Daily Reflections
June 9
LIVING IN THE NOW
First, we try living in the now just in order to stay sober
— and it works. Once the idea has become a part of our thinking, we find that
living life in 24 hour segments is an effective and satisfying way to handle
many other matters as well.
-LIVING SOBER, p. 7
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
June 9
A. A. Thought for the Day
We finally came to the bottom. We did not have to be financially broke, although many of us were. But we were spiritually bankrupt. We had a soul-sickness, a revulsion against ourselves and against our way of living. Life had become impossible for us. We had to end it all or do something about it. Am I glad I did something about it?
Meditation for the Day
Faith is not seeing, but believing. I am in a box of space and time and cannot see spacelessness or eternity. But God is not within the shell of time and space. He is timeless and spaceless. He cannot be fully comprehended by our finite minds. But we must try to make a union between our purposes and the purposes of God. By trying to merge our minds with the mind of God, a oneness of purpose results. This oneness of purpose puts us in harmony with God and others. Evil comes from being in disharmony with God and good comes from being in harmony with Him.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be in harmony with God. I pray that I may get into the stream of goodness in the universe.
Walk in Dry Places
June 9
Do I feel uneasy?
Serenity
When facing difficult situations, we can expect to feel a certain amount of discomfort. What’s more often a problem for compulsive people is being tense and apprehensive even when things seem to be going well.
Although many explanations are offered for this unpleasant feeling, the solution is to be found in the 12 Steps. The more secure we feel in our program, the less apprehension we’ll have in facing the problems of living. With the program as our foundation, we will continue to develop more self-assurance as we go along.
We may not immediately find this self-assurance, yet we should not hold back from normal duties and responsibilities. Most of the world’s work and accomplishments are undertaken by people who do not necessarily feel confident and self-assured all the time. Why should it be any different for us?
Whether I feel confident or not, I’ll do my best today. I know that my fellowship, my program, and my Higher Power are fully supporting me.
Keep It Simple
June 9
Anyone can blame; it takes a specialist to praise.
—Konstantin Stanislawski
Are we blamers? We sure were blamers when we were using alcohol and other drugs. Then everything was someone’s fault. Some of us did our blaming out loud. And some of us blamed others silently.
It’s harder to praise than to blame people. Faults stand out like street
signs, but the good things about people may be harder to see. We can see the good in people when we slow down, watch, and listen.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me pay attention to people around me. Help me praise them.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list three people who mean a lot to me. I’ll write what I like about each of them. I’ll talk to them and tell them what I wrote.
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
–James Baldwin
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
June 9
IDEALS
“Every dogma has its day, but ideals are eternal.”
–Israel Zangwill
For too long I lived in a box of rules and dogma. Life had to have definable answers and everything needed to be structured. Then the answers didn’t seem to work. Nobody seemed interested in the answers I was giving. The world had moved on!
I realized that life had to be lived, not simply talked about. Having the answers to questions that nobody was asking (including myself) seemed a waste of time. I was uncomfortable. I was living in the past.
Spirituality is reality. It is okay to benefit from a tradition and then move on. I was not disloyal or a traitor because I had changed my mind. God and truth live in a changing world and if we are to grow, our perception of ourselves and life must change. Today I can accept this.
Give me the willingness to change in my life.
Daily Inspiration
June 9
Seek God’s guidance, but know that the responsibility to act on it is yours. Lord, may I not be lazy because I have prayed and expect You to do everything for me.
It is a bigger mistake to fear making a mistake than to actually make one. Lord, give me the confidence to live a full life and the ability to try again if I stumble.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
June 9
Every part of this country is sacred to my people. Every
hillside, every valley, every plain and grove has been hallowed by some fond
memory or some sad experience of my tribe. Even the rocks, which seem to lie
dumb as they swelter in the sun along the silent shore in solemn grandeur,
thrill with memories of past events connected with the fate of my people.
—Chief Seattle, SUQUAMISH
Native people say the Earth is sacred. Some places on Earth will feel more sacred than others. You can often feel the sacredness of these places because of what has happened on them. If you do a ceremony on a certain place and return later, whatever happened before will still be there to help you. Even if someone you didn’t know did something on the Earth and you come along later, the powers will be there to help you. This is why the Earth is sacred and these special places are sacred spots.
My Creator, let the powers of the sacred places help the people today.
Today’s Gift
June 9
We never know how high we are ‘Til we are called to rise; And then, if we are true to plan, Our statures touch the skies.
—Emily Dickinson
We are all capable of far more than we think we are. It’s in the tough times, however, that we discover the depths of our strength, and it’s then that we know that some power has enabled us to do what we thought we could not. Whatever we call that power, it is there for us when we need it.
To do what seems impossible, all we need to do is ask for the help we think we need. And we can look within, too, and summon our whole selves to the task at hand. With all that going for us, how can we fail? And when the tough work is over, we’ll look back and know we’ve grown from the experience. And yes, our statures will have touched the skies.
When I am faced with a tough task, how do I respond?
Touchstones
Meditations For Men
June 9
I believe our concept of romantic love is irrational, impossible to fulfill, and the cause of many broken homes. No human being can maintain that rarefied atmosphere of “true love.”
—Rita Mae Brown
What the popular media teach us about marriage and love is poor preparation for the real thing. When we enter a relationship we may be filled with a feeling of magic and excitement of new love. But that is not a good basis for a lifelong commitment. Love at first sight is no reason for marriage. Many of us, upon meeting difficulties in our relationships, said to ourselves, “Maybe it wasn’t true love after all, because now I don’t feel in love with my mate anymore.”
Honesty and learning how to resolve difficulties provide a solid foundation for durable love. Some relationships do not survive the honesty of recovery. Sometimes the development of honest love only begins with recovery. The love that endures, the love of real intimacy, comes when we know the real person. Loyalty to our loved ones may deepen as we deal more and more with reality.
As I grow in this program, married or single, I become more able to have an enduring love.
Daily TAO
June 9
Superstition
The voices of ghosts are so familiar,
They whisper to me every day.
You, so young and rich,
Make assumptions with absolute assurance.
I vacillate between superstition and tradition.
You don’t need to question.
Tradition is the oral delivery of rites and customs from generation to generation. Superstition is belief inconsistent with what society generally considers true and rational. When tradition and superstition become bound together, it is a sign of trouble. For example, a woman was once taught not to wash her hair any anyone’s birthday. Whenever she protested this, the answer was, “Don’t question!” Years later, she learned that in the old country, letting one’s hair down was a sign of mourning and thus inauspicious on a birthday. What was etiquette in one generation became superstition in another.
Those raised with traditions and superstitions are often torn between the extremes of biculturalism. Their inbred beliefs conflict with current knowledge and quickly changing culture, creating doubt and uncertainty.