Daily Reflections
September 16
WE STAND–OR FALL–TOGETHER
… no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone.
-Alcoholics Anonymous, p.563
Just as the Twelve Steps of A.A. are written in a specific sequence for a reason, so it is with the Twelve Traditions. The First Step and the First Tradition attempt to instill in me enough humility to allow me a chance at survival. Together they are the basic foundation upon which the Steps and Traditions that follow are built. It is a process of ego deflation which allows me to grow as an individual through the Steps, and as a contributing member of a group through the Traditions. Full acceptance of the First Tradition allows me to set aside personal ambitions, fears and anger when they are in conflict with the common good, thus permitting me to work with others for our mutual survival. Without Tradition One I stand little chance of maintaining the unity required to work with others effectively, and I also stand to lose the remaining Traditions, the Fellowship, and my life.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
September 16
A.A. Thought For The Day
Today, let us begin a short study of The Twelve Suggested Steps of A.A. These Twelve Suggested Steps seem to embody five principles. The first step is the membership requirement step. The second, third, and eleventh steps are the spiritual steps of the program. The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and tenth steps are the personal inventory steps. The eighth and ninth steps are the restitution steps. The twelfth step is the passing on of the program, or helping others, step. So the five principles are membership requirement, spiritual basis, personal inventory, restitution, and helping others. Have I made all these steps a part of me?
Meditation For The Day
We seem to live not only in time but also in eternity. If we abide with God and He abides with us, we may bring forth spiritual fruit which will last for eternity. If we live with God, our lives can flow as some calm river through the dry land of earth. It can cause the trees and flowers of the spiritual life–love and service–to spring forth and yield abundantly. Spiritual work may be done for eternity, not just for now. Even here on earth we can live as though our real lives were eternal.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may try to make my life like a cool river in a thirsty land. I pray that I may give freely to all who ask my help.
Walk In Dry Places
September 16
The world will recover
Belief
If our recovery program is working properly, an amazing thing can happen. Instead of being the bad actors of society, we become people who can be considered solid citizens in every way.. So square that we might even have sharp corners.
We might then start becoming critical of the world in general. “I’ve recovered, so why does the rest of the world have to be the way it is?” A person might say. “Why don’t other people do something about their resentments and fears, just as I have?”
In asking such a question, we’re already in danger of becoming self-righteous. We can remember, however, that our Higher Power has the same concern for others that was shown to us. By the grace of God, and in God’s own good time, the world can and will recover.
I’ll remember today that God is in charge of the world and will set all things straight, just as I was brought to recovery.
Keep It Simple
September 16
Here’s my Golden Rule: Be fair with others but then keep after them until they’re fair with you.
—Alan Alda
Often in our illness we were ashamed, so we let people take advantage of us. We acted as if we had no rights. In recovery, we work hard to be fair with others. And we deserve to be treated with fairness too. If people are mean to us, we talk with them about it. If people cheat us, we ask them to set it right. In recovery, we live by our human rights.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to stand for fairness. Help me respect myself and others.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list people who have wronged me. I will make plans to talk to those with whom I feel will listen. I will let love, not shame or fear, control my actions.
Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.
–Norman Vincent Peale (1898 – 1993)“Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.”
“If you spend more time asking appropriate questions rather than giving answers or opinions, your listening skills will increase.”
–Brian Koslow“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”
–Benjamin Franklin“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
–Rabindranath Tagore
Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
September 16
DENIAL
“The worst vice of the fanatic is his sincerity.”
– Oscar Wilde
The disease of alcoholism is “cunning, baffling and powerful”, and it manipulates us to believe “the lie”. There is a point that we reach in our disease where we believe that crazy behavior is acceptable. Insanity becomes the order of the day. And when friends or therapists try to give us a message, we discount them.
How can we break down this wall of denial? Well, there is strength in numbers. If everybody we respect is disagreeing with us, then it is time that we change. If our isolation has become a source of martyrdom, then we need to reorganize our attitude for living. Insanity and isolation are often companions; they feed off each other.
We need always to stay close to our recovering community. Strength and sobriety is in numbers.
God, You gave me the message to become the message. Help me to live it in the recovering community.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day
September 16
“To me, the wisdom the Elders have to manifest is in teaching people how to live in harmony and balance with each other and the Earth.”
–Sun Bear, CHIPPEWA
You cannot give away what you don’t have. You need to give away what you have in order to keep it. Our Elders have lived their lives with a lot of trial and error. They have experienced how to do things well and they have experienced what didn’t work for them as they grew old. They know things about living that we don’t know.
So, through the years the Elders have gained wisdom. They usually have a whole different point of view because of all their experiences. There are two ways to learn. Someone tells us what they did and we do the same thing or someone tells us what they did and we choose not to do it. Both of these paths will help us to live.
My Creator, teach me about choices and decisions and consequences. Put an Elder in my life to guide me.
Touchstones Meditations For Men
September 16
Sit loosely in the saddle of life.
—Robert Louis Stevenson
Sitting loosely in the saddle is an image of detachment for us. Detachment doesn’t mean we stop caring. It means we have an inner wisdom telling us what we can control and what we cannot. When we go to meetings and hear fellow members struggling with temptations to return to old behaviors, we need to detach. When family members or friends are engaged in an addiction, we need to sit loosely in the saddle by caring, but not protecting them from the results of their behavior. Sometimes close friends will be “off base” in the way they talk to us. We practice detachment by not being reactive to the person but being responsive to the inner message of what kind of men we wish to be.
We can’t control another person’s behavior toward us. Our inner security will never come from how someone else behaves. The most helpful thing we can do for someone is to listen and care; then we need to be ready to let go of the outcome.
I will accept the limits of my control over others. I will care and let go.
Daily TAO
September 16
BRIDGE
Dream arch shimmers in storm clouds:
Bridge between heaven and earth.
Its entrance is hard to find.
In legends, they say that the rainbow is the bridge between heaven and earth.
Think how difficult it is to walk this bridge. Not only does it appear very seldom, but we cannot easily find it. It seems to be just at the horizon, but the more we go toward it, the more it eludes us. To find its end, to even stand at its base and contemplate the dizzying heights that must hover over its high arch is even more impossible. If we were to stumble upon that sacred path, could we be light enough and pure enough to walk its raindrop surface to the embraces of gods?
My companion says that he once saw a triple rainbow. What a rare sight indeed! Truly, the land where he saw it must have been blessed, and he was lucky to have such beauty revealed to him.
But then again how high must heaven be to need three insurmountable bridges?
Daily Zen
September 16
I have just three things to teach:
Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
You return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
You accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
You reconcile all beings in the world.
– Lao Tzu