Daily Reflections
April 14
THE “NUMBER ONE OFFENDER”
Resentment is the “number one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick.
–ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 64
As I look at myself practicing the Fourth Step, it is easy to gloss over the wrong that I have done, because I can easily see it as a question of “getting even” for a wrong done to me. If I continue to relive my old hurt, it is a resentment and resentment bars the sunlight from my soul.
If I continue to relive hurts and hates, I will hurt and hate myself. After years in the dark of resentments, I have found the sunlight. I must let go of resentments; I cannot afford them.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
April 14
A.A. Thought for the Day
A police captain once told about certain cases he had come across in his police work. The cause of the tragedy in each case was drunkenness. He told his audience about a man who got into an argument with his wife while he was drunk and beat her to death. Then he went out and drank some more. The police captain also told about a woman who got too near the edge of an old quarry hole when she was drunk and fell one hundred and fifty feet to her death. When I read or hear these stories, do I think about our motto: “But for the grace of God”?
Meditation for the Day
I must keep balance by keeping spiritual things at the center of my life. God will give me this poise and balance if I pray for it. This poise will give me power in dealing with the lives of others. This balance will manifest itself more and more in my own life. I should keep material things in their proper place and keep spiritual things at the center of my life. Then I will be at peace amid the distractions of everyday living.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may dwell with God at the center of my life. I pray that I may keep that inner peace at the center of my being.
Walk in Dry Places
April 14
What causes a
binge?
Understanding honesty.
In the foggy world of drinking, we were sometimes confused about cause and effect. A person might think of a binge as having been caused by a fight with his or her spouse. The real truth, however, is that he or she provoked the fight in order to get out of the house to launch a drinking spree. It was really the need to drink that caused the fight, and not the reverse, as the alcoholic believes.
We must always understand that the compulsion to drink is the root cause of every binge. We may blame certain things that seemed to trigger a drunk, but it is always our own compulsion that gives force to such an action. Non-alcoholics have the same human experiences we do, but such things do not cause them to have binges.
Seasoned AA members are trained by their experience to detect and defuse these false causes. “There are excuses but never good reasons for drinking,” they say. We always drink because we want to drink, not because another’s actions forced us into it.
Once we’ve established real sobriety, we also learn to identify the excuses and devices that helped us blame our binges on other people and conditions. We learn that we are always responsible for maintaining our own sobriety.
I intend to get along with everybody today and to meet all conditions and circumstances in a mature manner. Nothing can trigger a binge but my own desire to take a drink.
Keep It Simple
April 14
It is enough that I am of value to somebody today.
–Hugh Prather
Even in recovery, we addicts often feel we are not enough. Maybe it’s leftover shame from our using days. But we are enough. We are of great value. We all need each other to stay sober.
Each of us needs other recovering people to help us remember the hell of addiction. We can forget how bad it was, but telling our stories makes us remember. When you feel you don’t want to stay sober for yourself, then stay sober for your brothers and sisters in the program. They need you.
You’re their recovery, as they’re yours. There may be days you don’t feel glad to be sober. But your friends in this fellowship are glad you’re sober. They thank-you for your sobriety
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, may Your will, not mine, be done.
Action for the Day: I’ll stop and think of all the people I’m glad for. I’ll start telling them today.
When the solution is simple, God is answering.
–Albert Einstein
And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
–Abraham Lincoln
“One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention.”
–Jim Rohn
“Put duties aside at least an hour before bed and perform soothing, quiet activities that will help you relax.”
–Dianne Hales
“If you haven’t forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others?”
–Dolores Huerta
“Minutes are worth more than money. Spend them wisely.”
–Thomas P. Murphy
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, but expecting a different result.”
–Albert Einstein
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
April 14
LIFE
“May you live all the days of your life.”
–Jonathan Swift
I heard a story that offers a key to the meaning of spirituality: Two little fish were huddled together, afraid to move. A large fish swam by them, confident and strong. The big fish shouted out to the two little fish, “Why don’t you swim out and enjoy the beautiful ocean?” The two little fish looked at each other and asked, “Where is the ocean?” They were in it but they didn’t know it!
As an alcoholic I existed in life but I didn’t live: I missed vacations, people, friendships, feelings, nature, sunsets and God. Like so many addicts, I was numbered amongst the “walking dead”. Today I continue to make a spiritual choice that avoids alcohol and I am able to feel again. Today I am alive.
In You I live to love and love to live.
Daily Inspiration
April 14
Start the day with prayer and a commitment to conquer any difficulties that happen and a firmer commitment to not let them conquer you. Lord, bless me with all that I need to make the best of every situation.
Celebrate your creativity. You are a child of the Great Creator, created in His image. Lord, may I touch others because of the gifts with which you have blessed me.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
April 14
“The base of all things is love, respect.”
–Vickie Downey, TEWA/Tesuque Pueblo
The greatest weapon of any Spiritual Warrior is love. Love will change minds; love will forgive; love will let go; love will cause good luck; love will heal; love will cry; love will get rid of resentments; love will overcome fear. Love loves love. Any human who is loving will be guaranteed respect. Respect loves love. We need to love and respect ourselves.
Grandmother, Grandfather, today, lead me on the path of love.
Today’s Gift
April 14
There the penitents took off their shoes And walked barefoot the remaining mile.
—Robert Lowell
Some people have to have pain. If dirt doesn’t fall on their heads from the sky, they sulk in corners and hope their flesh turns to dust. They do everything the hard way, even when they know better, and often complain and accuse others for their pain. For people like this, even the song of a bird is a bother. It’s better to smile when people like that accuse. It’s better to wear shoes when walking on stones, better to take the shortest way. There is weeping and wailing enough in the world, dumps full of worn-out guilt and remorse. When the bird sings, it’s better to look up and see that it beats its wings not to punish itself, but to fly.
Do I pity myself when I could be flying?
Touchstones
Meditations For Men
April 14
A person who is looking for something doesn’t travel very fast.
—E. B. White
What do men really want? What are we seeking? Many of us have felt driven and still feel restless or compulsive at times. We frantically followed our impulses to self-destructive extremes. Even those painful actions of our past were motivated, at the bottom line, by a spiritual search. What did we really seek in the bottle, or in the passionate bed, or in our work? Slowing down enough every day to let ourselves know what we are looking for gives us a much better chance of finding it.
Today we can slow down by taking twenty minutes for solitude and quiet, for meditation or prayer. We can call a friend simply for a moment of contact. We might read something to give ourselves some ideas to ponder, or we can listen to music, which will transport us to another world. Perhaps we can simply walk more slowly from our cars or the bus stop to our homes. Often it is not the events in our lives that bring change but the space between events.
Today, I will try to remember that slowing down may help me find what I am seeking.
Daily TAO
April 14
READINESS
A knife keeps its edge
Only with honing and proper cutting.
A warrior’s virtue is readiness.
A sage’s virtue is awareness.
This life is so competitive and challenging that one must remain in constant readiness for the problems and conflicts that come with each day. That is why followers of Tao meld the way of the warrior and the sage. They want the courage and preparedness of the fighter, the luminous perception of the wise. Each day, they dedicate themselves to maintaining their characters and perpetuating their development. But how does one maintain one’s edge without blunting?
There is a fable about a king who was watching his butcher. He was amazed that the man could dismember a whole ox without much effort and without dulling his knife. Seeking to learn, the king questioned his servant, who said that his secret was to insert his knife only in the spaces between muscles, thus parting the body along its natural lines. In this way, where an ordinary butcher had to grind his blade daily, he only had to sharpen his knife once a year.
From this we can learn that we must first hone ourselves to a sharp edge, but the proper use of our talents is equally essential. We must remember to take action along the basic lines and seams of the day. If we do this, we can never be opposed for long.
Daily Zen
April 14
Disentangling oneself
From desire and evil ways
Requires both vision and wisdom.
Disentangling oneself from the world
And discovering inner joy
Is the start of meditation.
– Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom