Daily Recovery ReadingsBluidkiti's Recovery ForumsDaily Recovery Readings and MeditationsRecovery LinksMore Recovery ReadingsNA Just For TodayDaily Spiritual MeditationsDaily PrayersDisclaimerClick here to make a Donation God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and Wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done.September 29 Daily Reflections EXACTLY ALIKE Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89 A man came to the meeting drunk, interrupted the speakers, stood up and took his shirt off, staggered loudly back and forth for coffee, demanded to talk, and eventually called the group's secretary an unquotable name and walked out. I was glad he was there--once again I saw what I still could be. I don't have to be drunk to want to be the exception and the center of attention. I have often felt abused and responded abusively when I was simply being treated as a garden variety human being. The more the man tried to insist he was different, the more I realized that he and I were exactly alike.*********************************************************** Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day Having got this far, shall we pause and ask ourselves some searching questions? We need to check up on ourselves periodically. Just how good an A.A. am I? Am I attending meetings regularly? Am I doing my share to carry the load? When there is something to be done, do I volunteer? Do I speak at meetings when asked, no matter how nervous I am? Do I accept each opportunity to do twelfth-step work as a challenge? Do I give freely of my time and money? Am I trying to spread A.A. wherever I go? Is my daily life a demonstration of A.A. principles? Am I a good A.A.? Meditation For The Day How do I get strength to be effective and to accept responsibility? By asking the Higher Power for the strength I need each day. It has been proved in countless lives that for every day I live the necessary power shall be given me. I must face each challenge that comes to me during the day, sure that God will give me the strength to face it. For every task that is given me, there is also given me all the power necessary for the performance of that task. I do not need to hold back. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may accept every task as a challenge. I know I cannot wholly fail if God is with me. *********************************************************** As Bill Sees ItA.A. In Two Words, p.271 "All A.A. progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words: humility and responsibility. Our whole spiritual development can be accurately measured by our degree of adherence to these magnificent standards. "Ever deepening humility, accompanied by an ever greater willingness to accept and to act upon clear-cut obligations--these are truly our touchstones for all growth in the life of the spirit. They hold up to us the very essence of right being and right doing. It is by them that we are enabled to find and to do God's will." Talk, 1965 (Printed In Grapevine, January 1966)***********************************************************Walk In Dry Places When should I be Grateful? Gratitude One spiritual writer believed that our only reason for gratitude should be that we are part of God's universe. Others point out that gratitude helps us, not God or the other people to whom we are grateful. Their point is that it's not very uplifting simply to tie our gratitude to certain gifts or benefits. Such gratitude is fairly shallow and is almost no more than good manners. As recovering alcoholics, we need more than that. The best reason for gratitude is the outlook it creates as we cultivate it within ourselves. We will actually feel mentally and physically uplifted if we know true gratitude. This is the true spiritual outlook alcoholics seek in the bottle but can find only in the new way of life. I'll find ways to practice gratitude today without letting others know what I'm doing.***********************************************************Keep It Simple Al didn’t smile for forty years. You’ve got to admire a man like that. >From the TV show, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” Remember how we used to live? We were always trying to cover up some lie or mistake. We were all like Al. Our energy was going into our illness, not into living. Gratitude is the key word in the program. Gratitude is being thankful for the getting to know our Higher Power. Remember what it was like to not smile for all those years? Recovery has given us back our smiles. What a relief! We can relax and enjoy our new life. Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll always remember what is was like when I was using. I pray that I’ll not take my recovery for granted. I prayer for gratitude. Action For the Day: I will list all the things the program and recovery have given me. I will smile about them today.***********************************************************Each Day a New Beginning Female friendships that work are relationships in which women help each other to belong to themselves. --Louise Bernikow To have anything worth giving to a friend, we must belong to ourselves. Are we someone we like? Does our behavior agree with our beliefs? Do our friends share our values, and when we are together do we support one another? If we don't like our own company, we will try to hide our real selves. The more we hide, the further we are running from wholeness and health. We can assess ourselves, calmly and lovingly, so that we can keep on becoming the women we want to be. The more congruent are our behavior and our beliefs, the more we belong to ourselves. The better we like ourselves, the better friends we can be. The love and sympathy of my women friends can help me in my spiritual journey toward serenity, and I can help theirs. Today, I will accompany others on their journey, and thus find company for my own.***********************************************************Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth EditionChapter 5 - HOW IT WORKS This is the how and the why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn’t work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most Good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom. p. 62***********************************************************Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition - StoriesLISTENING TO THE WIND - It took an "angel" to introduce this Native American woman to A.A. and recovery. I started stealing and robbed a gas station and a liquor store. I made very few friends. I had learned to trust no one. One night, around eight o'clock, a car pulled up to the curb just as I had settled myself, half drunk, against the wall of a building. I figured I had met my companion for the evening. We made the appropriate conversation to confirm the deal, and I got into the car. Suddenly I felt a deafening blow to my temple. I was knocked senseless. In a desolate area across town, I was pulled from the car, pistol whipped, and left to die in the mud with rain falling softly upon me. I came to in a hospital room with bars on the windows. I spent seven weeks there, having repeated surgeries and barely recognizing my surroundings each time I woke up. Finally, when I was able to walk around a little, a policewoman came and I was taken to county jail. It was my third arrest in two months. Nearly two years on the street had taken its toll. pp. 459-460 ***********************************************************Twelve Steps and Twelve TraditionsStep Seven - "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." The Seventh Step is where we make the change in our attitude which permits us, with humility as our guide, to move out from ourselves toward others and toward God. The whole emphasis of Step Seven is on humility. It is really saying to us that we now ought to be willing to try humility in seeking the removal of our other shortcomings just as we did when we admitted that we were powerless over alcohol, and came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. If that degree of humility could enable us to find the grace by which such a deadly obsession could be banished, then there must be hope of the same result respecting any other problem we could possibly have. p. 76***********************************************************Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. --Hyman Judah Schactel "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." --Mother Theresa "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." --Abraham Lincoln "Being rich isn't about money. Being rich is a state of mind. Some of us, no matter how much money we have, will never be free enough to take time to stop and eat the heart of the watermelon. And some of us will be rich without ever being more than a paycheck ahead of the game." --Harvey B. Mackay "If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty of the sunset." --Krishnamurti "Sometimes you have to get to rock bottom in order to see the right way back up." --Kate Bell***********************************************Father Leo's Daily MeditationBLACKOUTS "It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly." -- Anatole France I experienced blackouts in my drinking. Often I would wake up and not know where I had been, what I had said or what I had done. I would awake to peer through windows searching for my car. I would telephone to find out what time I had left the party and if anything had happened. Often as I bathed I would discover bruises or bleeding from an unremembered incident. There were other times I knew what I had done, knew what I had said, remembered how I behaved -- and yet still I went back for more. I drank alcoholically for years because my pride would not allow me to be alcoholic. I created the wisest excuses for staying sick! Today my sobriety requires a wisdom that is based on reality. Lord of action, teach me to place my feet alongside my best thinking.***********************************************************"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23 A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger. Proverbs 16:1***********************************************************Daily Inspiration Start something you've been putting off or finish something you've started so that you can remove the frustration that comes with procrastination. Lord, help me in my little way to do my little part to make this day a little better. With our blessings come responsibilities. Much is required of those to whom much has been given. Lord, may I use my blessings to be a blessing to others. Ask and you shall receive,Seek and ye shall find,Knock and it shall be opened unto you.Matthew 7:7Click Here to Read More Daily Recovery ReadingsDaily Recovery Readings ArchiveClick here to make a DonationClick here to receive Daily Recovery Readings in email.Click here to receive AA Thoughts For Today in email.Click here to receive Daily Prayers in email.Click here to receive Weekly Spiritual Meditations in email.**Click here to receive all 4 in email.This is not spam. You are receiving this because you joined this list.***If at anytime you wish to unsubscribe then send an email to bluidkiti@bluidkiti.com with unsubscribe in the subject line. Please note what you are unsubscribing from.If this message was forwarded by someone other than bluidkiti@bluidkiti.com, please reply to the person sending the email.
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