Daily Reflections
November 15
VITAL SUSTENANCE
“Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, sunshine. And for the same reason. When we refuse air, light or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support.”
–TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 97
Step Eleven doesn’t have to overwhelm me. Conscious contact with God can be as simple, and as profound, as conscious contact with another human being. I can smile. I can listen. I can forgive. Every encounter with another is an opportunity for prayer, for acknowledging God’s presence within me. Today I can bring myself a little closer to my Higher Power. The more I choose to seek the beauty of God’s work in other people, the more certain of His presence I will become.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
November 15
A.A. Thought For The Day
I am less sensitive and my feelings are less easily hurt. I no longer take myself so seriously. It didn’t use to take much to insult me, to feel that I had been slighted or left on the outside. What happens to me now is not so important. One cause of our drinking was because we couldn’t take it, so we escaped the unpleasant situation. We have learned to take it on the chin if necessary and smile. When I am all wrapped up in A.A., I do not notice the personal slights so much. They do not seem to matter so much. I have learned to laugh at self-pity, because it’s so childish. Am I less sensitive?
Meditation For The Day
God’s miracle-working power is as manifest today as it was in the past. It still works miracles of change in lives and miracles of healing in twisted minds. When a person trusts wholly in God and leaves to Him the choosing of the day and hour, there is God’s miracle-working power becoming manifest in that person’s life. So we can trust in God and have boundless faith in His power to make us whole again, whenever He chooses.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may be sure that there is nothing that God cannot accomplish in changing my life. I pray that I may have faith in His miracle-working power.
Walk In Dry Places
November 15
The loss of choice
Freedom
Many alcoholics are vigorous defenders of free choice. We have to concede, however, that our choices are not always limited by the tyranny of others. Our own actions can take away from freedom of choice.
Recovering people in AA have learned that taking even one drink will result in the loss of choice, and it is not just a temporary loss of sobriety that one faces. It’s always possible that the person who drinks again may never recover sobriety.
In the same way, other actions represent loss of choice in our lives. other actions represent loss of choice in our lives. A person who cheats, for example, may learn that he or she has no choice over the unpleasant outcomes that follow.
We can protect our freedom of choice by deciding only to take actions that will strengthen such freedom in the future. At no time should we make any choices that rob us of our precious right to choose.
Every action I take today must help me keep favorable options open in the future. My right to choose was restored by AA, and I must help protect it.
Keep It Simple
November 15
“The best way to know God is to love many things.”
–Vincent Van Gogh
Now that we’re in recovery, we’re learning to love people. We’re learning to love nature.
We’re learning to love new ideas about life. The result? We love the way we feel now that we’re taking care of ourselves.
Is our Higher Power really so close? Can we really find our Higher Power just by loving many things? Yes! When we love, we wake up that part of us that is part of all creation—our spirit. We really come to life when we love!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, remind me that You are near when I love someone or something. The energy of love come from You.
Action for the Day: I will list three things I love that help me know my Higher Power is near me.
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
–Buddha
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
–Marcel Proust
“Today I am learning to think and act in a positive way that is healthy for my mind, body and spirit.”
–Ruth Fishel
“The wisest person is not the one who has the fewest failures but the one who turns failures to best account.”
–Richard R. Grant
“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
–Carlos Castenada
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
November 15
COMFORT
“No man knows of what stuff he is made until prosperity and ease try him.”
–A. P. Gouthey
I must be careful that I do not get too comfortable and self-confident. I must be careful that I do not plateau at this stage of my journey into sobriety and relax in past achievements. Sometimes I hear the disease of addiction saying to me, “You’ve done all you need now relax; take it easy.”
Sometimes the sick voice says, “Listen to the stupidity of these newly recovering people: avoid them!” “You don’t need meeting now just sit and talk with your friends.” Historically I know that when things are going well for me, that is when I need to be careful. A complacent and indulgent sobriety is dangerous. It leads to the disarming slip of arrogance and false pride.
I need to remember the pain of my yesterdays; I need to hear the newly recovering; I need to hear the pain if I am to continue to gain. My disease will forever speak, but will I listen?
Teach me to embrace a humility that enables me to enjoy a realistic sobriety.
Daily Inspiration
November 15
If you give up and let things just happen to you, you will open the door to a helpless, passive existence and bring on needless sorrow. Lord, open my eyes to see that You and I can determine the outcome of my day and the direction of my life and that the result of refusing to let my environment control me is a tremendous inner strength , a joyful spirit and a constant reason to smile.
Often times that which we find difficult is that which teaches. Lord, may I always be able to see the good that comes from even my trials.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
November 15
“Our Spiritual belief is that we were created as part of the land – so our identity, our names, and our songs are all tied to the land.”
–Chief Roderick Robinson, NISGA’A
In the traditional way, the names of native people had great meaning. We even had naming ceremonies. The naming of someone was very important and had great significance because it was tied to the Earth. The identity of each member and the teachings of the songs were all tied to Mother Earth. We need to know these teachings from our culture. This knowledge will help us heal the people.
My Maker, today help me find my identity.
Journey to the Heart
November 15
The Light Will Illuminate Your Path
It was almost eleven o’clock at night. I was driving down a highway in Colorado on the west side of the mountains. I was exhausted, driving and driving, hoping I was going somewhere, hoping the road led to someplace where I could rest and replenish myself. Whenever I would become fearful, wondering if I had taken complete leave of my senses, I’d look up in the sky. A crescent moon was snuggled between two mountains. It seemed to urge me on, beckoning me to drive toward it.
Finally, I reached the place marked by the moon. It was a lodge not listed in any directory, in a town not even on any map. It had a mineral bath on the grounds and, yes, an available room.
Sometimes when I’m driving late at night on a strange road and I’m not sure which turn to take, I look for a light. The moon might be setting above a particular place, lighting it with its glow. The lights of a city might brighten one direction more than another. A certain road appears lighter, feels better, feels right.
Often that’s what happens in our lives. When we get to a fork in the road and we’re not certain which direction to go, there’s usually one path that appears lighter than another. Sometimes the light is dim. Sometimes it can only be seen with the eyes of our soul, the eyes of our heart. But it’s also a light that can be clouded and blocked by fear, tenseness, and lack of faith.
Relax. Tune into your body. Trust your heart. Look around. When you don’t know which way to go next, wait. Soon a path will open up. It will appear lighter. It will feel right.
When in doubt, go toward the light. When you get to a fork in the road, choose the way that feels lightest. The light will take you to the next place. The light will lead you home.
Today’s Gift
November 15
“Growing is like running a twenty-six mile marathon. If we give up on the twenty-fourth mile, we will never know what it feels like to finish the race.”
–Anonymous
There will be times in our growth when we will want to give up. Our pain seems to have no end to it. In a sense, we are like the runner of a marathon on her twenty-fourth mile. She may think she cannot finish the race; she may lose her ability to see things as they are.
If she can remember previous successes, she will no doubt make the decision to go on, to at least give the race her best shot. It does not matter how may people come in before or after her. It matters only that she has not given up. When she crosses the finish line, the pain turns quickly into joy.
When we refuse to give up, we give ourselves an accomplishment we can rejoice in, the reward of knowing we have done our best.
What can I finish that I gave up on earlier?
Touchstones Meditations For Men
November 15
“To wait for moments or places where no pain exists, no separation is felt and where all human restlessness has turned into inner peace is waiting for a dream world.”
–Henri J. M. Nouwen
Anytime we do a spot check on our anxiety or personal restlessness we will probably find some. As long as we are aware and alive we can expect to have some discomfort, some fear of loss, some doubt. Our program does not totally rid us of these pains. Perhaps our old ways sought absolute peace or escape through abuse of chemicals or food or gambling or sex, but the serenity we seek in our recovery comes through honesty with ourselves and acceptance of the incompleteness of our lives.
When we make room for the pain in our lives, we allow the river of our emotions to flow. It will carry us along to other feelings like happiness and peace. Conflicting feelings can exist side by side in our lives, and when we try to control true feelings of restlessness or pain, we dam the flow of emotions and block the pleasant ones as well as the difficult ones.
I am moving to a real world where I know and accept my feelings.
Daily TAO
November 15
SUSTAINING
Orange and gold carp,
Living beneath ice.
Uncaring of the world above,
Sustained by the water below.
In the rapidly chilling autumn, ponds begin to ice over. The waters become deep, dark, and mysterious, but in those depths the fish can survive the coming winter.