Daily Reflections
June 20
RELEASE FROM FEAR
The problem of resolving fear has two aspects. We shall have to try for all the freedom from fear that is possible for us to attain. Then we shall need to find both the courage and grace to deal constructively with whatever fears remain.
-AS BILL SEES IT, p. 61
Most of my decisions were based on fear. Alcohol made life easier to face, but the time came when alcohol was no longer an alternative to fear. One of the greatest gifts in A. A. for me has been the courage to take action, which I can do with God’s help. After five years of sobriety I had to deal with a heavy dose of fear. God put the people in my life to help me do that and, through my working the Twelve Steps, I am becoming the whole person I wish to be and, for that, I am deeply grateful.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
June 20
A. A. Thought for the Day
You should be ready and willing to carry the A. A. message when called upon to do so. Live for some purpose greater than yourself. Each day you will have something to work for. You have received so much from this program that you should have a vision that gives your life a direction and a purpose that gives meaning to each new day. Let us not slide along through life. Let us have a purpose for each day and let us make that purpose for something greater than just ourselves. What is my purpose for today?
Meditation for the Day
To see God with eyes of faith is to cause God’s power to manifest itself in the material world. God cannot do His work because of unbelief. In response to your belief, God can work a miracle in your personality. All miracles happen in the realm of personality and all are caused by and based on belief in God’s never-failing power. But God’s power cannot manifest itself in personalities unless those personalities make His power available by their faith. We can only see God with the eyes of faith, but this kind of seeing produces a great change in our way of living.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may see God with the eyes of faith. I pray that this seeing will produce a change in my personality.
Keep It Simple
June 20
Order is heaven’s first law.
—Alexander Pope
We need order in our lives. It makes life simpler for us. Life without order would be like driving in a large city without traffic signals. Our lives as addicts were like this. We lived with no plan, no order.
Now that we’re sober, we can put some order in our lives. We can get up every morning. We can make our beds and be on time for work. These things make life so much easier and nicer. we need this order. It allows us to depend on ourselves.
We now look at the Twelve Steps to bring order to our lives. The Steps follow each other as summer follows spring. Do I allow myself to follow the natural order or do I fight it?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You’ve put order in this world. Please put order in my life. Let me flow within this order instead of being on my own.
Action for the Day: The Twelve Steps have a natural order. Today I’ll take time to read each Step and think about the order found in them.
Let me tell thee, time is a very precious gift of God; so precious that it’s only given to us moment by moment.
–Amelia Barr
The human contribution is the essential ingredient. It is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live.
– Ethel Percy Andrus
A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
–Jonathan Swift
“You can’t fly a kite unless you go against the wind and have a weight to keep it from turning somersaults. The same with man. No man will succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties and is prepared to assume responsibilities.”
–William J. H. Boetcker
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
June 20
THOUGHT
“Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought are commonly the most valuable.”
–Francis Bacon
My mind sometimes races with ideas: What should I do? What should I write? Where should I go? Phrases that could prove useful in an article. People I need to get in contact with, etc., etc. Many of these ideas come late at night and so today I have a note pad and a pencil at the side of my bed so that I can write down the thought and then go back to sleep.
I am not God. I know that if I say I will remember the thought tomorrow, it would be unrealistic. As an imperfect human being I take any help I can get. The pad at the side of the bed is invaluable!
Let me employ discipline as an aid to joyful and creative living.
Daily Inspiration
June 20
Don’t allow yourself to live in constant anticipation because the time for your happiness is right now. Lord, help me to see that no matter what, there is no better time for me than right now.
Everywhere we turn, there is so much need and so little time. Lord, give me the desire to reach out to just one person in Your name and share my blessings.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
June 20
“But in the Indian Spirit the land is still vested; it will be until other men are able to divine and meet its rhythm. Men must be born and reborn to belong. Their bodies must be formed of the dust of their forefathers’ bones.”
–Luther Standing Bear, OGLALA SIOUX
It is said when we walk on the Earth, we are walking on our ancestors and our unborn children. This is the relationship Native People have with the Earth. It is this relationship which gives insight into the Earth’s rhythm and heartbeat and creates the feeling of belonging. If you feel you belong to something, you’ll treat it with respect. If you feel you are above something, you’ll treat it with disrespect. Indian Spirituality is tied to the Earth. We belong to the Earth along with all other creatures on the Earth. We must align to this realization.
Great Spirit, today, teach me to respect the Earth Mother.
Today’s Gift
June 20
The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room, not to try to do or be anything whatsoever.
—May Sarton
A whole world can be seen through even the smallest window. Knowing this can help us slow down and enjoy everyday events. We can listen to the regular rhythms of letter carriers and school children, dogs and delivery trucks, city buses and song birds playing out a piece of their daily lives outside the window.
We can greet the letter carrier who comes up the walk, feed the robin who lands on the sill, wave to the kids who’ve found a shortcut through our backyards on their way home from school.
It is not necessary, today, for us to fill our lives with important meetings, gala parties, expensive treats, toys, or outings to be happy. There is a whole world to be discovered just outside the nearest window.
What worlds lie on the other side of my window today?
Touchstones
Meditation For Men
June 20
“Wait’ll next year!” is the favorite cry of baseball fans, football fans, hockey fans, and gardeners.
—Robert Orben
Hope was a casualty for many of us in our life of chaos and extremes. Some of us said to ourselves, “Life is just drab, I’d better get used to it.” We may have slowly changed our definition of normal to mean a hopeless existence. Others of us held onto some shred of hope that said “Better times are just around the comer,” but it only kept us from confronting how disastrous our lives had become. We are brothers in that we truly have been men on a dead-end path.
Our new lives have seen the dawning of true hope that has a solid base upon reality. We have the reality of friendships with our brothers and sisters. They provide comfort and support, which are reliable and durable. We have the reality of our clearer thinking and our amended lives. We may not have everything we could desire, but we are actually on the road and progressing in directions we wish to go. We are engaged in the adventure of increasing our conscious contact with God. Our hope is founded in what we already feel in our lives.
Today, nothing is perfect, but hope underlies everything. With the return of hope, I have my life back again.
Daily TAO
June 20
Altar
Each day I forge my body into steel
And fold in bright strands of consciousness.
Piling up ripe fruit and fragrant flowers,
Lighting red candles and incense,
Serving tea, rice, and wine.
Anointing with aromatic oils,
Offering heart and bones,
The altar is my anvil, sun and moon the coals,
Discipline the hammer, lungs the bellows.
Followers of Tao have private altars in their homes. The pious see an altar only for supplication; the skeptical see the altar as false and insincere. Actually, devotional effort is absolutely necessary for those beginning on the path.
True spiritual cultivation begins with the premise that you already have a pure spirit and only need to clear away obfuscations. Thus one must work on both the physical and mental levels in order to achieve the quickest results. Such varied efforts need a strong center. By focusing on the altar as the platform for all practices, you will keep yourself strongly on your path. The outward acts then pile up like offerings after offerings, and the outward votive furniture becomes your means of memorializing your efforts. Then your body itself becomes a steel altar, an unshakable monument to spiritual devotion.