Daily Reflections
March 9
SURRENDERING SELF-WILL
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 34
No matter how much one wishes to try, exactly how can one turn his own will and his own life over to the care of whatever God he thinks there is? In my search for the answer to this question, I became aware of the wisdom with which it was written: that this is a two-part Step. I could see many times where I should have died, or at least been injured, during my previous style of living, and it never happened. Someone, or something, was looking after me. I choose to believe my life has always been in God’s care. He alone controls the number of days I will be granted until physical death. The matter of will (self-will or God’s will) is the more difficult part of the Step for me. It is only when I have experienced enough emotional pain, through failed attempts to fix myself, that I become willing to surrender to God’s will for my life. Surrender is like the calm after the storm. When my will is in line with God’s will for me, there is peace within.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
March 9
A.A. Thought For The Day
If we had absolute faith in the power of God to keep us from drinking and if we turned our drink problem entirely over to God without reservations, we wouldn’t have to do anything more about it. We’d be free from drink once and for all. But since our faith is apt to be weak, we have to strengthen and build up this faith. We do this in several ways. One way is by going to meetings and listening to others tell how they have found all the strength they need to overcome drink. Is my faith being strengthened by this personal witness of other alcoholics?
Meditation For The Day
It is the quality of my life that determines its value. In order to judge the value of a man’s life, we must set up a standard. The most valuable life is one of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. All men’s lives must be judged by this standard in order to determine their value to the world. By this standard, most of the so-called heroes of history were not great men. “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, if he loseth his own soul?”
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may be honest, pure, unselfish and loving. I pray that I may make the quality of my life good by these standards.
Walk in Dry Places
March 9
The Best outcome is just and equitable.
Principle over personality.
Looking ahead to this day, I may face a possible conflict with another person over a certain issue. How should I respond to this?
If I’m to follow my principles, I should hold to the idea of seeking the best outcome for everybody concerned. It may be very harmful to look at these conflicts as a case of winning or losing. If I seem to win when I’m wrong, I will lose in the long run. If I seem to lose even when I’m right, I can know that there’s just resolution of everything in time. I will always win, however, if I keep my thinking straight and take care to avoid resentment and bitterness.
It’s not surprising that the world is beset by conflicts. Millions of people have conditioned themselves to selfish ways of thinking and behaving that are bound to cause such conflicts. Much harm is done by people who are absolutely sure they are right at all times.
As human beings, we cannot expect to be excluded from these conflicts simply because we have a Twelve Step program. We do, however, have a means of dealing with such conflicts effectively when we respond according to principle. This makes us privileged people in a way, but it is good to know that any person can have the same privileges by following the right principles.
Unpleasant as any conflict may seem, it does give me an opportunity to learn and to grow. I will seek to benefit from any such conflict today.
Keep It Simple
March 9
You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.
–Irish Proverb
Each of us has been given recovery. Now it’s up to each of us what we do with it. At times, we’ll work hard to grow quickly. At other times, our growth will be slower. This is okay. We’re not in a race. Our pace is not important. What is important is that we’re always working on our recovery.
We’re all part of a fellowship, a caring group. We’re one of many. But we’re each important. Each of us will have a special way to work our programs through our readings, friends, meetings, and what we know of how life works. each of us puts together a miracle of recovery. We than take our miracle and share it with others, so they can build their miracle.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me work at growing. Help me be a person who is an important part of a group.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll work at seeing myself as very important. I’ll remind myself that other’s recovery also depends on my recovery. I am needed.
Speaking without thinking is shooting without aiming.
–French Proverb“You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.”
–Leo AikmanToo often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
–Leo BuscagliaSmile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody’s heart.
–Anthony J. D’AngeloGod, help me open my heart to the full potential of every moment in my life.
–Melody Beattie“We aren’t bodies at all; who we are is the love inside us, and it is that love alone that determines our value. When our minds are filled with light, there is no room for darkness.”
–Marianne WilliamsonWhether our sins are known or not, God offers us forgiveness.
–Charles P. Axe
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
March 9
GREED
“Not he who has little, but he who wishes more, is poor.”
— Seneca (4 B. C. — A. D. 65)
In my recovery I must still deal with that compulsive side of my nature that always wants more.
I forget to be grateful for what I have. I ruin relationships because I have a code of behavior that I expect from others but not myself! I miss the fun of the moment because I am preoccupied with what I am missing elsewhere. I miss the comfort of my own home as I fantasize about country mansions owned by millionaires. Always I want more — and yet in my own experience more has always been less.
Today I work hard on a spiritual program of gratitude. I have a checklist of things I need to be grateful for; I work on my disease of greed by talking about it.
Thank You for that part of me that must remain “poor”.
Daily Inspiration
March 9
We all need time for ourselves and time to be with our friends in order to be joyful. Lord, help me to balance my day and renew my spirit.
Keep yourself young in spirit always by thinking new thoughts and getting rid of old habits. Lord, may my spirit never become frail and my abilities never become barren.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
March 9
“In the life of the Indian there was only one inevitable duty, the duty of prayer, the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. His daily devotions were more necessary to him than daily food.”
–Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), SANTEE SIOUX
The most important habit one can develop is the daily act of prayer. Prayer is our eyes, our ears, our feelings, our success, our guidance, our life, our duty, our goal. There really is only prayer and meditation. We can only help others through prayer. We can only help ourselves through prayer. You can never become an Elder unless you pray. You can never stay an Elder unless you pray. You never get wisdom unless you pray. You never understand unless you pray.
Great Spirit, today, teach me to pray.
Journey to the Heart
March 9
Let Your Visions Guide You
Visions are different from dreams. A vision is a picture that comes from the soul and comes out through the heart.
A vision is a small glimpse of light that shines and shows us our path. It is a quick flash of something that hasn’t happened yet. It may tell us something about today or ten years from now. Visions occur when our souls look at the map for our lives, get a sense of where we’re going, and tell our hearts how to find that place. The more conscious and clear and direct we are, the more we can tune into and help create the highest vision for our lives.
What do you want? What would feel right? What do you see yourself doing? Be clear and concise, then let it go. Sometimes when we run out of dreams, we have to rely on our visions, these small glimpses of light, to lead the way. Learn to see the visions in your heart. Learn to trust them. Learn to help create them. Allow them to manifest themselves. When the path is dark, learn to be comfortable with these small bursts of light.
Let your visions guide you home.
Today’s Gift
March 9
There is no such thing as a long piece of work, except one that you dare not start.
—Charles Baudelaire
A big assignment can be scary to face. We may start to think that how we do on the assignment will determine if we’re good or bad people. The more we think about it, the harder that task seems. The key to overcoming our negative feelings is to say to ourselves that we are capable of finishing our projects. We must say it over and over until we start believing it’s true. Then we can attack the assignment with vitality and positive energy we didn’t know we had.
We can make up our minds to do our best and accept that from ourselves. We say Edison was a genius, but our light bulbs still burn out regularly. Even Einstein was wrong once in a while, and he knew it, but that didn’t stop him from trying.
When we feel afraid to start something because it seems too big a job, let’s stop and think what the first step would be, and do each small step in its own time.
What can I start that I’ve been putting off?
Touchstones Meditation For Men
March 9
We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.
—Andre Berthiaume
The masks men wear are as varied as those who wear them, but their purpose is quite simple. We wear masks to hide our real faces from those around us and even from ourselves. There are seductive masks, innocent masks, white knight masks, tough guy masks, black sheep masks, lone wolf masks, and many more. Sometimes we want to take on another identity so others won’t see our insecurities. Or we think taking the form of someone else will give us power over others, or they will like us better, or we can escape ourselves.
The cost of wearing a mask is not getting a chance to develop our real personalities. What masks are we attached to? Are we willing to give them up in the interest of our spiritual growth?
May I have the courage to drop my phony masks in order to grow stronger in self-knowledge.
Daily TAO
March 9
CREATIVITY
Storm breaks into pieces,
Clouds change the horizon.
Revolving of the heavens
Generates all movement.
Without movement, there could be nothing created in this universe. The revolving of the heavens can generate wind, rain, thunder, lightning. The revolving of the earth enables us to have day and night, the very cycle of the weather, the seasons, and the growth of plants. Movement is responsible for creativity.
Followers of Tao value initiative, but mere aggression is not enough. One needs creativity. This can mean the ability to solve problems, to think of unusual strategies, or to compose poetry, music, and painting. In all these cases, one moves in concert with Tao not by blind aping, but by giving intelligent counterpoint and harmony. Creativity does not mean the arbitrary making of something out of our cultural minds. Rather, it is spontaneous movement in tandem with Tao, a movement that will generate life and not misery for others.
One has reached the ultimate levels of creativity when one has mastered skill so thoroughly that it can be forgotten. Look at heaven and earth. Do they think about creating the weather, the seasons, and the cycles of growing? They only go on revolving according to their nature, and the rest is generated without any thought or work on their part. This is truly effortless action and is considered the highest skill that a follower of Tao can attain.
Daily Zen
March 9
Penniless woodcutter
Managed to get for himself a hut
Hanging on a steep slope
And as boundary mark a jewel,
A jade-green young willow tree.
– Saigyo (1118-1190)