Daily Reflections
July 8
AN EVER-GROWING FREEDOM, p. 198
The Seventh Step is where we make the change in our attitude which permits us, with humility as our guide, to move out from ourselves toward others and toward God.
-12 & 12, p. 76
When I finally asked God to remove those things blocking me from Him and the sunlight of the Spirit, I embarked on a journey more glorious than I ever imagined. I experienced freedom from those characteristics that had me wrapped up in myself. Because of this humbling Step, I feel clean. I am especially aware of this Step because I’m now able to be useful to God and to my fellows. I know that He has granted me strength to do His bidding and has prepared me for anyone, and anything, that comes my way today. I am truly in His hands, and I give thanks for the joy that I can be useful today.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
July 8
A. A. Thought for the Day
We in Alcoholics Anonymous do not enter into theological discussions, but in carrying our message we attempt to explain the simple “how” of the spiritual life. How faith in a Higher Power can help you to overcome loneliness, fear, and anxiety. How it can help you get along with other people. How it can make it possible for you to rise above pain, sorrow, and despondency. How it can help you to overcome your desires for the things that destroy. Have I reached a simple, effective faith?
Meditation for the Day
Expect miracles of change in people’s lives. Do not be held back by unbelief. People can be changed and they are often ready and waiting to be changed. Never believe that human nature cannot be changed. We see changed people everyday. Do you have the faith to make those changes possible? Modern miracles happen every day in the lives of people. All miracles are in the realm of personalities. Human nature can be changed and is always being changed. But we must have enough faith so that we can be channels for God’s strength into the lives of others.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may have the faith to expect miracles. I pray that I may be used by God to help change the lives of others.
Walk In Dry Places
July 8
God’s will for us.
Spiritual Guidance.
“I was afraid God would want me to do something unpleasant, like go off to become a monk,” a young man said at a 12 Step meeting.” That’s why I had a hard time seeking God’s will for me.” This sort of comment is heard now and then at meetings. It reveals a belief that God is a harsh taskmaster who delights in imposing difficult conditions on us.
The truth is that God’s purpose is to help us be more of what we ought to be, which is always something better than what we’re experiencing now. Few people are ever called to be monks, but those who do are pleased with their choice and devote themselves to it.
We must always be interested in finding God’s direction in our lives. It will turn out to be something far better than anything we could have planned.
I need not fear God’s direction in my life. It’s actually what I need in order to reach my true place.
Alcoholics
Anonymous
July 8
The Vicious Cycle
How it finally broke a Southerner’s obstinacy and destined this salesman to start A. A. at Philadelphia.
Around this time our big A. A. book was being written and it all became much simpler; we had a definite formula which some sixty of us agreed was the middle course for all alcoholics who wanted sobriety, and that formula has not been changed one iota down through the years. I don’t think the boys were completely convinced of my personality change, for they fought shy of including my story in the book, so my only contribution to their literary efforts was my firm conviction, being still a theological rebel, that the word God should be qualified with the phrase “as we understand him”–for that was the only way I could accept spirituality.
p. 229
All time spent angry is time lost being happy.
–Mexican Proverb
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
–John Wesley
Most of us are just about as happy as we make up our minds to be.
–Abraham Lincoln
“One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.”
–Henry Miller
Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.
–Henry David Thoreau
“No one has ever done anything too bad to be forgiven.”
–Ruth Sheppard
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
July 8
ART
“There is no must in art because it is free.”
–Vasily Kandinsky
Now I understand why the religious people of the past persecuted the artist. Now I understand why so many artists moved away from religion and grew beyond it. The artist is always searching for that which is different, that which cannot be contained or codified; that which is free: Spirituality. As a drinking alcoholic I found it necessary to control my life; control my thoughts and behavior; control each and every situation — and it was depressingly exhausting. Today sobriety enables me to risk that which is new and different. Sobriety allows me to experiment and take risks in God’s world. Sobriety is being free. I am discovering more of me in what yesterday’s artists wrote and produced. The “musts” of yesterday have been replaced by the shoulds and needs today. I am free to listen and consider the person because he is a person and not simply because of his credentials.
Supreme Artist, let me hear You in the whisperings of Your creatures.
Daily Inspiration
July 8
Keep your mind open to the possibility that things can turn out even better than expected. Lord, I trust in You and graciously accept all blessings that You send to me.
God gives us power, love and self-discipline, not fear and timidness. Lord, I will not be afraid to proclaim that You are my God. All will see it in my actions.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
July 8
“You are going to learn the most important lesson – that God
is the most powerful thing there is.”
–Mathew King, LAKOTA
The Medicine Wheel teaches that there are two worlds – the Seen World and the Unseen World, or the Physical World and the Spiritual World. We need information from both of these worlds in order to live our lives in a harmonious way.
The most difficult way is to figure things out by ourselves and leave the Great Spirit out of it. When we do this, we are making decisions with information only from the Physical World
can be called reliance on self. If we ask the Creator to help us, we then get information from the Unseen World or the Spiritual World. The Spiritual World is where we get our power. When we do this, we are God-reliant. Being God-reliant is the same as being on the Red Road.
Great Spirit, whisper the secrets of the Unseen World in my mind’s ear.
Today’s Gift
July 8
Hurry, hurry has no blessing.
—Swahili Proverb
In a busy family there is a lot of activity. We sometimes feel imprisoned by all the work, school, extracurricular activities, housework, meetings, and special events. In the press to do it all, we may lose our peace because of the hurry. We rush to eat; we rush to work; we rush to get there on time. Much of this cannot be helped. But hurry has no blessing, as the proverb goes. We can create quick tempers and a lot of frustration if we try to hurry too much.
When we allow enough time to slow things down, we give ourselves a chance to enjoy what we’re doing, and to develop along spiritual lines. Inner peace depends on our keeping a balance in all the things we do. Only then can we feel the joy that comes from having enough time to do things quietly and smoothly, and value the inner peace that comes when we do not hurry.
How can I take my time today and enjoy myself?
Touchstones
Meditations For Men
July 8
He was shut out from all family affairs. No one told him
anything. The children, alone with their mother, told her all about the day’s
happenings, everything…. But as soon as the father came in, everything stopped.
—D. H. Lawrence
Many of us men are on the outer edge of our family circles. The closeness between our children and our wives often seems more comfortable, more intimate than our relationships with them. Perhaps it’s similar to the closeness we had with our mother while our father was outside. It is painful to us and probably not entirely our own fault. We were taught that our main job was outside the home – supporting our family by earning a living. But it is up to us to change the situation.
Many of us learned from our own father that grown men stay aloof from emotional relationships, but this has hurt our relationships and alienated us from the people we most care for. Learning to know our feelings and how to express them helps us move into the family circle of intimacy.
Today, I will let go of my aloofness with my family so they can know me better.
Daily TAO
July 8
Victory
Can you be both martial and spiritual?
Can you overcome your ultimate opponent?
To be martial requires discipline, courage, and perseverance. It has nothing to do with killing. People fail to look beyond this one narrow aspect of being a warrior and so overlook all the other excellent qualities that can be gained from training. A warrior is not a cruel murderer. A warrior is a protector of ideals, principle, and honor. A warrior is noble and heroic.
A warrior will have many opponents in a lifetime, but the ultimate opponent is the warrior’s own self. Within a fighter’s personality are a wide array of demons to be conquered: fear, laziness, ignorance, selfishness, egotism, and so many more. To talk of overpowering other people is inconsequential. To actually overcome one’s own defects is the true nature of victory. That is why so many religions depict warriors in the iconography. These images are not symbols for dominating others. Rather, they are symbols of the ferocity and determination that we need to overcome the demons within ourselves.
Every time I say no to the craving for just one small, extra bite, I become stronger. Every time I give in, I weaken myself and make it harder to say no the next time.
Abstinence from compulsive overeating is made up of many small decisions. We gradually acquire the knowledge of what we can handle and what we should avoid. This knowledge applies to situations and attitudes as well as food. As we work our program and make the right decisions, we gain strength.
Since none of us is perfect, we do not need to become discouraged when we make mistakes. We are learning how to live, and our failures teach us more than our successes. Growth is slow, but if we keep coming back to OA and the program, we will see results beyond our wildest expectations. OA gives us the strength to become new people.
For growing stronger, we thank You.
Daily Zen
July 8
Limitations gone:
Since my mind fixed on the moon,
Clarity and serenity
Make something for which
There’s no end in sight.
– Saigyo (1118-1190)