Daily Reflections
February 3
FILLING THE VOID
We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. “Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?” As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 47
I was always fascinated with the study of scientific principles. I was emotionally and physically distant from people while I pursued Absolute Knowledge. God and spirituality were meaningless academic exercises. I was a modern man of science, knowledge was my Higher Power. Given the right set of equations, life was merely another problem to solve. Yet my inner self was dying from my outer man’s solution to life’s problems and the solution was alcohol. In spite of my intelligence, alcohol became my Higher Power. It was through the unconditional love which emanated from A.A. people and meetings that I was able to discard alcohol as my Higher Power. The great void was filled. I was no longer lonely and apart from life. I had found a true power greater than myself, I had found God’s love. There is only one equation which really matters to me now: God is in A.A.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
February 3
A.A. Thought For The Day
By drinking, we escaped from boredom for a while. We almost forgot our troubles. But when we sobered up, our troubles were twice as bad. Drinking had only made them worse. In A.A., we really escape boredom. Nobody’s bored at an A.A. meeting. We stick around after it’s over and we hate to leave. Drinking gave us a temporary feeling of importance. When we’re drinking, we kid ourselves into thinking we are somebody. We tell tall stories to build ourselves up. In A.A., we don’t want that kind of self-importance. We have real self-respect and honesty and humility. Have I found something much better and more satisfactory than drinking?
Meditation For The Day
I believe that my faith and God’s power can accomplish anything in human relationships. There is no limit to what these two things can do in this field. Only believe, and anything can happen. Saint Paul said; “I can do all things through Him who strengthen me.” All walls that divide you from other human beings can fall by your faith and God’s power. These are the two essentials. Everyone can be moved by these.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may try to strengthen my faith day by day. I pray that I may rely more and more on God’s power.
Walk In Dry Places
February 3
No Coincidences
Guidance
The early history of AA still sparkles with fortunate coincidences that moved the fellowship forward. It was miraculous, for example, that Bill W’s telephone call in 1935 was to a woman who “just happened” to know Dr. Bob, a suffering alcoholic.
When we are in tune with AA’s spiritual program, we know with absolute certainty that there really are no coincidences. Our Higher Power is in charge and all things really are working together for good, even though this is not always apparent at first.
If we let this Higher Power guide and direct our lives, we will be thrilled and delighted by a number of wonder coincidences. We may happen to pick up the magazine or book that gives us information and meet a person whose advice changes our lives. Or we follow a hunch and make an unusual decision that leads to a number of opportunities we never dreamed of.
We cannot force these fortunate “coincidences” to happen or direct their course, except by following the program every day. But we never need fret about the future if we have placed our lives in God’s hands. There are no coincidences … Only the hand of God ceaselessly at work.
I will work this day as if everything depended on me, but at the same time I will know that everything really depends on God.
Keep It Simple
February 3
Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
–Erma Bombeck
We often hear, “Stick with the winners.” Not everyone in Twelve Step meetings is there for recovery.. But many members follow a Twelve Step way of living. We need to find those people. This is really true when it comes to finding a sponsor. Look for a sponsor who gets good things from his or her program. Why pick a sponsor who isn’t happy in the program? Recovery is hard work. You deserve the best. Find the best sponsor you can. Remember, ours is a selfish program. we’re fighting for our lives.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me find the best in my program. Help me find a good sponsor, so we can get as much from each other and this program as we can.
Today’s Action: Today I’ll think about what it means to have a good sponsor.
Decide to be happy, knowing it’s an attitude, a habit gained from daily practice, and not a result or payoff.
–Denis WaitleyIf you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
–Lao TzuOnly if we follow can God lead the way.
–Sandra Roberts Still
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
February 3
STATISTICS
“There are three kinds of lies, lies, damned lies and statistics.”
— Benjamin Disraeli
I used to be able to hide behind anything — even statistics. Figures, and the quoting of figures, can expand the ego and keep you sick. They can confuse the issues by making everything complicated.
In the field of alcoholism statistics are important for comparison and research but they can never be a substitute for a “rigorous honesty” that is based upon personal experience. I do not think that statistics alone stopped a person from drinking, but the sharing of a personal suffering and victory can produce an identification that leads to change.
As a recovering alcoholic I need to know the statistics concerning my disease but I also need to know that today’s recovery is based upon yesterday’s honest sharing.
Let me always see the faces behind the numbers.
Daily Inspiration
February 3
As God’s children we have inherited all of His promises. Faith in You, Lord, refreshes my soul as nothing else can.
To have courage, think courageous, act courageous, and pray to God for courage. Lord, You are full of love for all who come to You.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
February 3
“It’s very hard to do things in the right manner, but as long as we do things right, we are in turn with the Great Spirit.”
–Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE
When we are right with the Great Spirit, we are right with all things. It is impossible to be out of harmony with anything or anybody when we are in harmony with the Great One. So, if during the day a problem crops up and someone makes us mad, the best thing we can do is talk to the Creator first, ask for His help, then continue our conversation with the other person. In this way, our emotional nature will keep aligned with our thoughts, and we will always stay right with the Great Spirit.
Great Spirit, I ask You to guide me on the Red Road today.
Today’s Gift
February 3
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole . . . nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it . . .. It was a hobbithole, and that means comfort.
—J. R. R. Tolkien
Home is a place of comfort. When we go away and have to adjust to a different bed and someone else’s cooking, we quickly discover how comfortable our own home is. Comfort in a home is more than just a familiar bed and favorite food; it is something we can give to each other. We can make home a place where we can relax and be ourselves without fear of rejection.
Each of us needs a special little place where we can come and seek refuge from the world, our own little “fort.” Children are often busy making “forts,” but all of us in the family need to work at making the place where we live together a fort where we can all gather for rest.What can I add to our comfort today?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
February 3
Compassion is … a spirituality and a way of living and walking through life. It is the way we treat all there is in life – ourselves, our bodies, our imaginations and dreams, our neighbors, our enemies … Compassion is a spirituality as if creation mattered. It is treating all creation as holy and as divine … which is what it is.
—Matthew Fox
In our search for growth, serenity, and contentment, we can start at a very practical level. Simply treat ourselves, inside and out, and everything around us in a respectful and caring way. Many men have not learned how to do that. Some of us have learned to accept abuse and pain, or to be tough and abusive.
We can learn about being in a healthy relationship, about befriending ourselves and others and all of creation. With practice, we will learn more and more about having compassion. As we do, our self-centeredness and our self-pity will fall away.
Today, I will be compassionate toward each of the details of creation, and practice acceptance both within and outside myself.
Daily TAO
February 3
ENGAGEMENT
Prey passes the tiger who
Sometimes merely looks,
Sometimes pounces without hesitation,
But never fails to act.
Life is a constant series of opportunities. If we don’t reach out for things, if we don’t take advantage of what comes our way, then we cannot be in harmony with the essential nature of life.
The tiger is the same way. He conforms to every situation that comes. If he spots prey and is not ready to hunt, he will let it go. But he has not failed to act. He has knowingly let the prey escape, and this is much different from someone who loses a situation through slow reflexes or inability. When the tiger wants his prey, he pounces upon it without any thought or hesitation. There are no morals, no guilt, no psychological problems, no ideologies to interfere with the purity of his action. This undiminished grace in action is called non-action.
This is engagement. Whatever comes to you, you must engage it somehow. You receive it, you may alter the circumstance and let it go, you may interject something of your own into it, or you may knowingly let it pass. Whatever you do, there is no need to be apathetic toward life. Instead, full participation in all things is the surest way to happiness, vitality, success, and a deep knowledge of Tao.
Daily Zen
February 3
Purifying our self-direction,
Our emotions, and behavior in all endeavors,
One grows in understanding of the Way.
But individual abilities vary
And the exalted Way has many different aspects.
To students of Tao, this sincere forewarning:
Only with a clear, honest spirit
Can we begin meaningful learning.
With an unsullied heart
We may even move the immortals.
Debasing the Way,
Not even heaven forgives us.
– Loy Ching-yuen 1879-1960’s)