Daily Reflections
June 4
LETTING GO OF OUR OLD SELVES
Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last. . . . Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable?
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 75, 76
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
June 4
A. A. Thought for the Day
Some things I like since becoming dry: feeling good in the morning; full use of my intelligence; joy in my work; the love and trust of my children; lack of remorse; the confidence of my friends; the prospect of a happy future; the appreciation of the beauties of nature; knowing what it is all about. I’m sure that I like these things, am I not?
Meditation for the Day
Molding your life means cutting and shaping your material into something good, something that can express the spiritual. All material things are the clay out of which we mold something spiritual. You must first recognize the selfishness in your desires and motives, actions and words, and then mold that selfishness until it is sublimated into a spiritual weapon for good. As the work of molding proceeds, you see more and more clearly what must be done to mold your life into something better.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may mold my life into something useful and good. I pray that I may not be discouraged by the slow progress that I make.
Walk in Dry Places
June 4
Needing to receive
credit
Humility
“Is it wrong to want credit for the good things I do?” a person asked at a 12 Step meeting.
“Why do people say my ego is showing just because I feel I should get proper credit?”
We should, indeed, receive the right amount of praise and recognition for the good things we do. We have to remember, however, that we’re trying to get this from human beings… many of whom are poorly informed or indifferent. Whatever credit we receive will be influenced by others perceptions. Sometimes we will be praised too lavishly: at other times, insufficiently.
But the real question is not whether others give us the right amount of praise or credit. The question we should really ask is why we need such recognition. If we are doing a good thing or have made progress, isn’t that sufficient reward? What can receiving credit do for us that we do not already have?
I’ll take as my guide today the belief that right action is its own reward. I do not need credit or recognition from others, although I’ll appreciate it if it comes.
Keep It Simple
June 4
We cannot solve life’s problems except by solving them.
-M. Scott Peck
Before getting into the program, we ran from problems at all costs. As time went on, we had more problems. As our problems grew, we became afraid of life.
The program–the Twelve Steps–teaches us how to face and solve our problem. We stop running and stand up to problems. That way, life’s problems scare us less and less over time.
In fact, life’s problems help us better know our Higher Power and ourselves. We now know our Higher Power is with us every step of the way.
Prayer for the Day: I pray for the courage to stand and face life’s problems. I pray for the wisdom to ask my Higher Power for help.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list all problems I now have. I will talk about them with friends and with my Higher Power. I will make plans to solve them (sometimes solving problems means accepting them).
You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.
–Paulo Coelho
“We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.”
–Samuel Smiles
Some tension is necessary for the soul to grow, and we can put that tension to good use. We can look for every opportunity to give and receive love, to appreciate nature, to heal our wounds and the wounds of others, to forgive, and to serve.
–Joan Borysenko
A life lived in love, goodness, and oneness with God is a life full of joy. A soul that lives such a life is a soul that grows ever more beautiful. May your life be joyous then and may your soul’s beauty shine on forever.
–Joseph J. Mazzella
The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. It must lose itself in love. By its very nature it must seek God, who is love.
–Mechthild of Magdenburg
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
June 4
PROFIT
“What is a man to profit if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
–Jesus (Mt. 16:26)
Spirituality brings with it a sense of priority in my life: first things first. Unless I discover me and have a love and respect for me, I have nothing to offer in this world. I am the center of my universe and through my life God is radiated. I am a part of God’s creative plan and the pleasures of this world must be seen as secondary to my developing a right relationship with God.
My disease of obsession and compulsion wants me to place other things at the center of my life: food, alcohol, drugs, people, money, success, achievement and ego.
My spiritual program reminds me that my love of self is shown in my refusal of the first drink. If I am healthy, I can have the world; without me, I can have nothing!
Let me find Your Kingdom that is within.
Daily Inspiration
June 4
The more you think about the little difficulties in life, the bigger they become and still nothing is resolved. Lord, may I let go of those problems that I cannot solve and resolve quickly those things that I can.
It is important to remember that different can be better. Lord, as I resist change and cling to the familiar, help me to remember that Your plan is perfect and will truly make me happy.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
June 4
“Wakan Tanka never stops creating.”
–Archie Fire Lame Deer, LAKOTA
The Medicine Wheel teaches about change. It says that which is created will fall apart; that which is loose, will be used to create new. In other words, everything on Earth is participating in a constant change that is being directed by an order of laws and principles which were originated by the Great Spirit. We humans are equipped with natural change abilities. We have the ability to vision; we can use imagination and imagery; we can change belief, attitude, habits, and expectations. We need to know ourselves and we need to know how we work inside to enable us to change naturally.
Great Spirit, teach me to change in harmony.
Today’s Gift
June 4
“Oh, ’tis love, ’tis love, that makes the world go round! Somebody said,” Alice whispered, “that it’s done by everybody minding their own business. Ah well! It means much the same thing.”
—Lewis Carroll
No one helps a caterpillar become a butterfly. First it must crawl through the leaves as a many-legged creature, and then it weaves its own cocoon. Nature does its slow, daily work inside the cocoon and one day a butterfly emerges – and each butterfly is a different shape and color. No other creature can step in and speed up this process without hurting the butterfly.
Sometimes we humans confuse love with playing the part of God. We think we can speed up the natural growth of people around us. We interfere by telling them to do what we think best.
Sometimes the greatest love we can offer is to accept our loved ones the way they are. We need to remember that each caterpillar weaves a cocoon in its own time and becomes a butterfly in its own way. The wisdom of the universe is greater than our own.
How will I show my acceptance of others today?
Touchstones
Meditations For Men
June 4
I will thank you because I am marvelously made; your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
—Psalms 139:14
Some days we feel bad about ourselves. Perhaps there is no real reason except a mood has come over us. Moodiness is a remnant of our past. Or perhaps we feel guilty or ashamed or hurt. We feel blue. We feel grouchy toward ourselves or toward others around us and the world.
This is a time to turn it over to our Higher Power. We are children of the universe. We are loved. Our Creator has endowed us with marvelous strengths and potentials. Today may be a day we allow ourselves to be carried along by the love of our Higher Power. If we reach out we will feel the presence of the spirit in our contact with other people. We need not try so hard. We only need to pray for openness within ourselves to feel the love of God.
I pray for help today to renew the feeling within that God loves me and never abandons me.
Daily TAO
June 4
Enjoyment
Sleek sky of cobalt blue;
Water like nectar satisfies deeply.
Air sweeter than the best perfume;
Sunlight warms a grateful cat.
It is hard to believe life is all for naught. Can’t we take happiness when it comes?
There is admittedly a great deal of suffering and horror in this world. But if we are to accept life’s sad parts, we must also embrace its good parts. As long as we are in this world, we must accept it all. If what comes our way is occasionally wonderful, no one should deny our enjoyment. We all know that every rise is followed by a fall. Why dwell only on dread of the future? As long as we have behaved responsibly, there is nothing wrong with enjoying the best of what life has to offer.