Daily Reflections
May 9
WALKING THROUGH FEAR
If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76
When I had taken my Fifth Step, I became aware that all my defects of character stemmed from my need to feel secure and loved. To use my will alone to work on them would have been trying obsessively to solve the problem. In the Sixth Step I intensified the action I had taken in the first three Steps — meditating on the Step by saying it over and over, going to meetings, following my sponsor’s suggestions, reading and searching within myself. During the first three years of sobriety I had a fear of entering an elevator alone. One day I decided I must walk through this fear. I asked for God’s help, entered the elevator, and there in the corner was a lady crying. She said that since her husband had died she was deathly afraid of elevators. I forgot my fear and comforted her. This spiritual experience helped me to see how willingness was the key to working the rest of the Twelve Steps to recovery. God helps those who help themselves.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
May 9
A.A. Thought for the Day
We alcoholics used so little self-control when we were drinking, we were so absolutely selfish, that it does us good to give up something once in a while. Using self-discipline and denying ourselves a few things is good for us. At first, giving up liquor is a big enough job for all of us, even with God’s help. But later on, we can practice self-discipline in other ways to keep a firm grip on our minds so that we don’t start any wishful thinking. If we daydream too much, we’ll be in danger of slipping. Am I practicing enough self-discipline?
Meditation for the Day
In material things, you must rely on your own wisdom and that of others. In spiritual things, you cannot rely so much on your own wisdom as on God’s guidance. In dealing with personalities, it is a mistake to step out too much on your own. You must try to be guided by God in all human relationships. You cannot accomplish much of value in dealing with people until God knows you are ready. You alone do not have the power or wisdom to put things right between people. You must rely on God to help you in these vital matters.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may rely on God in dealing with people’s problems. I pray that I may try to follow His guidance in all personal relationships.
Walk in Dry Places
May 9
The Importance of
Hope
Maintaining Optimism.
As a great virtue, hope is ranked with faith and love. But those of us caught in the thicket of alcoholism and other addictions had much experience with hopes that turned out to be merely cruel illusions. In recovery, however, hope has a sound purpose. It is really a form of optimism, an underlying belief that things will work out in spite of the obstacles and problems we face. This helps provide the strength and energy we need to succeed in the face of opposition and setbacks.
We also own much of our recovery to the capacity for hope that was in our friends and family members. Henrietta D… wife of AA member Number three, told an interviewer that she had never lost hope that her husband would eventually recover. She saw it as the answer to her hope and prayers when Bill W. and Dr. Bob arrived at her husband’s bedside in Akron’s City Hospital… an when he left, he never drank again.
Hope is the optimism that keeps us moving toward our highest good. Let’s keep it alive.
I’ll face my day with the underlying belief that things will work out in the long run. I’ll refuse to be overwhelmed by temporary setbacks.
Keep It Simple
May 9
The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes.
-Frank Lloyd Wright
For many for us, life was a burden while using alcohol and other drugs. As our illness went on, life was more ugly. We grew further from our friends, family, and Higher Power. In recovery, our eyes and hearts open a little more each day. We see the beauty that life holds. We now see the beauty that life holds. We now see that before recovery, we weren?t living—we were dying. In recovery, we again feel happy when we hold a baby. We again may feel joy when we see a sunset. This happens mainly because we’ve chosen to be with people who love life, people who’ve been given a second chance. Once we’ve almost lost something important, it becomes more precious. We almost lost our lives. Now our lives are special.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thank-you for a second chance. Thank you for opening my eyes and heart. Give me the strength to keep themopen.
Action for the Day: I’ll list the most beautiful parts of my life. I’ll open my heart today to the joy in store for me.
Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.
–Mary McLeod Bethune
“God’s strength behind you, His concern for you, His love within you, and His arms beneath you are more than sufficient for the job ahead of you.”
–William Arthur Ward
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
–Henry Ford
“I know some good marriages – marriages where both people are just trying to get through their days by helping each other, being good to each other.”
–Erica Jong
Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends.
–Cindy Lew
Practicing being in service takes the focus off ourselves and looks for how we might help others. When we feel grateful, we naturally want to share ourselves and our good fortune. Then we find that being in service only increases our gratitude and joy.
–Mary Manin Morrissey
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
May 9
POETRY
“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.”
–Edgar Allan Poe
Language helps us to understand and communicate. Poetry adds the dimension of “shape” and “movement”. Poetry seems to go beyond words and ideas to the very essence of what life is about; it hints at divinity!
When I was drinking, I never understood the art of poetry. Today I use poetry as part of my adventure into meaning and self-knowledge.
So much more is open to me in sobriety, and I am able to appreciate things I never used to comprehend. Poetry is part of “it gets better”.
Help me to seek You through all aspects of art.
Daily Inspiration
May 9
You can become more peaceful and a more interesting person by having a healthy attitude and accepting your responsibilities. Lord, help me to remember that life is what we make of it.
Take less for granted and you will become very busy enjoying all that you have. Lord, thank you for my blessings and for all those that I am able to share them with.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
May 9
“Without a sacred center, no one knows right from wrong.”
-Thomas Yellowtail, CROW
In the center of the circle is where the powers reside. These powers are called love, principle, justice, spiritual knowledge, life, forgiveness and truth. All these powers reside in the very center of the human being. We access these powers by being still, quieting the mind. If we get confused, emotionally upset, feel resentment, anger, or fear, the best thing we can do is pray to the Great Spirit and ask Him to remove the anger and resentment. By asking Him to remove these obstacles, we are automatically positioned in the sacred center. Only in this way do we know right from wrong.
Great Spirit, allow me this day to live in the sacred center.
Journey to the
Heart
May 9
Trust Each Step
Stay present for each step of your journey. We don’t go from one place to another in a gigantic leap. We get there in increments, by going through each feeling, each belief, each experience one step at a time.
Sometimes when we pray for miracles, what we’re really praying for is help in skipping steps, for shortcuts. The simple act of acceptance, of returning to each step of our path, can often bring us the miracle we need. Then we see the truth. The real miracle is one always available to each of us: it’s a miracle of acceptance. We can go where we want to go, one step at a time.
Stay present for each step of your journey. Trust each stage. Many things are possible for you if you accept that the fastest way is one step at a time.
Today’s Gift
May 9
Planning is deciding what to change today so tomorrow will be different from yesterday.
—Ichak Adizes
A house is like a lump of clay that can be molded and changed. It can be fixed and shaped, torn down and added to, painted, papered, carpeted, and paneled. We can think about how to change it, find pictures in books, and order plans. We can stock up on supplies, take fix-it classes, and get advice from others. But the house will remain unchanged until we pick up a brush, grab a bucket of paint, and get to work. Only then will we see tomorrow the results of what we did today.
Our plans help us construct a vision of how we’d like the future to be, but only actions will bring these things about. With confidence in the rightness of our desires, we can be assured that God never gives us a dream we can’t reach.
What action can I take today to make tomorrow’s changes?
Touchstones
Meditation For Men
May 9
I learned from them that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.
—Brenda Ueland
We tend to be action-oriented and concerned about showing results in the shortest period of time. Our world has emphasized this outlook, especially for men. Now we are seeking spiritual progress. We are on a journey seeking a relationship with our Higher Power, with ourselves, and with others.
Spiritual progress is made by pushing aside busyness and efficiency. We become receptive to inspiration by allowing empty spaces in our lives, some solitude and idleness. This moment – right now – is one such time. It is not clearly goal-oriented. Rather it is a moment when we reflect on ourselves as recovering men. We become receptive to inspiration, to a deeper wisdom, to that part of life, which we do not command.
I will remember today that spiritual progress comes only when I make room for it in my life.
Daily TAO
May 9
UNCERTAINTY
Kicking a pebble by the side of the road,
Watching it tumble pell-mell.
Chance and randomness become order.
There is chance in this world. Things happen randomly. When a pebble is accidentally kicked down the hill, there was no arrangement, there was no plan. It simply happened — a colliding of bodies. Some people argue that there is order to this universe, asserting that “God doesn’t play dice.” What is the relationship of order and disorder?
We might say that randomness becomes order. There might be an overall framework to things — like procreation, for example — but within that framework, we have the random combination of cells that accounts for the vigor and creativity of the system. By the same token, we may have some constants to a system, such as gravity, but within the constraints of that system, there is chance. One wonders if this means that everything tends toward disorder.