Daily Reflections
August 24
A RIDDLE THAT WORKS
It may be possible to find explanations of spiritual experiences such as ours, but I have often tried to explain my own and have succeeded only in giving the story of it. I know the feeling it gave me and the results it has brought, but I realize I may never fully understand its deeper why and how.
-AS BILL SEES IT, p. 313
I had a profound spiritual experience during an open A.A. meeting, which led me to blurt out. “I’m an alcoholic!” I have not had a drink since that day. I can tell you the words I heard just prior to my admission, and how those words affected me, but as to why it happened, I do not know. I believe a power greater than myself chose me to recover, yet I do not know why. I try not to worry or wonder about what I do not yet know; instead, I trust that if I continue to work the Steps, practice the A.A. principles in my life, and share my story, I will be guided lovingly toward a deep and mature spirituality in which more will be revealed to me. For the time being, it is a gift for me to trust God, work the Steps and help others.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
August 24
A.A. Thought For The Day
“When we saw our faults, we listed them. We placed them before us in black and white. We admitted our wrongs honestly and we were willing to set these matters straight. We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We asked God to remove our fears and we commenced to outgrow fear. Many of us needed an overhauling in regard to sex. We came to believe that sex powers were God-given and therefore good, if used properly. Sex is never to be used lightly or selfishly, nor is it to be despised or loathed. If sex is troublesome, we throw ourselves the harder into helping others, and so take our minds off ourselves.” Am I facing my sex problems in the proper way?
Meditation For The Day
Cling to the belief that all things are possible with God. If this belief is truly accepted, it is the ladder upon which a human soul can climb from the lowest pit of despair to the sublime heights of peace of mind. It is possible for God to change your way of living. When you see the change in another person through the grace of God, you cannot doubt that all things are possible in the lives of people through the strength that comes from faith in Him who rules us all.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may live expectantly. I pray that I may believe deeply that all things are possible with God.
“My father gave me these hints on speech-making: Be sincere . . . be brief . . . be seated.”
–James Roosevelt“Watch your manner of speech if you wish to develop a peaceful state of mind. Start each day by affirming peaceful, contented and happy attitudes and your days will tend to be pleasant and successful.”
–Norman Vincent PealeYou cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.
–Wayne DyerNot what we gain, but what we give measures the worth of the life we live.
–Cited in BITS & PIECES“Yesterday’s home run doesn’t win today’s ball game.”
–Unknown“Some people think that hanging in there shows great strength when the truth is ‘letting go’ is the real test of character.”
–UnknownIt is not God’s will that makes me miserable. It is my resistance to God’s will that makes me miserable.
–unknown
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
August 24
LIMITATIONS
“Why would we kill off a good watchdog just because he could not fly?”
– Frank Mar
God has created this world with variety and we all have different gifts. Some people make music, others write stories and many are practical at home or in industry. We need to understand what gifts and skills we have and develop them.
It is both fruitless and negative to spend our time complaining that we are not like other people — or are without their talents. Such an attitude stops us from discovering our own creative talents. We are so busy comparing ourselves with others that we miss our own uniqueness.
Today I enjoy discovering more about me and the abundant gifts that God has freely given to me. What about you?
I pray that I may be truly grateful for what I have.
One More Day
August 24
Faults are thick where love is thin.
–James Howell
We often overlook the faults of people we love. Sometimes, in fact, our love so blinds us that we don’t have to overlook their faults, because we don’t even see them. Yet if our love wavers or if a friendship begins to weaken, it may seem as though our friends have developed numerous flaws or maddening habits.
When this happens, we learn to reassess our relationship and ourselves. Rather than conclude that our loved one has become less than he or she was before, we know that change has occurred within us. Then we decide whether the friendship is important enough to try to rebuild it.Sometimes it is, and we work to recapture the trust and communication we once had. Sometimes it isn’t, and we decide to let go of it and, in doing so, let go of resentment and fault-finding.
The decision to rebuild or to let go of friendships often rest within me.
One Day At A Time
August 24
~ HAPPINESS ~
The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.
–William Saroyan
How many times during my life have I said that all I want is “just to be happy.” We are told early on that our legacy is “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Did you notice that our forefathers used the word “pursuit?” How very wise they were.
Happiness is not automatic. Life is difficult and it’s supposed to be that way. If we expect happiness and we expect life to be easy, at some point in time we are going to be very disappointed. I thought eating food made me happy and it did … for a short time. There were other temporary compulsions in my life that made me think I was happy ~ but again for only a short time.
As I began to work the Steps, I began to desire something other than happiness. I found myself yearning for serenity … and I found it. The way I found it was by not expecting the world and everyone in it to make me happy. I learned that life was more of an adventure than a bowl of cherries. I learned that the more I expected from people, places and things, the more disappointed I was … and the more disappointed I became, the less happy I was.
One Day at a Time …
I will not require happiness. But when I least expect it, happiness will find me.
~ Mari
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
August 24
“The mind’s eye changes the way we judge things.”
–Fools Crow, LAKOTA
“What you see is what you get.”
Our head has inside it a movie projector that projects out from our foreheads and shines on a screen a picture of our true thoughts. This is our reality. We can only see what we project (our beliefs). If we believe someone is a jerk, every time we see them we reflect our beliefs about what we think about that person and that is all we can see. Even if someone tells us this person is a kind, loving, caring, intelligent individual, we wouldn’t be able to see it. If we change our belief about them, that person will change and so will our judgment about that person.
My Creator, let me realize the power of choice. Let me see the advantages of changing my beliefs. Today, if I am judging my brother, let me change my beliefs to acceptance. If my thoughts are of anger, let me change them to love. Let my eyes only see you in everything and every person.
Touchstones Meditations For Men
August 24
There is no greater weakness than stubbornness. If you cannot yield, if you cannot learn that there must be compromise in life – you lose.
—Maxwell Maltz
Glass is very hard, but fragile. By contrast, leather is tough and resilient. A blow to a glass dish will break it, but a blow to a shoe will just be absorbed. Our program leads us to avoid the folly of being hard like glass, and we become tougher like leather. We must endure surprises, pressures, and blows from the world as a normal part of life. The more able we are to absorb the blows, the stronger and more whole we are as men.
A friend who has a different opinion from ours can be listened to and his ideas considered. There is no need to compete with him or prove that we are right. When our plan for a project at work gets set aside, we will feel the frustration but we need not come apart over it. Perhaps our Higher Power is leading us to a better plan. Frustrations with spouses or friends can be turned over to our Higher Power. We do not have a rigid recipe for life, and we must be open to more learning.
I will surrender my fragile stubbornness in exchange for the toughness I can learn in compromise.
Daily TAO
August 24
Imprisonment
Our subjectivity
Is a mirrored,
Spiked casket.
We surround ourselves with the reflections of our own identities. We think only of ourselves, not of Tao. All we care about is survival and gratification. When will we see that all we have done is to surround ourselves with our own illusions?
We do not see the world as it truly is. We ignore the dilemma of our existence. We are like preening idiots inside a mirrored casket. As we build upon our illusions, the box gets smaller. Soon it develops spikes – the spears of our own egotism – only we are so self-absorbed we do not notice the points. We are too in love with ourselves. We prance around, we fluff our hair. And still the casket gets smaller, and smaller.
Some succeed in getting out of this trap, but they are so attached they drag their casket behind them for a long time. Those who drag their illusions with them are only a step better than those who are trapped in them. Only when we realize our true nature does the casket disappear.
Daily Zen
August 24
As I think of the world of dreams
I am even more inclined to abandon the world
And hide myself in the mountain
That is not in the mountains.
– Muso