Daily Recovery Readings - September

[bluidkiti]

September 1

Daily Reflections

WILLINGNESS TO GROW
If more gifts are to be received, our awakening has to go on.
As Bill Sees It, p.8

Sobriety fills the painful "hole in the soul" that my alcoholism
created. Often I feel so physically well that I believe my work is
done. However, joy is not just the absence of pain; it is the gift of
continued spiritual awakening. Joy comes from ongoing and active
study, as well as application of the principles of recovery in my
everyday life, and from sharing that experience with others. My
Higher Power presents many opportunities for deeper spiritual
awakening. I need only to bring into my recovery the willingness to
grow. Today I am ready to grow.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Be careful not to brand new prospects as alcoholics. Let them draw
their own conclusion. But talk to them about the hopelessness of
alcoholism. Tell them exactly what happened to you and how you
recovered. Stress the spiritual feature freely. If they are agnostics
or atheists, make it emphatic that they do not have to agree with
your concept of God. They can choose any concept they like,
provided it makes sense to them. The main thing is that they be
willing to believe in a power greater than themselves and that they
live by spiritual principles." Do I hold back too much in speaking
of the spiritual principles of the program?

Meditation For The Day

"I will never leave or forsake thee." Down through the centuries,
thousands have believed in God's constancy, untiringness, and
unfailing love. God has love. Then forever you are sure of His
love. God has power. Then forever you are sure, in every
difficulty and temptation, of His strength. God has patience. Then
always there is One who can never tire. God has understanding.
Then always you will understand and be understood. Unless you want
Him to go, God will never leave you. He is always ready with
power.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may feel that God's love will never fail. I pray that I
may have confidence in His unfailing power.

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As Bill Sees It

Morning Thoughts, p.243

On awakening, let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead.
We ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be
divorced from self-pity and from dishonest or self-seeking
motives. Free of these, we can employ our mental faculties with
assurance, for God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be
on a higher plane when our thinking begins to be cleared of wrong
motives.

If we have determined which of two courses to take, we ask God for
inspiration, an intuitive thought, or a decision. Then we relax and
take it easy, and we are often surprised how the right answers come
after we have tried this for a while.

We usually conclude our meditation with a prayer that we be shown
all through the day what our next step is to be, asking especially
for freedom from damaging self-will.

Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 86-87

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Walk In Dry Places

Are we victimizing ourselves?
Finding the New Happiness
Some believe that people create their own trouble by attracting the wrong
conditions and people in their lives. This may not be entirely
true, but we can find that some element of it was at work with us.
Time and time again during our drinking, we set ourselves up for abuse
and rejection, though our motives seemed right.
Why did we do this? Supposedly to punish ourselves, the theory has it.
If this is true, then we should now call a halt to the process
immediately. If we've emerged from the terrors of alcoholism, we've had
all the punishment anybody needs.
We can change our bad patterns by looking carefully at the people and situations
we seem to attract. Without resentment or condemnation, we
can part company with any problems these have been bringing us. We can
start building new relationships and attracting better conditions that
will be immensely successful in terms of happiness and well-being.<br>
I'll remember today that in the new life I'm seeking, there's no need
for punishment. I will not go out of my way to attract people or
conditions that create problems in my life.

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Keep It Simple

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible . . . ---First half of Step Nine
In our illness, we harmed people. In Step Nine, we are to make amends. Making amends is about asking people we have harmed what we need to do to set things right. But making amends is more than saying, “I'm sorry.” If you ran a store and someone had stolen five dollars, you wouldn't want them to just say, ”I'm sorry.” You'd want the person to pay back the money. The same is true with amends.
Many people we've harmed ask only that we don't repeat our mistakes. Respect their wishes. Step Nine has healed many wounds. Step Nine allows us to grow up. Step Nine help us regain faith in ourselves. Remember, the best amend we make to all is to stay sober.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, give me courage. Help me face the trouble caused by my disease. Make me ready to help other heals from the harm I've caused.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll pray that those I've harmed will heal. I will be responsible for my actions.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Success can only be measured in terms of distance traveled. --Mavis Gallant
We are forever moving from one experience to another, one challenge to another, and one relationship to another. Our ability to handle confidently all encounters is a gift of the program, and one that accompanies us throughout every day, providing we humbly express gratitude for it. Success is ours when we are grateful.
We are not standing still. No matter how uneventful our lives may seem, we are traveling toward our destiny, and all the thrills and tears, joys and sorrows, are contributing to the success of our trip. Every day, every step, we are succeeding.
We can reflect on yesterday, better yet, on last week or even last year. What were our problems? It's doubtful we can even remember them. We have put distance between them and us. They were handled in some manner. We have succeeded in getting free of them. We have succeeded in moving beyond them.
How far we have come! And we will keep right on traveling forward. As long as we rely on the program, we are assured of success.
I can do whatever I need to do, today, with success, when I humbly accept the program's gifts.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

WE AGNOSTICS

We know how he feels. We have shared his honest doubt and prejudice. Some of us have been violently anti-religious. To others, the word “God” brought up a particular idea of Him with which someone had tried to impress them during childhood. Perhaps we rejected this particular conception because it seemed inadequate. With that rejection we imagined we had abandoned the God idea entirely. We were bothered with the thought that faith and dependence upon a Power beyond ourselves was somewhat weak, even cowardly. We looked upon this world of warring individuals, warring theological systems, and inexplicable calamity, with deep skepticism, We looked askance at many individuals who claimed to be godly. How could a Supreme Being have anything to do with it all? And who could comprehend a Supreme Being anyhow? Yet, in other moments, we found ourselves thinking, when enchanted by a starlit night, “Who, then, make all this?” There was a feeling of awe and wonder, but it was fleeting and soon lost.

pp. 45-46

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Ten - "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it."

Disagreeable or unexpected problems are not the only ones that call for self-control. We must be quite as careful when we begin to achieve some measure of importance and material success. For no people have ever loved personal triumphs more than we have loved them; we drank of success as of a wine which could never fail to make us feel elated. When temporary good fortune came our way, we indulged ourselves in fantasies of still greater victories over people and circumstances. Thus blinded by prideful self confidence, we were apt to play the big shot. Of course, people turned away from us, bored or hurt.

pp. 91-92

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God brings peace to me, all I need do is ask.
--Shelley

The peace that I feel in my life is growing richer every day. As I
continue to walk on my spiritual path to recovery, I let myself be
guided by truth and love. Conflict is leaving, making more and more
room for charity, serenity and usefulness.
--Ruth Fishel

Treat every person with kindness and respect, even those who are
rude to you. Remember that you show compassion to others not
because of who they are, but because of who you are.
--Andrew T. Somers

Today I know my Higher Power is guiding me through the changes I
choose to make in my life. I have all the energy I need today
to make these changes as easily and effortless as I wish.
--Ruth Fishel

Today, I will stop forcing things to happen. Instead, I will allow things
to happen naturally. If I catch myself trying to force events or control
people, I will stop and figure out a way to detach.
--Melody Beattie

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

OPTIMISM

"Optimism is a kind of heart
stimulant -- the digitalis of
failure."
-- Elbert Hubbard

Today I am an optimist. I believe in life, and more importantly, I
believe in me. I know that God cares and this brings me hope.

But when I was drinking I had a negative and destructive attitude in all
areas of life; nothing pleased me, people were not to be trusted,
everybody had a price, God seemed to be "out for lunch" and life had
lost its meaning. I was a sad man. I was a lonely man. I was an angry
man.

When I was told to put down the drink and follow some new directions,
I halfheartedly agreed. I met people who laughed, shared their pain
and lived in the realistic "now". I began to listen. Slowly I changed.
Peace was within my grasp.

Today I wonder at my halfhearted risk that started it all -- and thank
God.

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Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be
shaken but endures forever.
Psalm 125:1

Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your
heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!"
Psalm 27:14

"Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever
state I am, to be content."
Philippians 4:11

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Daily Inspiration

Get outside of yourself and be outgoing for others. Lord, help me to act in a heartwarming manner so that Your presence in me lights an entire room.

Are you too busy wishing away your day to get what you really want? Lord, help me set goals and find the means to achieve what is important to me.