Daily Reflections
April 8
AN INSIDE LOOK
We want to find exactly how, when, and where our natural desires have warped us. We wish to look squarely at the unhappiness this has caused others and ourselves. By discovering what our emotional deformities are, we can move toward their correction
–TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.43
Today I am no longer a slave to alcohol, yet in so many ways enslavement still threatens–my self, my desires, even my dreams. Yet without dreams I cannot exist; without dreams there is nothing to keep me moving forward. I must look inside myself, to free myself. I must call upon God’s power to face the person I’ve feared the most, the true me, the person God created me to be. Unless I can or until I do, I will always be running, and never be truly free. I ask God daily to show me such a freedom!
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
April 8
A.A. Thought for the Day
Second, alcoholics recover their faith in a Power greater than themselves. They admit that they’re helpless by themselves and they call on that Higher Power for help. They surrender their lives to God, as they understand Him. They put their drink problem in God’s hands and leave it there. They recover their faith in a Higher Power that can help them. Have I recovered my faith?
Meditation for the Day
You must make a stand for God. Believers in God are considered by some as peculiar people. You must even be willing to be deemed a fool for the sake of your faith. You must be ready to stand aside and let the fashions and customs of the world go by, when God’s purposes are thereby forwarded. Be known by the marks that distinguish a believer in God. These are honesty, purity, unselfishness, love, gratitude, and humility.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be ready to profess my belief in God before others. I pray that I may not be turned aside by the skepticism and cynicism of unbelievers.
Walk in Dry Places
April 8
Keep it Simple, BUT not simple-minded
Working the Steps.
Dr. Bob Smith left little in the way of written material for AA’s future. His phrase “Keep it Simple,” however, is now a guiding slogan in the program. What did he really have in mind with this final piece of advice?
We can take it as certain that Dr. Bob … A highly intelligent man… was not saying that we shouldn’t use our heads for real thinking and study. One of the blessings of sobriety, in fact, should be the ability to think clearly and effectively. It would be a mistake to believe that one must renounce a brainpower and education in order to stay sober.
The real aim of “keeping it simple” should be to stay mindful of the principles and essentials that are key to everybody else. Even the most difficult subject can usually be mattered by processes of simplification. The deepest book, for example, is still composed of only twenty-six letters.
We can “Keep it Simple” by building or lives around the principles of the Twelve Step program. When we discover new ideas, they’ll reinforce and expand what we’ve already learned. In this way, we should always be learning and growing… which is beautiful simple, but certainly not simple-minded.
I’ll be grateful today for the ability to think and to understand complicated subjects. With a strong foundation in the bedrock principles of AA, I can use my mind in constructive and progressive ways.
Keep It Simple
April 8
It’s a simple formula: Do your best and somebody might like it.
–Dorothy Baker
Our program is a selfish program. It tells us to let go of what others think. We’re staying sober for ourselves, not for anyone else. Our body and our spirit are at stack. And we know what we need to do to stay sober.
If we fell shaky about going to a party, we don’t go–no matter who gets upset.
If our job makes it hard to stay sober, we get a different one–no matter who it upsets. It’s simple we must take good care of ourselves before we can be good to others. In doing this, we learn how to be a friend, a good parent, a good spouse. we have to care for ourselves to have good relationships. Do I believe it okay to be selfish when it comes to my program?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me do what is best for my recovery, no matter what others think.
Action for the Day: I will remind myself that staying sober is simple. I don’t use chemicals. And I work the program.
Just beyond the night, another day is breaking, bringing hope to all.
–D. Hockaday
“Change is simply a combination of growing up and gaining knowledge.”
–Jill Thomas
“If you’re not feeling God’s Presence, who moved?” God exists everywhere. Whenever we feel abandoned by God, remember, it is we who have moved. God is always fully present to us when we remember to open our hearts to that Presence.
–Mary Manin Morrissey
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
April 8
LIES
“It takes a wise man to handle a lie; a fool had better remain honest.”
–Norman Douglas
As a drinking alcoholic I was telling so many lies to cover the lies I had previously told that I got lost in a maze of untruth! Most of the lies were stupid, irrelevant and harmless – but they were all aimed at building up my ego. Making me look good. Telling people I had more. My memory could not keep up with my tongue and I became guilty, ashamed and embarrassed.
Today I need to remember that there is nothing any lie can give me that I need; there is nothing in the world of fabrication that I need; I have what I need.
Today I have a relationship with a God and Friend that I can understand and be vulnerable with; I don’t need to be perfect to be loved.
Help me to seek the good life in those things that are good.
Daily Inspiration
April 8
There is no good enough reason to ever feel we are a failure. No matter how hard we fall, God is there to restore our spirit and forgive our past. Lord, help me to understand that it is this moment that counts, not the last one and with each new moment, I have a new beginning.
They are wise who depend on God. Lord, Your perfect law revives my soul. Keeping Your law makes me rich.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
April 8
“The very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours, because it is the ashes of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch, for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred.”
–Chief Seattle, SUQUAMISH
If you respect something, it will respect you back. If your ancestors respected something, the future generations will be respected back. The Indian ancestors always showed great respect for the Earth. That’s why the Earth is so respectful to Indians today. Every Indian naturally feels connectedness to the Earth. We know the Earth holds our ancestors. If we continue to respect Mother Earth, our children will benefit and so will our grand- children. Today, we should think about and pray for our Mother Earth.
Grandmother, let me have strong feelings for our Earth today.
Today’s Gift
April 8
Any time you sense you are getting overrun by outside influences and losing your feelings, put your attention inside your body. Relax, let your breath sink low, breathe in your abdomen.
—ANNE KENT RUSH
When we are feeling as though all our energy is scattered throughout our bodies, we need to practice centering, or focusing this energy into one place. Our center may change from day to day, and each of us feels it differently.
When we’re walking, we may feel power coming from our hips and spreading through the body, heart, and mind. When we’re in a meditative mood, we may feel warm energy at the back of the head. At other times, we might feel a real centering place in the middle of the chest, right where our heart and arms and breathing come together. There is no one way to be at peace. Centering is a way for each of us to find and picture to ourselves our focused energy. When we can do this, we increase our power to bring about those things we want from life, those things we really do deserve.
Where is my energy right now?
Touchstones
Meditations For Men
April 8
I’m not into isms and asms. There isn’t a Catholic moon and a Baptist sun. I know the universal God is universal…. I feel that the same God force that is the mother and father of the pope is also the mother and father of the loneliest wino on the planet.
—Dick Gregory
In this program we seek conscious contact with God as we understand God. Some people understand God in very specific ways as a Jewish God, or a Christian God, or Moslem Allah. Others understand God in very general and unspecific ways. To some, God is the spirit of group relationships, the deeper consciousness of each man, or the whole of creation. When the word God is used in this program, it respects the different knowing of each person.
Whatever understanding a man has, this program includes his perspective. It dictates none. This is a spiritual program, not a religious one. We often see our Higher Power was with us as a helpful force, long before we knew about it.
Today, I am grateful for God’s care. May I learn to increase in trust and. knowledge of God.