March 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and his compulsion is our liberation. — C. S. Lewis

One reason it’s so hard for us to love others as God loves us is that we have no standard in our own experience to go by. The closest thing to a human standard is the ideal love of a parent for a child. God’s love exceeds that. The kind of love that God offers us is beyond our comprehension. It is unconditional. We know this because of the innumerable times we have betrayed God, gone back on our own word, and cursed God—only to be welcomed back whenever we’re ready, and to find ourselves blessed and comforted.

Someone said, “God has to love us; it’s His job.” Our program has taught us our “job” is to love others unconditionally, too. We don’t have to understand God’s love; it’s impossible. But if we are to find peace, we do have to try our best to imitate it.

Today I will try my best to love others unconditionally, as God does.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Today, remember gratitude if I take undue credit for my sobriety. While it is justified to take pride in being sober the last 24 Hours, that pride must be within the boundaries of the Program and cannot be stretched to egoism or seeking praise from others. For when pride becomes egoism, I risk taking back the surrender to the Higher Power that carried me when I passed out or stumbled in my drinking days and even in some difficult sober days. Yes, I was the one who grabbed the lifeline of recovery, but someone or something else had to toss it to me first. Gratitude. And our common journey continues. Step by Step. - Chris M., 2021

March 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

AA Thought for the Day

Over a period of drinking years, we've proved to ourselves and to everybody else that we can't stop drinking by our own willpower. We have been proved helpless before the power of alcohol. So the only way we could stop drinking was by turning to a Power greater than ourselves. We call that Power God. The time that you really get this program is when you get down on your knees and surrender yourself to God, as you understand Him. Surrender means putting your life into God's hands.

Have I made a promise to God that I will try to live the way He wants me to live?

Meditation for the Day

Spirit-power comes from communication with God in prayer and times of quiet meditation. I must constantly seek spirit-communication with God. This is a matter directly between me and God. Those who seek it through the medium of the church do not always get the joy and the wonder of spirit-communication with God. From this communication comes life, joy, peace and healing. Many people do not realize the power that can come to them from direct pirit-communication.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may feel that God's power is mine. I pray that I may be able to face anything through that power.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Reflection for the Day

Why don't I spend part of today thinking about my assets, rather than my liabilities? Why not think about victories instead of defeats - about the ways in which I am gentle and kind? It's always been my tendency to fall into a sort of cynical self-hypnosis, putting derogatory labels on practically everything I've done, said or felt. Just for today, I'll spend a quiet half hour trying to gain a more positive perspective on my life.

Do I have the courage to change the things I can?

Today I Pray

Through quietness and a reassessment of myself, may I develop a more positive attitude. If I am a child of God, created in His image, there must be goodness in me. I will think about that goodness and the ways it manifests itself. I will stop putting myself down, even in my secret thoughts. I will respect what is God's. I will respect myself.

Today I Will Remember

Self-respect is respect for God.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Life is too short even if we live the whole of it to its fullest, but we alcoholics have wasted so many years of our lives that we must now double our efforts if we hope to do any living at all. Truly, for us, it is later than we think.

There is one consolation, however. and that is that it is possible to use a single moment to produce an eternity of benefits for humanity. Much time has been frittered away, but there is still ample time to do good.

Life is not measured by its length but by its width and its depth.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2021 - Good morning, and we can get on with a terrific Tuesday now that Monday is done with

 

Good morning and let's make the choice to make today a terrific Tuesday, meaning we pace it but make it productive, worthwhile and safe ...make no time for anything and anyone thinking they can screw it up

March 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, March 1, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Avoiding Anxiety

Entertaining hope means recognizing fear. — Robert Browning

We are taught early in recovery not to be afraid of anxiety. It is a normal part of all lives. It can’t be stopped or gotten rid of.

We can only deal with anxiety by facing it. It is a vital life force that alerts us that something is wrong with our living patterns. As we act and react to anxiety, we build an ability for thinking through solutions carefully rather than making snap judgments. That way, anxiety helps us learn that we must face our problems.

We eagerly work through anxieties instead of ignoring them. Then they don’t get bigger. This also helps us with our spiritual growth because we learn to do what we can to face the cause of our anxiety. Then we turn the rest over to our Higher Power. Real peace is not a lack of problems. Real peace comes from facing up to challenges.

Anxiety tells me there is a problem, so I can face it, and learn and grow from dealing with it.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Monday, March 1, 2021

Today, enough! No more self-defeatism for failing to attain perfection when perfection is impossible. No more self-abuse by drinking myself into oblivion every night, awakening to a shot of whisky to calm the shakes. No more dodging responsibilities to myself and other people. No more watching the clock for the 10 a.m. mid-morning hit from the bottle hidden in my car in the employee parking lot, and no more counting minutes to race home and again start drinking myself into oblivion. Enough! No more! Recovery begins today. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

March 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, March 1, 2021

AA Thought for the Day

When I find myself thinking about taking a drink, I say to myself: "Don't reach out and take that problem back. You've given it to God and there's nothing you can do about it." So I forget about the drink. One of the most important parts of the AA program is to give our drink problem to God honestly and fully and never to reach out and take the problem back to ourselves. If we let God have it and keep it for good and then cooperate with Him, we'll stay sober.

Have I determined not to take the drink problem back to myself?

Meditation for the Day

Constant effort is necessary if I am to grow spiritually and develop my spiritual life. I must keep the spiritual rules persistently, perseveringly, lovingly, patiently and hopefully. By keeping them, every mountain of difficulty shall be laid low, the rough places of poverty of spirit shall be made smooth, and all who know me shall know that God is the Lord of all my ways. To get close to the spirit of God is to find life and healing and strength.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God's spirit may be everything to my soul. I pray that God's spirit may grow within.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Monday, March 1, 2021

Reflection for the Day

Now that we're free and no longer chemically-dependent, we have so much more control over our thinking. More than anything, we're able to alter our attitudes. Some members of Alcoholics Anonymous, in fact, choose to think of the letters AA as an abbreviation for "Altered Attitudes." In the bad old days, I almost always responded to any optimistic or positive statement with, "Yes, but ..."  Today, in contrast, I'm learning to eliminate that negative phrase from my vocabulary.

Am I working to change my attitude? Am I determined to "accentuate the positive ...?"

Today I Pray

May I find that healing and strength which God provides to those who stay near Him. May I keep to the spiritual guidelines of The Program, considering the Steps, taking the steps - one by one - then practicing them again and again. In this is my salvation.

Today I Will Remember

To practice at least one Step.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Monday, March 1, 2021

The door of living that opened upon our advent into AA is also able to close upon those years of daily dying that are behind us. That door opened into a long hall that stretched out to a vanishing point; our eye could not perceive its end. We should not be content to just pass through this portal and close the door upon our past, but we should move on for our happiness is up that hall, and we must constantly advance to attain our happy goal.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2021 - Good morning to a marvelous Monday and the new month of March with renewed optimism

 

Good morning with gratitude to another Monday and a new month and a commitment to make them worthwhile ...have a genuinely great and productive but safe day -- and don't waste time on anything and anyone intending to screw it up for you

Feb. 28, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The great end of life is not knowledge but action. — Thomas Huxley

It is important to gain knowledge as we seek to understand ourselves and others. But we can also get caught up in insisting too much on knowing rather than doing. Maybe we are sometimes too introspective, too hooked on trying to figure everything out.

Often it helps to just get out there and do things. We may feel paralyzed and believe that we can only be “cured” when the moment of illumination arrives. But just undertaking little acts of kindness or daily tasks can set in motion a chain reaction that builds energy and self-confidence. Finish that chore, help a neighbor, send a card, go for a walk with a friend. Yes, we can do it, and it feels good.

Love, too, is action. Love is not just a feeling but a connection, a reaching out, and a communion. Love is doing things for others. At the end of the day, we may wish to write down not only what we have thought and felt, but what we have done—for ourselves and for others.

Let this be a day in which I set in motion loving actions that will help me and others.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 28, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021

Today, take the Program from theoretical to practical application to both recovery and life. If I hear "Easy Does It," I cannot use it as "permission" to neglect daily responsibilities and what must be done today. Instead, it means not to expect too much of either myself or another person. And "Let Go and Let God" does not mean I can expect my Higher Power to tend to what is my responsibility and within my capability. Realize I am letting go of my own will for myself and letting God tell me what His will is for me. "One (drink) is one too many and never enough"  tells me, simply, not to try to find out what "never enough" is and not to try the first one at all. "Making amends"  isn't simply saying, "I'm sorry," but is acceptance of consequences and working harder if some of those amends are rejected. "One Day at a Time" is simple: today is all I've got and yesterday can't be undone or redone, and tomorrow is not guaranteed. Even it is, I have to give today my best shot because it may well reverberate into tomorrow. Today, move from theory to the practical, and it's time to roll up the sleeves. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

Feb. 28, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021

AA Thought for the Day

We should be free from alcohol for good. It's out of our hands and in the hands of God, so we don't need to worry about it or even think about it any more. But if we haven't done this honestly and fully, the chances are that it will become our problem again. Since we don't trust God to take care of the problem for us, we reach out and take the problem back to ourselves. Then it's our problem again and we're in the same old mess we were in before. We're helpless again and we drink.

Do I trust God to take care of the problem for me?

Meditation for the Day

No work is of value without preparation. Every spiritual work must have behind it much spiritual preparation. Cut short times of prayer and times of spiritual preparation and many hours of work may be profitless. From the point of view of God, one poor tool working all the time but doing back work because of lack of preparation, is of small value compared with the sharp, keen, perfect instrument working for only a short time but which turns out perfect work because of long hours of spiritual preparation.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may spend more time alone with God. I pray that I may get more strength and joy from such times, so that they will add much to my work.

Hazelden Foundation