Today's Thought - December

[bluidkiti]

December 1

It is ironic that the one thing that all religions recognize as separating us from our Creator—our very self-consciousness—is also the one thing that divides us from our fellow creatures.

~Annie Dillard

Getting outside of ourselves, moving beyond our own egos, opens the door to real communication with the people we'll meet today. We have to learn to look with loving appreciation into the soul of that person or child who stands before us. We have to practice being concerned with their needs before our own, and in time our concern will be genuine. The separation between us will exist no more.

This division from others, the barrier that keeps us apart, comes from our individual insecurities. We have grown accustomed to the quick comparisons of ourselves with those we meet. We determine them to be either inferior or superior to ourselves. Whatever gifts we have to offer each other are left unwrapped, at least for now.

Let's come together, truly together, with someone we've been holding off until now. We can trust that the people who have come into our lives are there by design. We are equal to them, and they to us. We need what they have to offer us, and their growth needs our gifts, too.

I will appreciate the design of my life today. l will draw myself close to the day.

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

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December 2

New Relationship Behaviors

We talk much about new relationship behaviors in recovery: allowing others to be themselves without over-reacting and taking it personally, and owning our power to take care of ourselves. We talk about letting go of our need to control, focusing on self-responsibility, and not setting ourselves up to be victims by focusing on the other person while neglecting ourselves. We talk about having and setting healthy boundaries, talking directly, and taking responsibility for what we want and need.

While these behaviors certainly help us deal with addicted people, these are not behaviors intended only for use in what we call “dysfunctional relationships.”

These behaviors are our new relationship behaviors. They help us in stressful relationships. They can help us get through times of stress in healthy relationships.

The recovery behaviors we are learning are tools—healthy relationships skills—that help us improve the quality of all our relationships.

Recovery means self-care—learning to take care of ourselves and love ourselves—with people. The healthier we become, the healthier our relationships will become. And we’ll never outgrow our need for healthy behaviors.

Today, I will remember to apply my recovery behaviors in all my relationships—with friends and co-workers, as well as in any special love relationship. I will work hard at taking care of myself in the troublesome relationships, figuring out which skill might best apply. I will also consider ways that my healthy relationships might benefit from my new relationship skills.

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

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December 3

The race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running.

~Anonymous

Recovery is mostly a long-distance runner’s game, not a sprinter’s. Frequently people begin recovery and attend group meetings with an energy that staggers the imagination. They are on every committee, constantly busy helping others, quick on giving advice. It all looks so good.

But there is a question: A year from now, or in five years, where will they be? Will they have skipped over so many of their own broken parts in a rush to heal others that shortly down the road they fall apart?

If recovery is to be likened to a race at all, it most certainly is about the plodding, patient, and humble runner who clearly knows that what is called for is to put one foot in front of the other and then do it again.

I am less interested in making a “big finish” than I used to be. I accept the fact that recovery is a long-term process.

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

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December 4

I really do believe that every human being has serious value. I’m in most people’s corner.

~Elaine Brown

To look past people’s flaws and see them as basically good is rare. There are many days when it is hard to look past our own flaws and see the goodness that lies behind our moods.

But we seem to be able to do just that when we sit in our meetings. We look past the illness of addiction; we look past each other’s character defects and keep reminding each other of the good that is part of us all. We cannot afford to let others give up on themselves. Our recovery is based on a collective “we.” If one of us does not have faith in themselves, then we allow shame to plant a seed.

There will be times we want to hide in our character defects; we will want to hide in shame. At these times we must remember, if we really believe we are good people, then aren’t we responsible to be good people? We must always ask ourselves, “Am I refusing to be in my own corner?”
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, you are always in my corner. Help me to believe in myself and others. Help me to see past my character defects and to be responsible.
Today's Action

Today I will write down three times I thought I wasn’t “good enough” so that I could avoid responsibility.

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

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December 5

Second thoughts are always wiser.

~Euripides

We may pride ourselves on being spontaneous; we may like to act on the spur of the moment; we may even enjoy the thrill of taking risks. And there is much to be said for acting in this way, without too much thought or self-criticism.

But such actions may be part of our addiction. Perhaps there are times when out of anger or hurt or frustration, we act on impulse and find ourselves back on the same old slide toward shame and even danger. We say, “To heck with it, things couldn’t be worse,” and off we go to act out.

Let’s resolve to sit back at such moments and think a while. Why not try to find out what we really want at these times of high intensity? Is the pleasure or the relief that we seek worth the hurt it may do to us and to those we love? Do we even find the pleasure that our fantasy bids us to seek?

When we think again, we discover that what we really want is to be at peace with ourselves and the world.

I am learning to reflect before acting to be sure it isn’t my addiction that is making the decisions.

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

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December 6

If God seems far away, who moved?

~Anonymous

We traveled near and far to find a relationship with God. We spent hours looking for God in nature or the stars. We listened to many enlightened speakers to obtain a glimpse of God’s presence. The harder we tried to find God, the further removed God was from our lives. We lived our lives as if we had lost God. We thought that if we searched hard enough, we could find Him.

The new world we have found in recovery shows us what has always been there. While we were searching, we were never living with what we had. God will never be nearer to us than He is right now. Our responsibility in life is to keep our conscious contact with our Higher Power free and open. When God seems far away, that contact needs to be renewed.

When I meditate, pray, and keep my inventory current, God always is with me because I am with God. I no longer need to search for something that can’t be lost.

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

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December 7

Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.

~Albert Einstein

Anger can be a healthy emotion, provided we don’t wallow in it or attack other people. When we express anger honestly and without reservation, we can prevent walls of resentment from building up and blocking us off from the intimacy that we strive for in our relationships. When we allow anger to fester in our heart, we surrender our peace of mind and lose our sense of purpose and self-worth. When we harbor anger rather than openly and respectfully expressing it, we no longer hear our inner spirit. Thus we are cut off from our innate wisdom to guide us in our actions.

We’re often drawn to people who express their feelings honestly. This style of communicating serves as an invitation to build a relationship with them based on trust. From this trust we learn to open ourselves to God’s love for us as we are.

Today I will feel my anger, express it when necessary, and then let it go so that I can deepen my trust of other people and of God.

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

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December 8

If people only knew the healing power of laughter and joy, many of our fine doctors would be out of business. Joy is one of nature's greatest medicines. Joy is always healthy. A pleasant state of mind tends to bring abnormal conditions back to normal.

~Catherine Ponder

Feeling joy may not come naturally to us most of the time. We may, in fact, have to act "as if" with great effort. We may not even recognize genuine joy in the beginning. A technique for finding it is living fully in the present and with gratitude for all we can see, touch, and feel.

The open and honest expression of gratitude for the presence of the ones closest to us now creates a rush within our breasts, a rush that will be shared by our friends, too. Joy is contagious. Joy is freeing. Joy brings into focus our distorted perceptions. Greeting life with joy alters every experience for us and for those we share it with.

I will bring joy wherever I go today. l will give the gift of joy to everyone I meet.

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

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December 9

Strive for continuous improvement instead of perfection.

~Kim Collins

Doing our best is not perfection. We have goals and tasks before us. We work at them and we give them our best shot. That is all we need to do, and we deserve to feel all the self-respect any good man feels.

Some of our goals are big challenges. We can set aside any hopes of achieving them perfectly, but when we look back at what we have already done, we may remember that we have come further than we ever dreamed possible. If we expected perfection of ourselves, it would not help us. In fact, it would only get in the way of our work.

Today, I give my best to the work that is before me. I will ask nothing more of myself.

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

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December 10

AA Thought for the Day

The AA program is one of charity because the real meaning of the word charity is to care enough about other people to really want to help them. To get the full benefit of the program, we must try to help other alcoholics. We may try to help somebody and think we have failed, but the seed we have planted may bear fruit sometime. We never know the results even a word of ours might have. But the main thing is to have charity for others, a real desire to help them, whether we succeed or not. Do I have real charity?
Meditation for the Day

All material things—the universe, the world, even our bodies—may be Eternal Thought expressed in time and space. The more the physicists and astronomers reduce matter, the more it becomes a mathematical formula, which is thought. In the final analysis, matter is thought. When Eternal Thought expresses itself within the framework of space and time, it becomes matter. Our thoughts, within the box of space and time, cannot know anything firsthand, except material things. But we can deduce that outside the box of space and time is Eternal Thought, which we can call God.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be a true expression of Eternal Thought. I pray that God’s thoughts may work through my thoughts.

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

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December 11

It is terribly amusing how many different climates of feeling one can go through in a day.

~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

When we travel by canoe down a river we can notice the changes that take place. In one spot the river is wide and the water moves slowly. Around the next bend the river narrows and the current speeds up. Ahead of us we see rapids waiting to test our skill.

Our feelings can also change as quickly as the river. We may have times in our day when we feel good about ourselves. Then, all of a sudden, someone may tease us about something. We begin to feel like the scared canoeist shooting the rapids for the first time. How wonderful it is to know that we are never given a test we can't handle, that everything that happens in our lives is for the sake of our growth, and that we are watched over at all times by God.

How can I use today's obstacles for my own growth?

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

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December 12

I’ll just take it one day at a time, and when I’m ready, I’ll be ready. It’ll reveal itself, I guess.

~America Ferrera

We are to take with us only the joys and problems of the present day. We don’t carry with us the mistakes of days gone by. We have no room for them. We are to work at loving ourselves and others today. Just today.

It’s crazy for us to think we can handle more than one day at a time. During our illness, we lived everywhere but in the here and now. We looked to the future or punished ourselves with our past. The AA slogan “One day at a time” teaches us to go easy. It teaches us to focus on what really means anything to us: the here and now.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me turn the slogans of my programs into a way of life. Help me to live life moment by moment, one day at a time.
Action for the Day

Today I’ll practice living in the present. When I find myself living in the past or in the future, I’ll bring myself back to today.

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

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December 13

In the world to come they will not ask me, “Why were you not Moses?” They will ask me, “Why were you not Zusya?”

~Zusya of Hanipoli

We grow in the direction of the choices we make. That growth depends as much on how we make decisions as on which ones we make. Often in the past we tried to model ourselves after someone we admired. Our self-confidence was poor, so we depended on others to let us know if our decisions were correct, or we modeled our decisions on how we thought others would decide. Now we see that we can never become exactly like someone else, and we need not try.

To each of us, God gives a creative task and a problem—to take our special abilities and limitations and become whole men. We use standards for our choices based on our best ideas of right and wrong, of what fits with our inner feelings, and of what our Higher Power is guiding us toward. Unfinished and imperfect as we are, we become more peaceful as we become more fully ourselves.

May I be true to myself in the choices I make today. I am becoming the man that I admire.

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

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December 14

Testing the fellowship

Early in recovery, we may find ourselves testing the fellowship to see how much others will respond to us. Out of fear, anxiety, loneliness, or frustration, we may act out. As wonderful as our fellowship is, it will take repeated assaults and excessive demands.

When fellowship members have had enough, they may object. We may feel hurt. If we overreact and reject the fellowship, we lose. So does the fellowship. We need to learn what issues we have along with addiction and how to deal with them. The fellowship needs the care and respect we’d give any relationship.

Am I treating the fellowship and myself well?

Higher Power, help me to understand my individual issues and to get help with them.

Today I will show respect for the fellowship by…

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

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December 15

Reflection for the Day

Once we surrendered and came to the program, many of us wondered what we would do with all that time on our hands. All the hours we’d previously spent planning, hiding, creating alibis, getting loaded, coming down, getting “well,” juggling our accounts—and all the rest—threatened to turn into empty chunks of time that somehow had to be filled. We needed new ways to use the energy previously absorbed by our addictions. We soon realized that substituting a new and different activity is far easier than just stopping the old activity and putting nothing in its place. Am I redirecting my mind and energy?
Today I Pray

I pray that, once free of the encumbrance of my addiction, I may turn to my Higher Power to discover for me how to fill my time constructively and creatively. May that same Power that makes human paths cross and links certain people to specific situations lead me along good new roads into good new places.
Today I Will Remember

Happenstance may be more than chance.

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

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December 16

If we think too much, we hinder our understanding and our progress.

Step Eleven suggests that we’ll improve our conscious contact with God if we pray and meditate. The meditation part is particularly important. It’s the avenue between us and our Higher Power’s guidance. Quieting our minds of our obsession with what other people are doing isn’t always easy.

But it’s there, in the quiet, that we’ll feel God’s guidance, God’s message, God’s comfort. Having busy minds isn’t unusual. Nor is it accidental. Our minds are full because we fill them. If we want quiet minds in order to know God better, we must empty them.

God answers our prayers in the quiet spaces of our minds. Let’s listen.

I will clear my mind today so God can reach me with what I need to know.

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

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December 17

…concern should drive us into action and not into depression.

~Karen Homey

The role of victim is all too familiar to many of us. Life did us injustices—we thought. And we passively waited for circumstances to change. With the bottle we waited, or maybe the little white pills. Nothing was our fault. That we were willing participants to victimization is an awareness not easily accepted, but true nonetheless.

Victims no more, we are actors, now. And since committing ourselves to this program, we have readily available a willing and very able director for our role in life. Every event invites an action, and we have opted for the responsible life.

Depression may be on the fringes of our consciousness today. But it need not become our state of mind. The antidote is and always will be action, responsible action. Every concern, every experience wants our attention, our active attention.

Today stretches before me, an unknown quantity. Concerns will crowd upon me, but guidance regarding the best action to take is always available to me.

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

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December 18

Letting Go of Timing

When the time is right, child. When the time is right. How often have we heard those words—from a friend, a sponsor, our Higher Power?

We want things so badly—that job, that check, a relationship, a possession. We want our life to change. So we wait, sometimes patiently, sometimes anxiously, wondering all the while: When will the future bring me what I long for? Will I be happy then?

We try to predict, circling dates on the calendar, asking questions. We forget that we don’t hold the answers. The answers come from God. If we listen closely, we’ll hear them. When the time is right, child. When the time is right. Be happy now.

Today, I will relax. I am being prepared. I can let go of timing. I can stop manipulating outcomes. Good things will happen when the time is right, and they will happen naturally.

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

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December 19

The smartest thing I ever said was, “Help me!”

~Dorrie T.

How difficult it is to acknowledge that we need help! How it goes against the grain to admit we are needy. But “Help me!” is the password that opens the door to recovery.

When we say these words to our Higher Power, spouse or partner, or friend, we are really saying we are ready to be honest. For some of us, this may be the first honest personal statement we have made in many years.

When we ask others to help us learn to be free, to deal with our illusions, to shuck off our compulsions, we are asking them to help us turn on the light. Only the light of honesty can show us our hidden immaturities and stumbling-block character defects. Childish temper tantrums disguised as righteous indignation must be seen for what they are. The inability to accept love must not be allowed to wear the mask of sophistication. Are we too cool to be caught or too scared to be honest?

Some things are just too difficult to figure out without a little help from our friends.

Today, I will come closer to freedom by asking someone who is honest to help me be honest.

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

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December 20

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

~William James

As active addicts, we walked through life as if we were disposable. Shame kept telling us we had no value, and over time we acted as if we had no value. We acted as if how we conducted ourselves didn’t matter—but it did. A fellow addict used to say that it wouldn’t matter if he dropped dead tomorrow. When he died of his addiction, there were many tears at his funeral, especially by his children.

We must go out into our life and make a difference. With each new day that we stay sober and live by spiritual values, we get rid of a bit more shame. Over time the shame goes away, and we start to see the happiness that our new way of being brings. We see that just being at home, playing with our children or spouse, makes a difference. We see that just being a good employee makes a difference. We see that just being a good citizen makes a difference. We see our value, and it makes us happy.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, when I am not able to see my own value, help me to see that I make a difference. Take away my shame.
Today's Action

Today I will practice walking through my day as if I make a difference. I will work to be helpful to others and to conduct myself with dignity.

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

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December 21

Changes

Change your thoughts, and you change your world.

~Norman Vincent Peale

We learn from the program that all of our lives are made up of changes. Life for us can be like the seasons of the year. The uncomfortable blizzards of winter will pass. Spring brings flowers. Chattering birds fill the air with song where once there was wind, snow, and ice.

We know summer will follow spring. We learn to take the bad with the good. Hardships can make us stronger. Suffering cannot last forever. The key is to see life with optimism. We know that the changing of the seasons is like the changes in our lives.

When we use the Serenity Prayer, we may occasionally lose sight of its meaning. We need to concentrate on the differences between what we can change and what we can’t.

I trust and believe that the changes in my recovery life are like the changing of the seasons. They are necessary and good for me.

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

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December 22

The only true hope for civilization—the conviction of the individual that his inner life can affect outward events.

~Stephen Spender

Our addiction may have left us little time to think about our society and our world. We may have spent vast sums of money and energy feeding the addiction that was devouring us. And the world was reduced to the fantasies that were spinning around in our heads.

We deserve better for ourselves. And we can change. There is a relationship between what we think and what we do—and what we do affects others as well as ourselves. Our addiction has caused misery to others. Our recovery brings joy to other people as well as to ourselves. Changing our inner lives, becoming free from the stranglehold of addiction, releases new energy and desires that, turned outward, act upon the world. We take and take again these Twelve Steps and spread the news of hope and recovery to others. We join in activities in the group and find ourselves growing spiritually. As we follow the path, we realize that we can and do make a difference by helping others live out their full potential.

I am not an island but part of a community that is affected by my beliefs and actions.

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

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December 23

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.

~Truman Capote

Accepting failure in achieving goals we’ve set for our job, friendships, and daily endeavors is seldom easy. We often demand success, if not perfection, from ourselves and from others. We set standards that can seldom be met; then, when we fail, we’re humiliated rather than humbled. And with this attitude, no matter how many successes we’ve had, they’re cancelled by one failure, no matter how small.

Our journey is made more difficult by these impossible expectations. We seem to find it hard to believe that God does not expect perfection and does not judge our success and failure by the same unbending measuring stick we often apply to ourselves. We are successful every moment that our actions are honest, loving, and consistent with our values. And when they’re not, we are successful when we admit our shortcomings, make amends, and turn it all over to God.

Today’s failures will be reminders to stay humble and surrender my shortcomings to God so that I may go on to enjoy my successes.

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

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December 24

The great man is he who does not lose his child-heart.

~Mencius

No matter what we have done or what has happened to us, no matter how guilty, worried, or fearful we feel, there was a time when we were small, innocent, and openhearted toward the world. That happy and playful boy still lives within us. Sometimes he seems like a distant memory, but we would do well to bring him close to us, give him a place in our awareness, and honor and protect him.

Some of us remembered that little boy being treated too harshly or shamed too deeply, and we adopted false attitudes of disgust toward him. But we can go back still further to a time when he was innocent and we could love him. A strong and healthy man carries that boy close to his heart and lets him come forth to be playful and lighthearted. That boy can be the source of eagerness to learn and hope for the future. He can put himself in the shoes of the small and the weak and treat them with gentleness.

Today, my child-heart beats within me as strongly as it ever did.

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

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December 25

Love is a force. It is not a result; it is a cause. It is not a product; it produces. It is a power, like money, or steam or electricity. It is valueless unless you can give something else by means of it.

~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Love and feeling loved—how often both elude us! We have taken the first step, though. Let's be grateful for our recovery; this is an act of love. We have chosen to love ourselves, and the program opens the way to our loving others. Love and loving are balms for the soul sickness we experience. We are being healed. We are healing one another.

Loving others means going beyond our own selfish concerns, for the moment, and putting others' concerns first. The result is that others feel our love. They feel a caring that is healing. And our spiritual natures are likewise soothed.

We find God and ourselves through touching the souls of one another. Our most special gift is being loved and giving love. Every moment we spend with another person is gift-giving time.

Every day is a gift-giving holiday, if I will but make it so

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

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December 26

AA Thought for the Day

In the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous there were only two persons. Now there are many groups and thousands of members. True, the surface has only been scratched. There are probably ten million or more persons in America alone who need our help. More and more people are making a start in AA each day. In the case of individual members, the beginning has been accomplished when they admit they are powerless and turn to a Power greater than themselves, admitting that their lives have become unmanageable. Our Higher Power works for good in all things and helps us to accomplish much in individual growth and in the growth of AA groups. Am I doing my part in helping AA to grow?
Meditation for the Day

“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Only in the fullness of faith can the heart-sick and faint and weary be satisfied, healed, and rested. Think of the wonderful spiritual revelations still to be found by those who are trying to live the spiritual life. Much of life is spiritually unexplored country. Only to the consecrated and loving people who walk with God in spirit can these great spiritual discoveries be revealed. Keep going forward, and keep growing in righteousness.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may not be held back by the material things of the world. I pray that I may let God lead me forward.

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

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December 27

One is happy as a result of one's own efforts, tastes, a certain degree of courage, self-denial to a point, love of work, and, above all, a clear conscience. Happiness is no vague dream; of that I now feel certain.

~George Sand

"We always go get a hot fudge sundae after the school choir concert," the girl said. Her parents laughed because their daughter said always, and they had gone to a school choir concert only once. Then the parents realized that the girl really had a great idea. "Yes," the mother said, "we always get a sundae because we like to make up new traditions. We'll have to be sure and do it tonight so we don't let the tradition fall apart before it even gets started!"

They all laughed together and started debating which restaurant had the best hot fudge sundae.

We all need to have special traditions with our families. We need celebrations that have nothing to do with official holidays. Family holidays can mean so much more to us sometimes because they celebrate our shared experiences in life and become the source of happy memories for a lifetime.

What tradition can I start today?

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

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December 28

Alcoholism isn’t a spectator sport. Eventually the whole family gets to play.

~Joyce Rebeta-Burditt

One of the biggest lies addicts can tell themselves is “I’m not hurting anyone but myself.” This is just another way we don’t see how important we are to others. During our using, love was a burden. When anyone showed love for us, we turned away. They hurt. And we hurt.

In recovery, when ready, we try to help our families heal. We listen as they speak of how our illness has hurt them. We comfort them as they tell their stories. Remember, our illness hurt them. Remember, our recovery will help them heal.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me face the pain my illness has brought to others. Let me know their pain. Let it help me stay sober.
Action for the Day

I will list all persons my illness has hurt. I will say a prayer for them, even if they have harmed me.

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

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December 29

Today's Gift, Daily Inspiration
The tremor of awe is the best in man.

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We have a spiritual experience in knowing and being touched by something much larger than us, something beyond what we understand, something of mysterious dimensions. It can happen as we stand on the banks of an ageless river, listen to beautiful music, read scripture, or say a prayer with a friend. When we set aside defiance, willfulness, and our demands to subdue whatever we meet, we become receptive to a larger reality. The experience of awe brings out the best in a man because it instills a spirit of respect and gratitude. It inspires humility and expands our minds into realms we can’t express in words.

The sense of awe is a kind of reverence. After we learn where our personal awe is inspired, we can return to it again and again. As we feel it more, we become more open to it in the mundane parts of our daily lives. Today, we might feel the spirit in the visit of a wild bird on a branch, the spontaneous “Hi” from a small child, or the stillness before prayer at the dinner table.

Today, I will look for moments of awe in my life.

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

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December 30

Helping others

We can arm ourselves with facts about mind-altering substances to share with addicts, but just hearing the information will not necessarily convince anyone of their addiction. We cannot prance around diagnosing people, but we can make suggestions that encourage users to diagnose themselves.

We can propose the “controlled using for thirty days” test or one of the several written self-tests. If they pass the tests, then their problem is probably not like ours. We are not doctors or demigods, but we can carry the message. When our Higher Power sees fit, there are those we can aid.

Do I try to help others diagnose themselves?

Higher Power, may your love and light shine forth through me, but may I not set myself up to do your job.

Today I will carry the message to…

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

[bluidkiti]

December 31

Don’t brood on what’s past, but never forget it either.

~Thomas H. Raddall

When we make big changes in our lives for the better, as we have all done, we naturally grieve the time we lost by not learning our lessons sooner. There’s no way to avoid that grief, but there’s no point in dwelling on it. Some of us get hooked by feelings of regret. We brood over the ways we let others down, and we wish we could relive certain events and do better with them this time. It is important for us all to release the past—let it go.

Our life is now. If we spend our conscious moments living in the past and regretting our mistakes, we never get on with living a good life in the present. A truly humble man accepts the forgiveness of others and the forgiveness of his Higher Power. He accepts the universal truth that we are all broken in some ways, and our self-acceptance isn’t based on what we did or didn’t do in the past, but on how we live today.

Today, I look back at where I have come from and feel grateful for a new life.

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