Daily Reflections
June 13
LIVING OUR AMENDS
“Years of living with an alcoholic is almost sure to make any wife or child neurotic. The entire family is to some extent, ill.”
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 122
It is important for me to realize that, as an alcoholic, I not only hurt myself, but also those around me. Making amends to my family, and to the families of alcoholics still suffering, will always be important. Understanding the havoc I created and trying to repair the destruction, will be a lifelong endeavor. The example of my sobriety may give others hope, and faith to help themselves.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
June 13
A. A. Thought for the Day
In A. A. we have to reeducate our minds. We have to learn to think differently. We have to take a long view of drinking instead of a short view. We have to look through the glass to what lies beyond it. We have to look through the night before to the morning after. No matter how good liquor looks from the short view, we must realize that in the long run it is poison to us. Have I learned to look through the bottle to the better life that lies ahead?
Meditation for the Day
If you are honestly trying to live the way you believe God wants you to live, you can get guidance from God in times of quiet communion with Him, provided your thoughts are directed toward God’s will and all good things. The attitude of “Thy will, not mine, be done’ leads to clear guidance. Act on this guidance and you will be led to better things. Your impulses seem to become less your own and more the leading of God’s spirit acting through your thoughts. Obeyed, they will bring you the answers to your prayers.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to think God’s thoughts after Him. I pray that my thoughts may be guided by His thoughts.
Keep It Simple
June 13
The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.
—Robert Frost
Worry—it’s a lonely activity. It puts distance between us and others. Our program is full of ideas about what to do with worry. On Step Three, we turn our will and our lives over to God. This includes worry.
Our slogans also suggest what to do with worry. One Day at a Time. Live and Let Live. Easy Does It. Let Go and Let God. Their main message is stop worrying. Trust the program. Trust your Higher Power. Everything will be okay.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I give You my worries. Teach me how to trust again. I want to trust in You, my program, and myself.
Action for the Day: I’ll write the program slogans listed above on a piece of paper, and I’ll read them over today. I’ll let myself live them today.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
–Martin Luther King, Jr.
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
–Helen Keller
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
June 13
WORLD
“We are citizens of the world; and the tragedy of our time is that we do not know this.”
–Woodrow Wilson
In recovery I have learned to “go home” to who I am – and part of this involves my understanding my place in this vast universe. I am a child of God and my “family” is not just my immediate blood relatives, but also the millions of other people that inhabit this planet.
God did not just make me. God does not just love me. God is concerned for all His children. As an alcoholic I did not have this attitude and I was always feeling lost and different. I became selfish and narrow in my lifestyle. Other people were tolerated.
Today I have a “big” God and He has enabled me to grow not only in my acceptance of self but also in my acceptance of others. Today I am a citizen of the world and it feels good.
Lord, today I know what it is to belong to the human family. And with this awareness comes responsibility.
Daily Inspiration
June 13
The phrase “Never Again” is too large a commitment and too easily discarded when we stumble. Lord, help me to work on being a better person today, so that in time, my good habits will require little or no effort.
Tragedy and suffering often opens the soul to the heights of spiritual growth. Lord, let the hardships of my life be my prayer and work to draw You closer and closer.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
June 13
“We have an old saying, Everything living must die. Only the rocks and mountains are forever.”
–Archie Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA
The Creator designed all life to happen in a circle. For example, the cycle of life for the human being is Baby, Youth, Adult, Elder, then we die. The trees and the leaves happen in a circle; the leaves bud, then the leaves mature, next the leaves change color, and at last they fall off the tree to return to the Mother Earth. The birds bear their young, raise their young, then they die. The salmon are born, swim to the ocean, live their lives, swim back to the spawning grounds, then die. All aspects of the Life Cycle should be honored.
Great Spirit, today, let me enjoy today.
Journey to the
Heart
June 13
Trust the Process of Growth
Be patient with yourself. It takes time to work out issues, to work through things. It takes time to learn lessons. The more important the lesson, the longer the cycle to work it out and work it through.
We may live in a technical age, but our souls aren’t technical. They’re still connected to nature. We grow and change as nature does. Learn her ways. Study her seasons and cycles, and know those same seasons and cycles are in each of us. The process of change is like planting a seed and watching it grow and bloom into a flower.
What are you trying to develop? A project? A change in yourself? Is there something new you’re learning, trying to do? Are you trying to adjust to a major change in your life? Is there an old habit you’re struggling to let go of? A love relationship or friendship you’re hoping to begin or attempting to end?
Each stage of the process of growth and change is important. From those first moments when we see the idea, or the change begins, to those long moments of nurturing and nourishing the idea, each stage counts. Is there a change in your life that’s begun, one you’ve started to notice? Are you thinking about it a lot, talking about it a lot, but not quite ready to take action? That stage is important too. You’re nurturing and nourishing the seeds of change.
It takes time for nature to change things into what they’re becoming. It takes time for things to develop. Be patient with yourself and life. Trust the process of growth.
Today’s Gift
June 13
Let the gentle bush dig its root deep and spread upward to split one boulder.
—Carl Sandburg
There is a fable about the sun and wind having a contest to see who can get the old man to take his coat off first. The wind blows fiercely, but the old man just pulls his coat tighter around him. Finally, the wind gives up and the sun comes out. The sun shines a steady warm light down on the old man, who soon takes his coat off.
More and better things are accomplished in this world by kindness and gentleness than by force. When we find ourselves most frustrated, it is often because we are trying to force certain things to happen. Our own patient and steady desire to grow, fed by the love and kindness of others, will not be stopped by anything or anyone. Our own gentleness is a powerful force in our lives. It is like the gentle bush that grows through granite.
What can I gain by gentleness today?
Touchstones
Meditations for Men
June 13
You must fight off a “bad luck” way of thinking as if you were dealing with an invasion of hostile forces – for that is precisely what you are dealing with.
—Maxwell Maltz
Life is an ongoing experience with two opposing forces. One force is constantly building up, and the other is constantly tearing down. We have successes and accomplishments, and we have failures and defeats. We finally get our house in order, and it immediately begins to become disordered again.
There are forces supporting our self-esteem and forces tearing us down. Friends who wish us well, good will and generosity among people, and the momentum of our healthy actions are constructive forces in our lives. Destructive forces are the pull of old habits, bad luck, accidents, and negative thoughts. We must choose on which side we will put our energies. Are we men who hate ourselves, believe in bad luck and despair, and thereby join the forces that would tear us down? Or will we choose to be on the side that builds us up?
Today, by the grace of God, I will join the forces that are on my side. I will stand up for myself and my worth.
Daily TAO
June 13
Censorship
Emperors uphold censorship,
But extreme repression leads to extreme reaction.
Individualist believe in freedom,
But extreme expression leads to extreme reaction.
The emperors of china and Rome punished any expression that displeased them. Whether it was dissent, unpleasant news, or a portrait that disgusted them, they were ready to destroy the perpetrators without hesitation. Today, there are democracies but no less a tendency to punish dissent, manipulate information or castigate artists. Those in power should be careful: Push the people too far, and they will rebel.
Artists from early on have tried to push the limits of their expression. Driven by the desire to create, they have sought to strike down every boundary. But as long as they do this in a social setting, they should not out pace their audiences. Those who create must be careful: Challenge the people too much, and they will rebel.
So there are two extremes. The desires of the powerful, who fell that censorship is a just tool, and the tendencies of the creative, who feel that they should have no limits to their freedom. Those who follow Tao avoid these extremes. They avoid becoming the ruler for such a position is fraught with danger, hypocrisy, and disappointment. Neither will they become the grandstanding artist; to arouse others is likewise dangerous. If they must rule, they use compassion as their standard. If they do create, they find satisfaction in self-expression. Above all, they avoid any extreme that will take them from Tao.