Sept. 25, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022

Today, accept myself first in starting to change the things I can – and must. And to change myself, I need the courage and brute honesty to see myself as I really am and not as I want myself and others to see. If I can be strong and honest enough to see in myself what must go and what can be kept, I have to accept the good and bad before I know how to begin the work of moving forward. But if the bad out-weighs the good, I can keep the good as a building block to tear away the bad. If, on the other hand, I accept myself with no improvements needed, I’ve lied to myself. Today, I pray for the courage to change the things I can – me. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2022

Sept. 25, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022

AA Thought for the Day
Let us consider the term “spiritual experience” as given in Appendix II of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous: “A spiritual experience is something that brings about a personality change. By surrendering our lives to God as we understand Him, we are changed. The nature of this change is evident in recovered alcoholics. This personality change is not necessarily in the nature of a sudden and spectacular upheaval. We do not need to acquire an immediate and overwhelming God-consciousness, followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook. In most cases, the change is gradual.”

Do I see a gradual and continuing change in myself?

Meditation for the Day
“Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” For rest from the care of life, you can turn to God each day in prayer and communion. Real relaxation and serenity come from a deep sense of the fundamental goodness of the universe. God’s everlasting arms are underneath all and will support you. Commune with God, not so much for petitions to be granted as for the rest that comes from relying on His will and His purposes for your life. Be sure of God’s strength available to you, be conscious of His support, and wait quietly until that true rest from God fills your being.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be conscious of God’s support today. I pray that I may rest safe and sure therein.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 25, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022

Reflection for the Day
At the suggestion of a long-timer in The Program, I began taking “recovery inventories” periodically. The results showed me – clearly and unmistakably – that the promises of The Program have been true for me. I am not the sick person I was in years past; I am no longer bankrupt in all areas; I have a new life and a path to follow, and I’m at peace with myself most of the time. And that’s a far way from the time in my life when I dreaded facing each new day. Perhaps we should all write recovery inventories from time to time, showing how The Program is working for each of us.

Just for today, will I try to sow faith where there is fear?

Today I Pray
God, let me compare my new life with the old one – just to see how things have changed for me. May I make progress reports for myself now and then – and for those who are newer to The Program. May these reports be – hearteningly – about “what I am doing” rather than – smugly – about “what I have done.”

Today I Will Remember
Has The Program kept its promise? Have I kept mine?

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 25, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022

Everyone is potentially as good as God made him, and the reason that he does not show it is because he has buried the fact beneath a mountain of selfishness.

It has ever been man’s misdirected efforts to benefit himself and himself alone that have resulted in his greatest disservice to himself.

The closer man gets to himself, the further away he is from God and the world. The further he is away from God and the world, the further away he is from God’s blessings and the world’s happiness.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 25, 2022 – Good morning with the plan to make today a restful and serene Sunday

 

Good morning and here’s a cute little pussy kitty to get everyone in the mood to make today a happy Sunday without the drama and trauma of our lives and the people and things who bring them

Sept. 24, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

AA Thought for the Day

“Those who do not recover are people who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault. They seem to be born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living that demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover, if they have the capacity to be honest.”

Am I completely honest with myself and with other people?

Meditation for the Day

You can make use of your mistakes, failures, losses, and sufferings. It is not what happens to you so much as what use you make of it. Take your sufferings, difficulties, and hardships, and make use of them to help some unfortunate soul who is faced with the same troubles. Then something good will come out of your suffering and the world will be a better place because of it. The good you do each day will live on, after the trouble and distress have gone, after the difficulty and the pain have passed away.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may make good use of my mistakes and failures. I pray that some good may result from my painful experiences.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 24, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022

” …I was convinced that I was having a serious mental breakdown. I wanted help, and I tried to cooperate. As the treatment progressed, I began to get a picture of myself, of the temperament that had caused me so much trouble. I had been hypersensitive, shy, idealistic. My inability to accept the harsh realities of life had resulted in a disillusioned cynic, clothed in a protective armor against the world’s misunderstanding. That armor had turned into prison walls, locking me in loneliness – and fear. All I had left was an iron determination to live my own life in spite of the alien world – and here I was an inwardly frightened, outwardly defiant woman, who desperately needed a prop to keep going.
‘Alcohol was that prop …'” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous Number Three, Ch 4 (“Women Suffer Too”), p 226.

Today, with absolute honesty – maybe for the first time – the temperament of my character misguided me to make the choice of alcohol as the prop to shield myself from “the world’s misunderstanding” and all else I wanted to shut out. In shutting out everything, I went to the only place left – within myself. And there lurked the isolation from anything good, and the loss of good leaves only the bad. My choice was to develop and nurture the bad – and it took me to the darkest places of my poisoned emotional and spiritual soul. Today, the temperament of my character can be tempered by the Twelve Steps. Grant me courage and strength to emerge from the bad and work for the good. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2022

Sept. 24, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022

AA Thought for the Day

Let us continue with Step Twelve. We must practice these principles in all our affairs. This part of the twelfth step must not be overlooked. It is the carrying on of the whole program. We do not just practice these principles in regard to our drinking problem. We practice them in all our affairs. We do not give one compartment of our lives to God and keep the other compartments to ourselves. We give our whole lives to God and we try to do His will in every respect. “Herein lies our growth, herein lies all the promise of the future, an ever-widening horizon.”

Do I carry the AA principles with me wherever I go?

Meditation for the Day

“Lord, to whom shall we go but to Thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” The words of eternal life are the words from God controlling your true being, controlling the real spiritual you. They are the words from God which are heard by you in your heart and mind when these are wide open to His spirit. These are the words of eternal life which express the true way you are to live. They say to you in the stillness of your heart and mind and soul: “Do this and live.”

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may follow the dictates of my conscience. I pray that I may follow the inner urging of my soul.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 24, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022

Reflection for the Day
“Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.” – Goethe

I ask myself sometimes, as we all do: “Who am I?” “Where am I?” “Where am I going?” “What’s it all about?” The learning and growing process is usually slow. But eventually our seeking always brings a finding. What seem like great mysteries often turn out to be enshrined in complete simplicity.

Have I accepted the fact that my willingness to grow is the essence of my spiritual development?

Today I Pray
God give me patience and the perseverance to keep on hoeing the long row, even when the end of it is out of sight. The principles of The Program are my almanac for growing, even more than for harvesting. The harvest will come, abundant enough to share, if I can stick to my garden-tending.

Today I Will Remember
Getting there, not being there.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 24, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022

We are all serving a term here on earth, and it is a tough rap for we are not only serving a life term but we are condemned to death in the end. We can get some special privileges for good behavior, however, but even with this it would be a hopeless situation except for the hope held forth in the inspired Book of God.

Through this Book, we can look forward beyond this prison of Life and visualize the freedom that is beyond.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 24, 2022 – Good morning to this spendid Saturday and overdue weekend

 

Good morning, folks, and let’s put our worries and insecurities on hold just for today and experience a worry-, stress- and drama-free Saturday — and don’t waste any of it on people and things who offer nothing good

Sept. 23, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, Sept. 23, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old. — Franz Kafka

We ask ourselves, “What really counts when everything else is stripped away? What do we still value?” Beauty is one of those values for many of us. It might be the beauty of the outdoors, solitude in the wilderness, a symphony, a special painting, or the athletic grace of a pitcher as he hurls the baseball across home plate. Something stirs within us when we see beauty. Many would call that a spiritual experience because it seems to touch the soul of our being.

We can feel vulnerable when we have such experiences, and some of us have learned to run roughshod over those moments. We smother that part of our soul so that we don’t have to feel our manhood threatened. Now we are learning new lessons. We are growing into stronger, more open, and more spiritual men. Beauty, wherever we see it, is part of our spiritual life.

Today, I am open to the stirring in my soul when I see beauty.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 23, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Friday, Sept. 23, 2022

“For 18 years, from the age of 21 to 39, fear governed my life. By the time I was 30, I had found that alcohol dissolved fear. For a little while. In the end, I had two problems instead of one: fear and alcohol.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “Personal Stories,” Ch 9 (“The Man Who Mastered Fear”), p 275.

Today, neither fear nor alcohol will be master because I understand now that both are choices – and I choose not to devote any part of today to either. Whether fear came first and triggered my drinking or if my drinking plunged me into fear of virtually everything is of no consequence anymore. Both feed each other, and my permission is required for the exchange to occur. Just as a toddler grows bored with crawling and pushes the challenge to stand on his own, so it is with me: I am tired and bored with my drinking, with fear and it pushing me to the bottle. The time has come to push the challenge to walk again on my own – in sobriety. My recovery program is here to hold my hand. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2022

Sept. 23, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, Sept. 23, 2022

AA Thought for the Day
Step Twelve is, “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” Note that the basis of our effectiveness in carrying the message to others is the reality of our own spiritual awakening. If we have not changed, we cannot be used to change others. To keep this program, we must pass it on to others. We cannot hoard it for ourselves. We may lose it unless we give it away. It cannot flow into us and stop; it must continue to flow into us as it flows out to others.

Am I always ready to give away what I have learned in AA?

Meditation for the Day
“Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you.” When you are faced with a problem beyond your strength, you must turn to God by an act of faith. It is that turning to God in each trying situation that you must cultivate. The turning may be one of glad thankfulness for God’s grace in your life. Or your appeal to God may be a prayerful claiming of His strength to face a situation and finding that you have it when the time comes. Not only the power to face trials, but also the comfort and joy of God’s nearness and companionship are yours for the asking.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to draw near to God each day in prayer. I pray that I may feel His nearness and His strength in my life.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 23, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Friday, Sept. 23, 2022

Reflection for the Day
On studying the Twelve Steps, many of the first members of The Program exclaimed, “What an order! I can’t go through with it.” “Do not be discouraged,” we’re told at meeting after meeting. “No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.”

Can I believe, in the words of Browning, that my business is not to remake myself, but to make the absolute best of what God made …?

Today I Pray
Even if I am an old hand at The Program, may I not forget that the Twelve Steps do not represent an achievement that can be checked off my “things-to-do” list. Instead, they are a striving for an ideal, a guide to getting there. May I keep my mind open to deepening interpretations of these principles.

Today I Will Remember
Progress rather than perfection.

Hazelden Foundation