfect gets us in trouble. Trying to be perfect means we’re trying to control things. We may be trying to cover up something. Maybe we aren’t facing our pain. Maybe we’ve hurt someone and we need to make amends.

We need to practice being human. Humans aren’t perfect. In Steps Six and Seven, we face our human limits and our shortcomings. We then start the lifelong job of letting them go. Accepting our human limits leads us to our Higher Power. We see how we need a guide in life. Our Higher Power makes a perfect guide.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me accept that I can’t be perfect. Help me be a good human being.

Today's reading is from the book Keep it Simple, Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal

[bluidkiti]

July 30

Those who are mentally and emotionally healthy are those who have learned when to say yes, when to say no, and when to say whoopee!

~Willard S. Krabill

We men have fallen into many difficulties because of poorly defined personal boundaries. Some of us never learned to say no to our mothers and felt invaded or ruled by them. Or we never truly said no to our fathers—never went through a teenage rebellion to establish ourselves as adults. Others have gotten stuck saying no and have never learned to yield and say yes.

Boundary problems have been part of the difficulty in many areas of our lives. We’ve told ourselves we have no right to our yes or no, or we’ve said we’re strong enough to sacrifice for someone else, or we’ve welcomed the escape from ourselves in discarding our choice. Not saying no when we needed to or not saying yes when we wanted to has led many of us into doctors’ offices, courts, jails, lost jobs, divorces, and bad marriages. Now the inner voice of our Higher Power is showing us our limits and encouraging us to stand up for them.

I am learning to know myself by defining my boundaries and choosing when and when not to cross them.

Today's reading is from the book Touchstones, A Book of Daily Meditations for Men

[bluidkiti]

July 31

Sharing a common goal

Since we’re going the same way, let’s go together. We may have some differences, but let’s work them out and respect each other’s opinions. Since our goal is the same, you help me and I’ll help you.

But let’s never withhold love as a weapon against one another. Since we are held together by a critical common solution, let’s not cause one another any suffering.

Am I learning to emphasize our common purpose?

Higher Power, help me see that what we share in the fellowship is more important than what separates us.

Today I will strengthen our common cause by…

Today's reading is from the book Day by Day, Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts