Daily Recovery Readings - July

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July 4

Daily Reflections

A NATURAL FAITH

. . . deep down in every man, woman and child, is the fundamental idea
of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other
things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power
greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power
in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 55

I have seen the workings of the unseen God in A.A. rooms around the
country. Miracles of recovery are everywhere in evidence. I now
believe that God is in these rooms and in my heart. Today faith is as
natural to me, a former agnostic, as breathing, eating and sleeping.
The Twelve Steps have helped to change my life in many ways, but none is
more effective than the acquisition of a Higher Power.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In Alcoholics Anonymous there is no thought of individual profit. No
greed or gain. No membership fees, no dues. Only voluntary
contributions of our money and ourselves. All that we hope for is
sobriety and regeneration, so that we can live normal, respectable
lives and can be recognized by others as men and women willing to do
unto others as we would be done by. These things we accomplish by
the help of each other, by following the twelve steps and by the grace
of God. Am I willing to work for A.A. without material gain to myself?

Meditation For The Day

What is sometimes called by religion as conversion is often only the
discovery of God as a friend in need. What is sometimes called
religion is often only the experiencing of the help and strength of
God's power in our lives. What is sometimes called holiness is often
only the invitation of God to be our Friend. As God becomes your
friend, you become a friend to others. We experience true human
friendship and from this experience we can imagine what kind of
Great Friend God can be. We believe Him to be a tireless, selfless, all
conquering, miracle-working Friend. We can reach out to the Great
Friend and figuratively take His hand in ours.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may think of God as a Great Friend in need. I pray that I
may go along with Him.

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As Bill Sees It

Boomerang, p. 185

When I was ten, I was tall and gawky, and smaller kids could push me around in quarrels.
I remember being very depressed for a year or more, and then I began to develop fierce
resolve to win.

One day, my grandfather came along with a book about Australia and told me, "This
books says that nobody but an Australian bushman knows how to make and throw a
boomerang."

"Here's my chance," I thought. "I will be the first man in America to make and throw a
boomerang." Well, any kid could have a notion like that. It might have lasted two days
or two weeks. But mine was a power drive that kept on for six months, till I made a
boomerang that swung around the church yard in front of the house and almost hit my
grandfather in the head when it came back.

Emotionally, I had begun the fashioning of another sort of boomerang, one that almost
killed me later on.

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Walk In Dry Places

Our common knowledge
Progress
One guiding factor in 12 Step groups is the sharing of experience and knowledge. The fact that a few people seem especially gifted as speakers and workers doesn't relieve us of the need for every person's participation.
Such group efforts are important to all human progress. For every outstanding person, there are hundreds who contribute to the success of any venture.
What we bring to the group is our experience as well as a strong commitment to the group's purpose. This makes our meetings warm, interesting, and helpful. The group can always be such a center if its members really are part of it.
I'll remind myself today that I can draw stength from the group and also make it stronger with my participation.

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Keep It Simple

I have a dream.---Martin Luther King Jr.
During our addiction, maybe we dreamed of joy and laughter with our family---only to find tears and anger. Maybe we dreamed of respect at our job---only to be fired. Our dreams began to feel like burdens. We had lost hope.
With recovery, the hope starts to return. We start to trust ourselves again. We start to trust others again. We start to trust in our Higher Power. Over time, we even dare to dream again. In our dreams, we are loving people. We have something to offer others. We are not scared. This is a sign that hope is returning. We fall in love again with the world, our Higher Power, and ourselves.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thank-you for giving back my future. Thank-you for giving back my dreams.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll tell my dreams to a friend. Do my future dreams include improving myself through the program?

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Each Day a New Beginning

One doesn't recognize in one's life the really important moments--not until it's too late. --Agatha Christie
Every moment is special and offers us an opportunity--to let an experience change us in an important way, to invite another person into our life, to nurture the growing, changing woman within. Life's events move so rapidly we seldom relish the moments individually, but each day teems with tiny gifts divinely designed for our well-being. The woman smiled at in the grocery store yesterday or the man acknowledged on the bus last week felt special. And we were softened, too, by our expression.
We change, and we change our world when we acknowledge one another's presence in it. The wonderful reality is that we are in another's world because of the special qualities we each have and are able to share with one another.
For many of us, in times past, no moment felt important. The days were simply long and painful. But now, we can relish even the past pain for what it taught us. We know now that we can look to this day before us with expectation. We can be conscious of every moment, thankful for every experience and every person we encounter.
In this inner game of life, I share the court, and I will have my turn to serve. To really live, I must participate fully.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

THERE IS A SOLUTION

We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this.
These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. If you ask him why he started on that last bender, the chances are he will offer you any one of a hundred alibis. Sometimes these excuses have a certain plausibility, but none of them really makes sense in the light of the havoc an alcoholic’s drinking bout creates. They sound like the philosophy of the man who, having a headache, beats himself on the head with a hammer so that he can’t feel the ache. If you draw this fallacious reasoning to the attention of an alcoholic, he will laugh it off, or become irritated and refuse to talk.

pp. 22-23

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Six - "Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character."

Some people, of course, may conclude that they are indeed ready to have all such defects taken from them. But even these people, if they construct a list of still milder defects, will be obliged to admit that they prefer to hang on to some of them. Therefore, it seems plain that few of us can quickly or easily become ready to aim at spiritual and moral perfection; we want to settle for only as much perfection as will get us by in life, according, of course, to our various and sundry ideas of what will get us by. So the difference between "the boys and the men" is the difference between striving for a self-determined objective and for the perfect objective which is of God.

pp. 67-68

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Faith isn't faith until it's all you're holding on to.
--unknown

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.
--John Cotton Dana

I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second
time into things that I am most certain of the first time.
--Josh Billings

A lot of growing up takes place between "It fell" and "I dropped it."
--Cited in BITS & PIECES

The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together.
--Robert C. Dodds

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
--unknown

LIVE and let live
EASY does it
BUT for the grace of God
THINK think think
FIRST things first
When put in this order five of our sayings produce a sixth saying by
taking the first word of each one to make the sixth: LIVE EASY BUT
THINK FIRST.
--unknown

An old timer had shared in the meeting about praying for something,
and that God had answered her request. Someone asked her, "How
do you know it was God who granted your request?"
She replied... "I didn't ask anyone else."
--unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

FREEDOM

"Freedom is nothing else but a
chance to be better."
--Albert Camus

Human beings are not puppets. Sometimes when you hear people talk
about God and prayer, they imply that we have no choice and that all
actions in life are determined by God alone: a moment's reflection
should make us hesitate from such a viewpoint. Murder, rape, child
molestation and prejudice do not stem from God but are the results of
God's gift of freedom to mankind.

Addicts and alcoholics need to comprehend on a daily basis that
prayers that are not accompanied by actions are mere words. God's
love for man does not obliterate man's need to love himself through
choice and decision. Sobriety and serenity should be experienced in
our lives when divinity is revealed in our choice.

God, help me to appreciate my involvement in my desire to be a
winner.

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..."but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me."
Philippians 3:12

Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.
Psalm 119:18

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Daily Inspiration

To make no decision can be worse than making a wrong decision. Lord, help me to be an active part of my life and to realize that no decision is so firm that it can't be modified, corrected or improved on as time passes.

Worry about nothing, pray for everything, and thank God for His answers. Lord, I ask You to handle my problems with me and care for my needs.