Daily Reflections
July 2
THE HEART OF TRUE SOBRIETY
We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open-mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable.
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 570
Am I honest enough to accept myself as I am and let this be the “me” that I let others see? Do I have the willingness to go to any length, to do whatever is necessary to stay sober? Do I have the open-mindedness to hear what I have to hear, to think what I have to think, and to feel what I have to feel?
If my answer to these questions is “Yes,” I know enough about the spirituality of the program to stay sober. As I continue to work the Twelve Steps, I move on to the heart of true sobriety: serenity with myself, with others, and with God as I understand Him.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
July 2
A. A. Thought for the Day
In the association with members of the A. A. group to which we belong, we have the advantage of sincere friendship and understanding of the other members who, through social and personal contact, take us away from our old haunts and environments and help to remove in large measure the occasions of alcoholic suggestion. We find in this association a sympathy and a willingness on the part of most members to do everything in their power to help us. Do I appreciate the wonderful fellowship of A. A. ?
Meditation for the Day
“Except ye become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” In this saying it is urged that all who seek heaven on earth or in the hereafter’ should become like little children. In seeking things of the spirit and in our faith, we should try to become childlike. Even as we grow older, the years of seeking can give us the attitude of the trusting child. Not only for its simple trust should we have the childlike spirit, but also for its joy in life, its ready laughter, its lack of criticism, and its desire to share. In Charles Dickens’s story, A Christmas Carol, even old Scrooge changed when he got the child-spirit.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may become like a child in faith and hope. I pray that I may, like a child, be friendly and trusting.
Keep It Simple
July 2
I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
— Albert Einstein
None of us know anything for sure about the future. We don’t know if we’ll be sober tomorrow.
But we can be sure of this moment. We get sober by moments. Our sober moments then stretch into hours, day, and years
Our program tell us to live in the present moment. This is because we can control this moment
We can’t control the past or the future. We need to have a sense of control in our life. In our illness, we were out of control. This was because we wouldn’t live from moment to moment.
Each moment is filled with as much life as we can handle. Each moment is filled with enough to keep us alive, interested, and growing.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me find You in each moment.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll stop and focus on the present moment. I will work to see how much control I can have if I stay with the moment at hand.
Alcoholics
Anonymous
July 2
The Vicious Cycle
How it finally broke a Southerner’s obstinacy and destined this salesman to start A. A. at Philadelphia.
The mental state of the sick alcoholic is beyond description. I had no resentments against individuals–the whole world was all wrong. My thoughts went round and round with, What’s it all about anyhow? People have wars and kill each other; they struggle and cut each other’s throats for success, and what does anyone get out of it? Haven’t I been successful, haven’t I accomplished extraordinary things in business? What do I get out of it? Everything’s all wrong and the hell with it. For the last two years of my drinking, I prayed during every drunk that I wouldn’t wake up again. Three months before I met Jackie, I had made my second feeble try at suicide.
pp. 225-226
“In forgiving ourselves, we make the journey from guilt for what we have done (or not done) to celebration of what we have become.”
–Joan Borysenko
“He who cannot rest, cannot work; He who cannot let go, cannot hold on; He who cannot find footing, cannot go forward.”
–Harry Emerson Fosdick
“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”
–Benjamin Franklin
If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could be better changed in ourselves.
–Carl Jung
Voices we prefer to ignore may speak words we need to hear.
–Don Deal
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
July 2
BEAUTY
“Beauty is not caused. It is.”
–Emily Dickinson
So many people think that beauty is what you do to yourself; what you wear, makeup, clothes, hairstyles or expensive jewelry. Again it is so easy to get caught up in “things”. Reality is not about what we wear but who we are.
The beauty that God has created comes from within. The twinkle in the eyes that says “hello”. The hug that says “I love you”. The gentle embrace and smile that says “I forgive you”. The tear that cries “I understand”.
When God said to the world, “It is good”, Beauty was born. Drugs and crazy relationships only get in the way of us being what we were intended to be: beautiful for God.
Today I seek to put God’s beauty in my actions, words and attitudes.
Daily Inspiration
July 2
Avoid the tendency to presuppose that things will turn out for the worse. Lord, help me keep an open mind so that I am able to see other solutions to my situations and then give me the determination to make a difference when I can.
We take for granted so much of what God has planned for us. Lord, may I have sufficient preparation to meet the challenges of today and rejoice in the person that I am.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
July 2
“If I destroy you, I destroy myself. If I honor you, I honor myself.”
–Hunbatz Men, MAYAN
It is said, when we need love the most is when we deserve it the least. Whenever I have secret thoughts about someone else, it will put bad feelings inside myself. I will hurt myself.
If I secretly hold a grudge or resentment against my brother or sister, I will be a slave to that person until I let them go. Let me remember to look at my brother in a sacred manner.
Today, let me think like a Warrior. Let my thoughts toward my brothers and sisters be good thoughts. Let me remember that You are in charge.
If I get upset at another person today, let me remember that the most important thing I can do is to first talk to You because, when I am right with You, it is impossible to be out of harmony with my brothers and sisters.
My Creator, take my hand and guide me through today.
Today’s Gift
July 2
Now my soul hath elbowroom.
—William Shakespeare
If we spend too much time together we are bound to grow weary of one another. This would happen regardless of who the other person was. In a family, we need some time apart to pursue other interests and friendships. We may be able to meet many needs for each other, but there will be some we cannot meet. If we press too hard upon one another we will cramp our life together.
Our needs for space aren’t just physical. Freedom to think and feel what seems appropriate for us, to be alone if we want, is a large part of our lives together. Only with this kind of freedom is love possible. Love requires freedom. We need to value each other, and at the same time realize that no one person or family can fill us with all life has to offer.
What are my own freedoms at home?
Touchstones
Meditations For Men
July 2
Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.
—Eric Hoffer
As adults, we accept responsibility for our feelings and our circumstances. We haven’t chosen our own troubles, but we have the job of dealing with them. If a man falls and breaks a leg, he might say to someone, “It’s your fault, and I’ll make you pay for this!” But that won’t fix his leg. The healing still has to come from within.
Our impulse to blame others is an attempt to escape our responsibilities. We become overcritical. We want someone else to take the rap for our pain and our misdeeds, but this only delays our wholeness as men. There is no point in blaming ourselves either. When we first confront our discomfort directly and accept responsibility for dealing with it, we feel an inner urge to escape again. If we stay with the discomfort a while, a new stage begins – the healing and acceptance stage. A feeling of wholeness comes, a feeling of being a real person, of having reached our full size.
May I not indulge in blame today – toward myself or anyone else. Instead, may I be a strong, responsible man.
Daily TAO
July 2
Middle
Those who attain the middle
Dominate the whole.
Today is the 183rd day. It is exactly the middle day out of 365. Once you reach the center of anything, you can dominate the whole in any way you please. In chess, those who gain the middle board are usually in the superior position. In a storm, those who reach the eye are safe. In making decisions, those who cleave to the center are wise.
There are 182 days on either side of today to make a year. There is no center day in an even-numbered period. It is the odd-numbered set that has a center. It is the odd-numbered set that is dynamic.