Daily Reflections
December 7
TRUE AMBITION
True ambition is not what we thought it was. True ambition is the deep desire to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God.
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 124-25
During my drinking years, my one and only concern was to have my fellow man think highly of me. My ambition in everything I did was to have the power to be at the top. My inner self kept telling me something else but I couldn’t accept it. I didn’t even allow myself to realize that I wore a mask continually. Finally, when the mask came off and I cried out to the only God I could conceive, the Fellowship of A.A., my group and the Twelve Steps were there. I learned how to change resentments into acceptance, fear into hope and anger into love. I have learned also, through loving without undue expectations, through sharing my concerns and caring for my fellow man, that each day can be joyous and fruitful. I begin and end my day with thanks to God, who has so generously shed His grace on me.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
December 7
A.A. Thought For The Day
When people come back to A.A. after having a slip, the temptation is strong to say nothing about it. No other A.A. member should force them to declare themselves. It is entirely up to them. If they are well-grounded in A.A., they will realize that it’s up to them to speak up at the next meeting and tell about their slip. There is no possible evasion of this duty, if they are thoroughly honest and really desirous of living the A.A. way again. When they have done it, their old confidence returns. They are home again. Their slip should not be mentioned again by others. They are again a good member of A.A.
Am I tolerant of other peoples’ mistakes?
Meditation For The Day
It is in the union of a soul with God that strength, new life and spiritual power come. Bread sustains the body but we cannot live by bread alone. To try to do God’s will is the meat and support of true living. We feed on that spiritual food. Soul starvation comes from failing to do so. The world talks about bodies that are undernourished. What of the souls that are undernourished? Strength and peace come from partaking of spiritual food.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may not try to live by bread alone. I pray that my spirit may live by trying to do the will of God as I understand it.
Walk In Dry Places
December 7
What rather than who
Principles before Personalities.
We’re sometimes led to do something because a persuasive or important person recommends it. This is, in fact, the strategy behind endorsement advertising.
We learn in AA that it’s more important to ask what is right that who is offering a course of action. If a course of action is right, it matters not who recommends it. If it is wrong, a dozen important poeple cannot make it right by endorsing it.
There are, indeed, many important people whom we can know and trust. But we should always remember that every human being will turn out to have clay feet if he or she is set up as a god. Our trust must always be in our Higher Power and in principles that never fail.
I’ll not be unduly impressed today by persuasive, charismatic people. I’ll follow their ideas only if I believe them to be right. Principles have a precedence over personality.
Keep It Simple
December 7
We are here to add what we can to, not to get what we can get from, Life.
-Sir William Osler
Service is a word we hear in our recovery program. Service means work we do for others. It’s the backbone of our program. The reason is simple. Service to our Higher Power and to others breaks down our wanting to be self-centered. Service brings us back into the world. We really are part of the group when we pitch in to make coffee, set up chairs, or talk in meetings. We really feel like part of the family when we run errands and help with meals and housework. We really connect with our Higher Power when we pray, “Use me today to help others.” Service breaks down the feeling of being alone that being self -centered brings.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to be of service to You and others. Show me what is needed.
Action for the Day: Today will be a service day. I’ll see how valued I am. I’ll give to others, knowing that I, too, will receive.
The heart is wiser than the intellect.
-Josiah Holland (1819-1881)You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
-Kahlil GibranThe human contribution is the essential ingredient. It is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live.
-Ethel Percy AndrusOne of the great gifts of sobriety is learning to see beauty in things not always with the eyes, but with the feeling of the heart.
-Shelley“When you get in a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
-Harriet Beecher Stowe“When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
December 7
REALITY
“Man is a complex being: he makes deserts bloom and lakes die.”
-Gil Stern
I am a mixture of good and bad. When I was drinking I could be cruel, sarcastic and violent and at other times loving, sensitive and thoughtful. Today in my recovery I know I can be honest, humble and creative, but I also carry within me a dark and destructive side that often hurts, lies and seeks negative power. What a mixture I was and what a mixture I still am! From all my many conversations with a variety of people I have discovered that this is what it is to be human.
Today I am able to accept this and develop my spiritual life. I am not perfect, but I try to improve my attitude and behavior. I am not God, but I can aspire to be the best that I can be.
Today I own the sickness in my life, but I also accept the responsibility for recovery.
With my feet in the dirt, I look to the stars.
Xtra Thoughts
December 7
“To you, O lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: ‘What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help.’ You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.”
-Psalms 30: 8-12
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”
-Psalm 51:10
Daily Inspiration
December 7
For everyone there is a way to serve and honor God in this life on earth. Lord, let me seize every opportunity, no matter how small, to glorify You, make you better known and always bring myself and others closer to You.
Part with what you cherish if it separates you or leads you away from God. Lord, help me place my heart in the right place so that I am not distracted in my journey to Eternal Life.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
December 7
“A man should rely on his own resources; the one who so trains himself is ready for any emergency.”
-Oral Tradition, OMAHA
Man is designed to function independently and to rely on the Creator for his resources. If we build our relationship with the Great Spirit, we are ready when emergencies occur. We need to build a trusting relationship with the Creator. We do this by constantly talking with the Creator. It’s good to talk to Him many times a day. Then we will realize, even though we can’t see Him, that He is always with us and He is ready to respond to our requests.
Creator, let me remember to talk to You many times today.
Today’s Gift
December 7
Only people who have joyfully accepted themselves can take all the risks and responsibilities of being themselves.
—John Powell
If we have ever gone to school with a black eye, we know how embarrassing it can be. We feel self-conscious and ill at ease. Friends come up to us one after another to ask how we got it. We may want to stay away from people until the eye is better. All of us have things about ourselves we have a hard time accepting. It doesn’t have to be as unusual as a black eye. We may think we’re too big, too little, too slow, not good readers, not good looking enough, or not popular enough.
We may need to talk about these things with someone else, so these bits of ourselves we don’t accept won’t limit our freedom to grow. By talking to another, we may find those traits aren’t noticed by anyone but ourselves. We may also find that what we once thought of as weak points can be turned to strengths.
What weakness can I turn to a strength today?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
December 7
Seldom, or perhaps never, does a marriage develop into an individual relationship smoothly and without crises; there is no coming to consciousness without pain.
—Carl Jung
We don’t seek perfect relationships in marriage or in other places in our lives. What we seek instead are real and honest connections. Perfection has a picture-book form, but it has no depth and no personality. This means that sometimes we will get upset with others, or they will get upset with us. We need a basic commitment to stay in the relationship dialogue, to continue returning to it as long as both people are willing to work on it. Working through crises is how a relationship grows from simply being an idea to having its unique reality.
We will be frightened by the rough spots. We will wonder if there is something wrong with us or with the other person, or the relationship. We cannot escape such questions. To run from the difficulties cuts off the possibilities for growth. It is a frightening thing to become real, to come into consciousness.
Today, I pray for courage to remain honest and faithful to real relationships through the crises.
Daily TAO
December 7
SIMPLICITY
“Be aware of Tao.”
Isn’t that simple?
No — let’s reduce more :
“Be Tao.”
Why go through all this rigmarole? Why endlessly examine scriptures and debate obscure actions of long-dead saints and equally dead words? We need to affirm experience over words, individuality over dogma.
After all this study of Tao, there should only be this simple conclusion : There is only us and Tao.
No, more simple still is to be Tao itself. Then everything that is Tao is us.