Daily Reflections
July 5
A NEW DIRECTION
Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not
sufficient; they failed utterly. Every day is a day when we must carry the
vision of God’s will into all our activities.
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 45,85
I hear talk of the “weak-willed” alcoholic, but I am one of the strongest-willed people on earth! I now know that my incredible strength of will is not enough to save my life. My problem is not one of “weakness,” but rather of direction. When I, without falsely diminishing myself, accept my honest limitations and turn to God’s guidance, my worst faults become my greatest assets. My strong will, rightly directed, keeps me working until the promises of the program become my daily reality.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
July 5
A. A. Thought for the Day
Until we came into A. A. most of us had tried desperately to stop drinking. We were filled with the delusion that we could drink like our friends. We tried time and again to take it or leave it, but we could do neither. We always lapsed into ceaseless, unhappy drinking. Families, friends, and employers threw up their hands in hurt bewilderment, in despair, and finally in disgust. We wanted to stop. We realized that every reason for drinking was only a crazy excuse. Have I given up every excuse for drinking?
Meditation for the Day
Many things can upset you and you can easily get off the track. But remember that God is near you all the time, ready to help you if you call on Him. You cannot forever stand against God’s will for you, nor can you, forever upset God’s plan for your life, even though Gods plan may be postponed by your willfulness and deliberate choice of evil. A whole world of men and women cannot permanently change God’s laws nor His purpose for the universe. The sea of life may look very rough to us, but we can believe that our Captain steers the boat on a straight course.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to steer a straight course. I pray that I may accept God’s direction in my life’s journey.
Walk In Dry Places
July 5
What brings change?
Inventory.
In human affairs, vast changes sometimes take place almost spontaneously, bringing on revolutionary upheavals. What brings about such change?
These visible changes, for good or bad, occur because people come to accept new ideas. It’s easy to see how this works in one person’s life, but it works in the same way with societies.
The 12 Step movement is a most dramatic form of such change. We’ve become effective because we have new forms of thinking to replace the old destructive forms that caused so much harm. Our movement will grow and develop only as long as we retain the new ways of thinking that first brought about this change.
I’ll hold to the idea that my life can only be as good as the thoughts I choose.
Keep It Simple
July 5
If at first you don’t succeed, you’re running about average.
—Ovid
Our program speaks of spiritual progress, not perfection. We can take all the time we need. Our bottom line is steady progress. We can ask ourselves, “Am I a little more spiritual than I was a year ago? A month ago?” If the answer is yes, we’re doing great. If the answer is no, we should look at why.
Our illness pushes us to be prefect. In recovery, we learn that we are free to be what we are—human. Even the world’s fastest runners are average in most other areas of their lives. . This is okay. Remember, “spiritual progress, not perfection.”
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I’ll not be ashamed of how average I am. I’ll remember I’m average—and that’s good.
Action for the Day: I’ll list what is average about me. I’ll share this with a friend. Than I’ll ask my friend what is special about me.
Alcoholics
Anonymous
July 5
The Vicious Cycle
How it finally broke a Southerner’s obstinacy and destined this salesman to start A. A. at Philadelphia.
At that time the group in New York was composed of about twelve men who were working on the principle of every drunk for himself; we had no real formula and no name. We would follow one man’s ideas for a while, decide he was wrong, and switch to another’s method. But we were staying sober as long as we kept and talked together. There was one meeting a week at Bill’s home in Brooklyn, and we all took turns there spouting off about how we had changed our lives overnight, how many drunks we had saved and straightened out, and last but not least, how God had touched each of us personally on the shoulder. Boy, what a circle of confused idealists! Yet we all had one really sincere purpose in our hearts, and that was not to drink. At our weekly meeting I was a menace to serenity those first few months, for I took every opportunity to lambaste that “spiritual angle,” as we called it, or anything else that had any tingle of theology. Much later I discovered the elders held many prayer meetings hoping to find a way to give me the heave-ho but at the same time stay tolerant and spiritual. They did not seem to be getting an answer, for here I was staying sober and selling lots of auto polish, on which they were making one thousand percent profit. So I rocked along my merry independent way until June, when I went out selling auto polish in England. After a very good week, two of my customers took me to lunch on Saturday. We ordered sandwiches, and one man said, “Three beers.” I let that sit too. Then it was my turn–I ordered, “Three beers,” but this time it was different; I had a cash investment of thirty cents, and, on a ten-dollar-a-week-salary, that a big thing. So I drank all three beers, one after the other, and said, “I’ll be seeing you, boys,” and went around the corner for a bottle. I never saw either of them again.
pp. 227-228
God, guide me in making my commitments. Give me the courage to make those that are right for me, the wisdom to not commit to that which does not feel right, and the patience to wait until I know.
–Melody Beattie
Gratitude is our most direct line to God and the angels. If we take the time, no matter how crazy and troubled we feel, we can find something to be thankful for. The more we seek gratitude, the more reason the angels will give us for gratitude and joy to exist in our lives.
–Terry Lynn Taylor
Wisdom is using those things that work for you, for as long as they work for you, and letting go of the things that are not working for you.
–John-Roger
“Allow God to speak through you and smile upon the earth through you, because you are an unconditional giver, a purposeful being.”
–Dr. Wayne Dyer
Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.
–Ambrose Bierce
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
July 5
FORGIVENESS
“Without forgiveness life is governed by . . . an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”
–Roberto Assagioli
So much of what I resent in others springs from my unhappiness with self. I hate in others what I know to be in myself: arrogance, pride, narrow-mindedness, snobbery and dishonesty.
Today I am learning that as long as I refuse to forgive others, I am not capable of forgiving myself. Part of my denial is reflected in my attitudes towards others. Those character traits I refuse to forgive in others are buried within myself. I know that without forgiveness there is no freedom — and I wish to grow in freedom.
Today I am learning the difference between forgiveness and acceptance. I can forgive other people without accepting their lifestyle. I can forgive myself and still see the need for change. In my forgiveness is the hope for tomorrow.
Master, You taught that without forgiveness, there can be no pure love. Help me grow in the forgiveness of self and others.
Daily Inspiration
July 5
If you want those around you calm, you must be calm. Lord, when life becomes frantic, help me focus on solutions and restore the peace that the events of the moment try to destroy.
We are not always what we ought to be or want to be, but through God’s love we are not what we would be without Him. Lord, thank you for raising me to heights in this world that alone I could not reach and for giving me eternal life in the next.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
July 5
“It does not require many words to speak the truth.”
–Chief Joseph, NEZ PERCE
The truth shall set you free. This is the truth. When we
speak the Truth, we do not need to be defensive. Truth needs no defense. When
we speak the Truth, we do not need to attack because
Truth cannot be attacked.
It is so easy to want to manipulate or to be deceitful or dishonest. My head tells me I can get away with doing these things, after all everybody does it.
My Creator, today let me know Truth. Let me live Truth. Let me risk the Truth. Let me make the Truth sweet. Help me to make my word good. Let Your spirit and intent be added to by words. Let My thoughts be Truth.
Today’s Gift
July 5
In uplifting, get underneath.
—George Ade
A sandpile in the summer is deceiving. The topmost sand burns hot on our feet. But as we push down toward the center, we come to a damp, cool place that soothes and oozes between our toes.
The nature of most things is not revealed at the surface. Like the sandpile, many people and situations we encounter are, on the surface, downright uncomfortable. The reward is in digging deeper-to the essential goodness, the core or meaning, the true friend. It takes time, a little knowledge, and abundant trust that we will not be burned.
What have I discovered by digging a little lately?
Touchstones
Meditations For Men
July 5
We shall describe conditions of the soul that words can only hint at. We shall have to use logic to try to corner perspectives that laugh at our attempt.
—Huston Smith
As we live the spiritual life, we find words and logic are only capable of pointing in the direction of some truths. Words do not contain the entire truth our experience may be teaching us. This is like the difference between hearing about fishing versus actually being on the water, smelling the misty air, and feeling the fish tug on our line.
Spiritual development is a form of education. We are developing the part of us that learns by experience, that has a feeling without exactly knowing why, that understands stories better than statistics. Gradually, we accept more experiences in our lives as mysteries, as not fitting into any specific categories. Many experiences will have more meaning than cold facts could ever express. As this side of us develops, we don’t discard reason and judgment; we become deeper human beings.
Today, I will give my intuition more freedom. That will help my spiritual self grow.
Daily TAO
July 5
Point
Make the mind
A single point.
The key to any meditation is to concentrate the mind into a single point. There are many methods of doing this, from singing, to listening to holy words, to contemplative procedures. But the end result is the same: to sharply focus the mind.
A point has a definite position in space but neither size nor shape.
A point marks an actual place in time, such as a point of departure.
A point is the very essence of something, as in the point of an idea.
A point is a coordinate for navigation.
A point is the dominant center, as in the principal point of perspective.
A point determines our outlook, as in point of view.
Once the mind is made into a single point, it takes on the above attributes. In contrast, a mind that is not focused is dispersed over a wide area. Its thoughts are scattered, its energies are in disarray, and it cannot move clearly in any direction. It is at the mercy of a thousand influences and is easily disoriented. The result is confusion, ignorance, unhappiness, and helplessness. A mind that is clearly focused, however, receives all things and can abide in utter tranquility. It is no exaggeration to say that its world revolves around it. . It no longer has to chase after all that appears before it.