Daily Reflections
December 8
SERVICE
Life will take on a new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you. to have a host of friends – this is an experience you must not miss. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives.
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89
It is through service that the greatest rewards are to be found. But to be in a position of offering true, useful and effective service to others, I must first work on myself. This means that I have to abandon myself to God, admitting my faults and clearing away the wreckage of my past. Work on myself has taught me how to find the necessary peace and serenity to successfully merge inspiration and experience. I have learned how to be, in the truest sense, an open channel of sobriety.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
December 8
A.A. Thought For The Day
The length of time of our sobriety is not as important as the quality of it. A person who has been in A.A. for a number of years may not be in as good mental condition as a person who has only been in a few months. It is a great satisfaction to have been an A.A. member for a long time and we often mention it. It may sometimes help the newer members, because they may say to themselves, if they can do it I can do it. And yet the older members must realize that as long as they live they are only one drink away from a drunk. What is the quality of my sobriety?
Meditation For The Day
“And greater works than this shall ye do.” We can do greater works when we have more experience of the new way of life. We can have all the power we need from the Unseen God. We can have His grace, His spirit, to make us effective as we go along each day. Opportunities for a better world are all around us. Greater works can we do. But we do not work alone. The power of God is behind all good works.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may find my rightful place in the world. I pray that my works may be made more effective by the grace of God.
Walk In Dry Places
December 8
A new frame of mind
Mood Control
Long after AA was started, the term mood-altering drug came into vogue. Though this originally was applied to hard drugs, it is also true of alcohol.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to alter one’s mood. None of us really wants to be depressed, anxious, or fearful. We’re all looking for ways to stay happy and high-spirited.
The problem with all mood-altering drugs, alcohol included, is that they provide temporary highs while bringing on long-term destruction and enslavement. We would love to have those highs if they did not carry such a terrible price.
But we can seek a new frame of mind in sober living that will give us better moods without destroying us. This is “the peace that passes all understanding,” and it comes only from living the right way and listening to our Higher Power. This is the only mood control that really works.
I want to be in a good mood today, but it must be as a result of having a healthy frame of mind. I have no desire for the false highs that were killing me.
Keep It Simple
December 8
“When I was about 12, I used to think I must be a genius, but nobody’s noticed.”
-John Lennon.
“We all have secret ideas about ourselves. How often we have said to ourselves, If only They knew…But if we watch others, we see that many of their ideas are not so secret. We can often guess how they see themselves by the way they act. We all act out our secrets. Faith means trusting our Higher Power with our secrets. Faith in others means trusting them with our secret feelings. Why share these secrets? When we were using alcohol or other drugs we lived too much in a secret world. We need to give up the secrets that keep us from others. We need others in our lives. Our spirits need to be close to others.
Prayer for the Day: God, help me to live in ways I’m not ashamed to tell others. Allow me to meet you and others, free of shame.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll share one of my secrets with a loving friend.”
A truly great person is the one who gives you a chance.
-Paul DuffyWe tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.
-Frederick KeonigThe surest way to drive out the darkness is to bring in the light.
-unknown“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”
-Walt Disney“History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.”
-B. C. ForbesSerenity isn’t freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm.
-unknown
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
December 8
ENJOYMENT
“All animals, except man, know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it.”
-Samuel Butler
Today I choose to enjoy my life. Regardless of the problem and difficulties that this day will bring, I have an inner joy that comes with my recovery from addiction. With a clear head and body free from drugs and chemicals I can face today and look forward to tomorrow. My life is to be enjoyed not endured. My worst days today are better than my best days as an addict. Spiritually I am free because I have begun to discover me. God can now be perceived in His world because I have sobriety.
Lord of all play, I dance before You in my world and I can stop to smell the roses.
Daily Inspiration
December 8
If you are able to accept the hand of love that God extends to you, you will be able to free yourself of fears and show the full beauty of your inner spirit. Lord, we all suffer from weaknesses of one kind or another, so in our moments of strength, we ask that we may offer help, not judgment, to those who need it.
Take less for granted and you will become very busy enjoying all that you have. Lord, thank you for my blessings and for all those that I am able to share them with.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
December 8
“We as men should not fear our mates; we should listen to their counsel.”
-Oren R. Lyons, Spokesman, Traditional Circle of Elders
The Elders say the men should look at women in a sacred way. The men should never put women down or shame them in any way. When we have problems, we should seek their counsel. We should share with them openly. A woman has intuitive thought. She has access to another system of knowledge that few men develop. She can help us understand. We must treat her in a good way.
Great Spirit, let me look upon the woman in a good way.
Today’s Gift
December 8
If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor.
—Nicholas De Chamfort
We sometimes find it difficult to accept a compliment. We may feel we don’t deserve such attention, and point out reasons why the compliment is untrue. When we act this way, we show a lack of love for ourselves.
God teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Yet, before we can love anyone, we must believe we are worthy of the same love. No creature is undeserving of love, God reminds us of that. We can stop hiding behind feelings of unworthiness. There’s nothing stopping us but ourselves. Sometimes it takes courage to say thank you when we get a compliment. Let’s exercise that courage, and each time we do, we’ll find our self-love growing.
When I thank people today, will I have the courage to smile, too?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
December 8
There are two equally dangerous extremes – to shut reason out, and to let nothing else in.
—Pascal
Some of the greatest scientific thinkers deeply respect the non-rational, and they aren’t afraid to say so. Perhaps it is part of their genius. The non-rational inspires fun, creativity, a connection with others, and a feeling of reverence. Trying to contain our thoughts within reasonableness squeezes the life out of them. The simple beauty of color and form in a stone; the graceful, synchronized movement of a flock of birds; the miracle of understanding and loyalty in a friendship – these are truths beyond our ownership. We can feel these truths. We can be moved and inspired by them. We can never fully know their mysteries.
Our addictive natures have led us men to overemphasize reason and the control it promises. We’ve become reasonable while discarding the less controlled, creative, humorous, mysterious, and personal aspects of our lives. At this very moment we may be so focused on figuring out the reasonable answer to a problem that we are blocking the gut message, which is also here for us.
I can appreciate rather than understand the mystery of life.
Daily TAO
December 8
MANIFESTATION
Watching a performance of warriors, I was told,
“This fighter’s tradition is six hundred years old.”
And I saw a performance so mired in ritual —
As if nothing valid had happened in six hundred years.
We must honor the classical without being irrelevant.
Followers of Tao place great value on ancient traditions. A living and valid tradition is like a river with a long course : It brings freshness, richness, and fertility. Just as a drought-ridden place cannot bring forth sweet fruit, those without tradition have less support for their endeavors.
What makes a tradition alive? The adherents must be fully capable of manifesting the greatness of their tradition in contemporary settings. If someone says that they are expert in traditional medicine, then they must be able to heal others today. If someone says that they are capable in traditional calligraphy, then they must be able to write beautiful words today. If someone says that they have mastered esoteric spiritual traditions, Then they must be able to manifest the power of that spirit today.