AA Thought For Today - February

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AA Thought for the Day

February 1

Paradox
3. WE SUFFER TO GET WELL.
There is no way to escape the terrible suffering of remorse and regret and shame
and embarrassment which starts us on the road to getting well from our affliction.
There is no new way to shake out a hangover. It's painful. And for us, necessarily so. . .
We suffer to get well.
- Experience, Strength & Hope, p. 156

Thought to Ponder . . .
We surrender to win; we give away to keep;
we suffer to get well; we die to live.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~

Fear
Sometimes we think fear ought to be classed with stealing.
It seems to cause more trouble.
We reviewed our fears thoroughly.
We put them on paper,
even though we had no resentment in connection with them.
We asked ourselves why we had them.
Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us?
Self-reliance was good as far as it went,
but it didn't go far enough.
Some of us once had great self-confidence,
but it didn't fully solve the fear problem, or any other.
When it made us cocky, it was worse.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 67-8

Thought to Consider . . .
Situations I fear are rarely as bad as the fear itself.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F E A R = Forgetting Everything's All Right

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

Surrender
From "A Practical Philosophy":
"We simply stop messing in God's business. And in my opinion, when we stop messing and stop worrying, we have
turned our will and our lives over to God (or Good) as we understand (or don't understand) Him. "San Jose, California,
USA"
1973 AAWS, Inc.; Came to Believe, 30th printing 2004, pg. 116

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quotes ^*~*~*~*~*

"While I may be powerless to solve the globe's problems, I am given all the power I need to make a difference to my community, my family, my job, my friends, and most importantly, to stay sober and help other alcoholics."
Woodinville, Wash., November 2013
"From: "The Scoop" "
AA Grapevine

~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

"But life among Alcoholics Anonymous is more than attending
gatherings and visiting hospitals. Cleaning up old scrapes, helping
to settle family differences, explaining the disinherited son to his
irate parents, lending money and securing jobs for each other, when
justified these are everyday occurrences. No one is too
discredited or has sunk too low to be welcomed cordially if he means
business."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, A Vision For You, pg. 161~

"Nearly every modern employer feels a moral responsibility for the
well-being of his help, and he tries to meet these responsibilities.
That he has not always done so for the alcoholic is easily
understood. To him the alcoholic has often seemed a fool of the
first magnitude. Because of the employee's special ability, or of his
own strong personal attachment to him, the employer has sometimes
kept such a man at work long beyond a reasonable period. Some
employers have tried every known remedy. In only a few instances has
there been a lack of patience and tolerance. And we, who have
imposed on the best of employers, can scarcely blame them if they
have been short with us."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, To Employers, pg. 137~

It mattered little whether our resentments were justified or not.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 90

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Some strongly object to the A.A. position that alcoholism is an illness. This concept, they feel, removes moral
responsibility from alcoholics. As any A.A. knows, this is far from true. We do not use the concept of sickness to
absolve our members from responsibility. On the contrary, we use the fact of fatal illness to clamp the heaviest kind of
moral obligation onto the sufferer, the obligation to use A.A.'s Twelve Steps to get well.
'In the early days of his drinking, the alcoholic is often guilty of irresponsibility. But once the time of compulsive drinking
has arrived, he can't very well be held fully accountable for his conduct. He then has an obsession that condemns him
to drink, and a bodily sensitivity to alcohol that guarantees his final madness and death.
'But when he is made aware of this condition, he is under pressure to accept A.A.'s program of moral regeneration.

Prayer for the Day: Lord, cleanse me from all impurities and put a new heart and a new spirit within me. Remove my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh that will be sensitive and compassionate to the needs of others. In Jesus’ name, help me to see others as you see them and to hear and answer their cries just as you would. Today, I will look for opportunities to bless others. Amen.