Daily Reflections
November 19
“I WAS SLIPPING FAST”
We A.A.’s are active folk, enjoying the satisfactions of dealing with the realities of life, … So it isn’t surprising that we often tend to slight serious meditation and prayer as something not really necessary.
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 96
I had been slipping away from the program for some time, but it took a death threat from a terminal disease to bring me back, and particularly to the practice of the Eleventh Step of our blessed Fellowship. Although I had fifteen years of sobriety and was still very active in the program, I knew that the quality of my sobriety had slipped badly. Eighteen months later, a checkup revealed a malignant tumor and a prognosis of certain death within six months. Despair settled in when I enrolled in a rehab program, after which I suffered two small strokes which revealed two large brain tumors. As I kept hitting new bottoms I had to ask myself why this was happening to me. God allowed me to recognize my dishonesty and to become teachable again. Miracles began to happen. But primarily I relearned the whole meaning of the Eleventh Step. My physical condition has improved dramatically, but my illness is minor compared to what I almost lost completely.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
November 19
A.A. Thought For The Day
In A.A. we do not speak much of sex. And yet putting sex in its proper place in our lives is one of the rewards that has come to us as a result of our new way of living. The big book says that many of us needed an overhauling there. It also says that we subjected each sex relation to this test — was it selfish or not? “We remembered always that our sex powers were God-given and therefore good, neither to be used lightly or selfishly, nor to be despised or loathed.” We can ask God to mold our ideals and to help us to live up to them. We can act accordingly. Have I got my sex life under proper control?
Meditation For The Day
“I will lift up my eyes unto the heights whence cometh my help.” Try to raise your thoughts from the depths of the sordid and mean and impure things of the earth to the heights of goodness and decency and beauty. Train your insight by trying to take the higher view. Train it more and more until distant heights become more familiar. The heights of the Lord, whence cometh your help, will become nearer and dearer and the false values of the earth will seem farther away.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may not keep my eyes forever downcast.
I pray that I may set my sights on higher things.
Walk In Dry Places
November 19
Is there bondage in attending meetings?
Sharing
A few critics have noted scornfully that AA members can be as enslaved by the need for meetings as we were by the bottle. are we compulsively addicted to meetings. When we hear such remarks, we must remember that our survival insobriety is always the main issue. We might be going to more meetings that seems necessary , but we are the judges of our own needs. In addition, meeting attendance is a constructive activity, while drinking was destructive… at least for us. If we’re gong to overdo something, at least it’s an activity that helps us. We should never consider meeting attendance a form of bondage. There are many activities in life that are required for our peace and freedom. Meeting attendance is one of these things. We can be grateful for the opportunities meetings provide for sharing our personal experiences. No criticism should be allowed to intrude on this. I’ll not let outside criticism interfere with any AA activity that is benefiting me and maintaining my sobriety.
Keep It Simple
November 19
What we don’t live, we cannot teach others.
-Day By Day
Remember – we don’t carry the message to others until we get to Step Twelve. We must first learn to live in a sober way. Sobriety takes time. We have to stop using alcohol and other drugs, but this is only the start. Just as it takes time to build a home, it takes time to build a new way of life. We talk with friends and sponsors about the Steps. We try using them in out lives. Then we talk about how the Steps work for us. We talk about where we get stuck with the Steps.
All this takes time. We aren’t in a hurry. We have a lifetime ahead of us. Remember-the better we live our program, the better we help others. Prayer for the day: Higher Power, You’ll let me know when I’m to carry the message. Until then, be with me as I build a new way of life, a spiritual way of life.
Action for the day: I’ll take time to think over where I’m with my program. I’ll talk about it with a friend.
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
-Helen KellerI believe in God — this is a fine, praiseworthy thing to say, but to acknowledge God
wherever and however he manifest Himself, that in truth is heavenly bliss on earth.
-Johann Wolfgang von GoetheMaximize your productive time by focusing on positive outcomes.
-unknownPerseverance can tip the scales from failure to success.
-unknownIf you always do what you’ve always done, you will always be where you’ve always been.
-unknown
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
FORGIVING
“He that cannot forgive others
breaks the bridge over which he
must pass himself. For every
man has need to be forgiven.”
-Thomas Fuller
My failings as an alcoholic help me to live with others today. The fact that I made and make mistakes helps me to have creative relationships today. Because I know what it is to fail, I can understand the failings of others. My weaknesses are a bridge to understanding my fellow man.
By contrast when I was drinking, I thought I was perfect, always right and this led to judgments, arguments and a self-imposed alienation.
Alcohol fed my arrogance and pride; sobriety helps develop humility and understanding.
God, I understand that even my failings can be made to work for me in sobriety.
Today’s Gift
November 19
We all fear what we don’t know–it’s natural.
-Leo Buscaglia
If we put a blindfold over our eyes and begin to walk around an open field, we would feel unsure with each step. We might be afraid of falling, afraid of walking over some unseen edge and hurting ourselves.
When any of us face something and we don’t know what the outcome will be, we often feel blindfolded. We fear we may get hurt. We fear we can’t do it. We have a hard time trusting ourselves. A blind person often finds help or guidance from others, or will gain confidence by walking on–slowly at first, finding trust and sureness with each step.
These same things help us when we are afraid. It is also helpful to remember there is no right or wrong way to explore what faces us–only our own way.
What new trust can I place in myself today?
Touchstones.
Archie Bunker: What’s wrong with revenge? That’s a perfect way to get even.
-Norman Lear
When we are locked within negative, hostile thinking patterns, we go around in mental circles. What seems perfectly rational to us at the time looks misguided and blind when we look back. Carrying a grudge or a desire to get even with someone is a cancer inside us. It belittles us and holds back our spirit.
We break through our mental circles by revealing our anger to others. We talk with other recovering men and let them know the details of our resentments. We listen to their experiences and apply them in our program. As long as we keep our thoughts and feelings to ourselves, we only recycle the same thinking system. When we take the risk and talk to friends, we build bridges that bring in new ideas.
I will not harbor my resentments within myself. I will talk with a trusted friend so I can learn to let them go.
Journey to the Heart
November 19
Awaken to the Storyteller Within
Each of us has a story to tell, a story to share with the world.
Artists and writers are in the storytelling business. Others have different ways of telling and sharing their stories. The tackle shop owner sells bait, hooks, and sinkers and tells people where to fish and about the big one that got away. The master carpenter tells his story by carving and hanging a wooden door so well crafted that it swings shut gently on its own. The quilter tells her story by commemorating important moments from her life in quilts that are colorful works of art.
Each of us has a story to tell and our own way of sharing it with the world. It comes out through our words, through our work, and through the simple actions of our daily life. Listen to the stories of the people around you. Listen to your soul. Learn to value without judging and listen with an open heart to the beauty of each story and the importance of the storyteller. Learn to value and appreciate the story you are living now.
Awaken to the storyteller within and share your story with the world. Tell it with joy and flair. Commit to telling it with love and passion. Tell it through living your life fully, doing your work well, and creating the best life you can. Be who you are and love being that.
Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart. And your story will touch and heal people’s souls.