Daily Reflections
December 21
LISTEN, SHARE AND PRAY
“When working with a man and his family, you should take care not to participate in their quarrels. You may spoil your chance of being helpful if you do.”
—ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 100
When trying to help a fellow alcoholic, I’ve given in to an impulse to give advice, and perhaps that’s inevitable. But allowing others the right to be wrong reaps its own benefits. The best I can do—and it sounds easier than it is to put into practice—is to listen, share personal experience, and pray for others.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
December 21
A.A. Thought For The Day
Have I ceased being inwardly defeated, at war with myself? Have I given myself freely to A.A. and to the Higher Power? Have I gotten over being sick inside? Am I still wandering mentally or am I “on the beam?” I can face anything, if I am sure I am on the way. When I am sure, I should bet my life on A.A. I have learned how the program works. Now will I follow it with all I have, with all I can give, with all my might, with all my life? Am I going to let A.A. principles guide the rest of my life?
Meditation For The Day
In this time of quiet meditation, follow the pressure of the Lord’s leading. In all decisions to be made today, yield to the gentle pressure of your conscience. Stay or go as that pressure indicates. Take the events of today as part of God’s planning and ordering. He may lead you to a right decision. Wait quietly until you have an inner urge, a leading, a feeling that a thing is right, a pressure on your will by the spirit of God.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that today I may try to follow the inner pressure of God’s leading. I pray that I may try to follow my conscience and do what seems right today.
Walk In Dry Places
December 21
Keeping the Faith with Guidance
Good Orderly Direction
Does guidance from our Higher Power always come through? We must believe that it does, even when we don’t seem to receive a visible answer.
Spiritual guidance usually doesn’t come as we think it should. What we’re likely to find instead is that over time, a number of unrelated events come together for a good purpose. Although this appears to be chance or coincidence, very important outcomes often develop from simple happenings, maybe just from meeting someone on the street.
We can never really determine how any chain of events will play out. The best we can do is to continue seeking guidance while following the highest principles in our program. Many chance happenings will be recognized as guidance when we look back at an entire chain of events.
My best way to seek guidance is simply to remember today that my life and affairs are in God’s care and keeping. The highest good will come from this.
Keep It Simple
December 21
“Don’t give your advice before you are called upon.”
—Desiderius Erasmus
If someone wants your advice, the person will ask for it. That’s one reason why in Twelve Step programs we don’t go around trying to talk people into joining. But people will ask us for advice. They’ll see how we’ve changed, and they’ll want what we have. All we have to do is tell them where we found it—in AA, NA or another Twelve Step group. We don’t tell them what to do. We tell them our own story—what it was like, what happened, and where we are now. And we invite them to join us.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me carry the healing message of the program to these who ask for advice.
Action for the Day: I’ll make a decision to spend time with the next person who asks for my help.
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”
—Arnold Schwarzenegger“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
—Buddha“In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.”
—Flora Edwards“As long as I am willing, God will always provide the answers. No one said I would like them, but I accept them.”
—Shelley“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
—Thomas Paine
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
December 21
ORIGINALITY
“Originality exists in every individual because each of us differ from the others. We are all primary–numbers divisible only by ourselves.”
-Jean Guitton
For too many years I tried to be “the same” as other people; matched their styles, repeated their words, did what they wanted, lived to please a crowd of people I did not really know and they certainly did not know me! I said other people’s prayers, quoted other people’s opinions and memorized the ideas of others and I felt empty.
Today I value the lives of others but I am slowly beginning to explore my place in this universe. Today I accept the “specialness” that is me; that uniqueness makes me God’s miracle. Now others are listening and benefiting from my life.
Daily Inspiration
December 21
Growth is not easy. It comes from fully experiencing each situation and mastering it with understanding. Lord, Your presence in my life dispels my fears and guides me through all of life’s circumstances.
Today be cheerful when it is difficult and patient when that, too, is difficult. Lord, I will let Your love for me flow through me and touch those around me.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
December 21
“He [The Great Spirit] only sketches out the path of life roughly for all the creatures on earth, shows them where to go, where to arrive at, but leaves them to find their own way to get there. He wants them to act independently according to their nature, to the urges of each of them.
-Lame Deer, LAKOTA
Every person is created with purpose and with direction. This purpose and direction is written in our hearts when we are conceived. In addition, we are given access to a quiet guidance system which helps us find our purpose and our direction. We need to recognize this guidance system. It’s called intuition, the quiet voice, urges, the knowing or the feeling. Once we locate our purpose and direction, we are given skills, talents and abilities that are unique to only ourselves. We must practice daily prayer and meditation with God to find this information. To be solid and confident in ourselves, we always need to be able to answer three questions: why am I?, who am I?, and where am I going? If I can answer these three questions, I always know I’m OK!
Great Spirit, show me my path of life.
Today’s Gift
December 21
I came to see the damage that was done and the treasures that prevail.
—Adrienne Rich
It takes great courage to face ourselves – to look honestly and fearlessly at our behavior, especially if we have done and said things we are not proud of. We may have caused a lot of sadness in our own and others’ lives. It’s not easy to look at.
But let’s remember, too, that what we do and say is not all of who we are. And let’s also look at the treasures in ourselves – those things we have said and done that have brought great comfort, joy, and love into the lives of others.
Beneath the negative parts of ourselves, deep within us, is a kernel of good. Let’s look for that as well, and water it so it can grow – so we can grow into the persons we are meant to be.
What is the best part of me, and how can I share it today?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
December 21
“He not busy being born is busy dying.”
—Bob Dylan
An old story has been told of men in the program asking an alcoholic who had a slip, “What Step were you working on at the time?” The man who slipped was not working on any Step, and that is part of how he lost his sobriety. The message of the story is that when we are not busy being born spiritually, we are losing ground. It is essential to always be focusing our attention on one of the Steps. Each time we work a Step again, we are at a new place in life, and the Step will inspire something new in us just as it did the first time.
Although we may know the program well, keeping it as our center protects us from being reactive to the events and pressures in our lives. We are less likely to feel overwhelmed by situations or react with shame or anger. As long as we live, we are in need of being renewed.
Today, I will choose one of the Steps and think about its meaning for me.
Daily TAO
December 21
WINTER
A homeless man dies in the gutter.
A tree cracks in the cold:
A shocking sound.
At the winter solstice, the day is shortest of all and night is longest. It can also be the time of bitter cold. The wind blows with a frigid ferocity, cutting all before it. Snow and ice became deadly. Those who are homeless die of exposure. Even the mightiest of trees can split from the drop in temperature.
The sound of a tree snapping is a sudden slap.
The horrors, the tragedies that this nadir brings! Winter tortures the world with icy whips, and those who are weak are ground beneath its glacial heels. Sometimes, we dare not even lament those who die in the onslaught of winter, in fear that the tears will freeze upon our faces. But we see, and hear. Huddling closer to the fire, we vow to survive.
No matter how affected we are by misfortune, we must remember that this is the lowest turn of the wheel. Things cannot forever go downward. There are limits to everything — even the cold, and the darkness, and the wind, and the dying.