Dec. 31, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on. — Heraclitus

On this last day of the year, time is on our minds. Naturally, we look back at the year just passing. Whether we feel grateful that it is over, or grateful for the gifts it brought, we can always be grateful to be in this healing program on this day. Some of us took our first Steps in recovery this year, and others marked another year among many years. Once on the path, the critical fact is that we are all brothers, equally seeking the same goal: a sober life and peace of mind.

New Year’s Eve is a time for celebrations and parties. For some of us, New Year’s Eve in the past was a day of complete immersion in our addiction and codependency. There is no point in giving much attention to regrets. Today our celebration has a deeper spiritual meaning. It’s a good time to take stock of how far we have come and for gratitude for the benefits of our recovery. We can look at the challenges we faced and what we learned from them. We can look at the gifts that came into our lives.

Today, I thank God for the gifts that continue to flow and enhance my life.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 31, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020

Today, I need not fear anything for I have endured and survived the horror of active alcoholism and, by the grace of AA and a Higher Power to which it led me, I have emerged not only intact but a better person. I have kept the faith in the Program, in its Steps and Principles, in the Power stronger than me, and I found faith in myself that I never had before. My gift has been sobriety the last 24 Hours. Having vested not only my heart and soul but my very life in this Program, I faced few terrors other than those within myself but met them with the guidance of the Steps. Now, nothing can compare and any fear from any source is something I know I can face responsibly, with faith and sobriety. Today, I have nothing to fear except the ghosts of my drinking past, and my Program has strengthened me to move beyond them, to leave the fear behind. Yet I do not take for granted the gift of sobriety as something I am owed or even deserve. I have an obligation to it, and that obligation begins with  gratitude and carrying the message. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2020

Dec. 31, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020

AA Thought for the Day

I shall be loyal in my attendance, generous in my giving, kind in my criticism, creative in my suggestions, loving in my attitudes. I shall give AA my interest, my enthusiasm, my devotion and, most of all, myself. The Lord’s Prayer has become part of my AA thoughts for each day: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Have I given myself?

Meditation for the Day

As we look back over the year just gone, it has been a good year to the extent that we have put good thoughts, good words and good deeds into it. None of what we have thought, said or done need be wasted. Both the good and the bad experiences can be profited by. In a sense, the past is not entirely gone. The result of it, for good or evil, is with us at the present moment. We can only learn by experience and none of our experience is completely wasted. We can humbly thank God for the good things of the year that has gone.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may carry good things into the year ahead. I pray that I may carry on with faith, with prayer and with hope.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 31, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020

Reflection for the Day

God grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change; COURAGE to change the things I can; and WISDOM to know the difference – living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it: Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.

Today I Pray

May I look back at this past year as a good one, in that nothing I did or said was wasted. No experience – however insignificant it may have seemed – was worthless. Hurt gave me the capacity to feel happiness; bad times made me appreciate the good ones; what I regarded as my weaknesses became my greatest strengths. I thank God for a year of growing.

Today I Will Remember

Hope is my “balance brought forward” – into a new year’s ledger.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 31, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020

Every man at some time arrives at a place where the course of his entire future rests upon a decision. Judas was one day a saint and the next the betrayer of the Lord.

We members of AA also had our moment of great decision. Many more days of decision will probably be our lot, but by the Grace of God and our new-found sobriety, we can meet any situation by reliance on God’s Will rather than our own.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 31, 2020 - Good morning to the best New Year's Eve ever because we're finally giving 2020 its marching orders

 

Good morning and we could rejoice that an entire year of stress and distress is finally on life support ...instead, here's wishing everyone a far, far better 2021 and, please, stay home tonight and keep safe!

Dec. 31, 2020 - Good morning to what's guaranteed to be a terrific Thursday -- it's the last one and the last day of 2020!

 

This beautiful Thursday is a promised winner because it's the last day of a thoroughly screwed up year -- and we're all still here ...make it a truly fantastic day, and that means we don't waste time on anything and anyone thinking they can f**k it up!

Dec. 30, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

ln quarreling about the shadow, we often lose the substance. — Aesop

There is a fable about a man and his camel who were hired by a wealthy man to get him across the desert. The journey was so hot that they stopped to rest one day, and the only shade to be found was in the shadow of the camel. The two of them began to argue about who had the rights to the camel’s shadow—the owner or the renter. They were so involved in their argument that the camel ran away and they didn’t notice until it was long gone.

Sometimes we get so caught up in being right that we become like these two, fighting over a shadow. In­ stead of paying attention to our journey and sharing what we have, we let ourselves get distracted. It is more important to notice what we have, to share it as best we can, and continue our journey.

What can I share with another today?

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 30, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020

Today, I awaken without a hangover and with full memory of last night but, if not, this new day offers a chance for another beginning. Grant me the wisdom and courage to seize the opportunity to continue or begin the work toward something better, something I thirst and hunger for – sobriety, serenity, peace, calm, a worthy self-image, and a sense of gratitude that I am here and have been given yet another second chance. My best hope for what I seek is AA and its Steps and Principles and, today, may I finally decide that enough is enough of the alcoholic hangover and all the garbage that comes with it. But let me be disciplined enough to understand that what sobriety and recovery offer comes with a price – to be of service to anyone who needs and wants the message. Today, I have a chance for another new beginning. Don’t let the lifeboat go without me on board. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2020

Dec. 30, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020

AA Thought for the Day

To the extent that I fail in my responsibilities, AA fails. To the extent that I succeed, AA succeeds. Every failure of mine will set back AA work to that extent. Every success of mine will put AA ahead to that extent. I shall not wait to be drafted for service to others, but I shall volunteer. I shall accept every opportunity to work for AA as a challenge, and I shall do my best to accept every challenge and perform my task as best I can.

Will I accept every challenge gladly?

Meditation for the Day

People are failures in the deepest sense when they seek to live without God’s sustaining power. Many people try to be self-sufficient and seek selfish pleasure and find that it does not work too well. No matter how much material wealth they acquire, no matter how much fame and material power, the time of disillusionment and futility usually comes. Death is ahead, and they cannot take any material thing with them when they go. What matters is if I have gained the whole world, but lost my own soul.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I will not come empty to the end of the my life. I pray that I may so live that I will not be afraid to die.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 30, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020

Reflection for the Day

My life before coming to The Program was not unlike the lives of so many of us who were cruelly buffeted and tormented by the power of our addictions. For years, I had been sick and tired. When I became sick and tired of being sick and tired, I finally surrendered and came to The Program. Now I realize that I had been helped all along by a Higher Power; it was He, indeed, who allowed me to live so that I could eventually find a new way of life.

Since my awakening, have I found a measure of serenity previously unknown in my life?

Today I Pray

May I realize that my Higher Power has not suddenly come into my life like a stranger opening a door when I knocked. The Power has been there all along, if I will just remember how many brushes with disaster I have survived by a fraction of time or distance. Now that I have come to know my Higher Power better, I realize that I must have been saved for something – for helping others like me.

Today I Will Remember

I am grateful to be alive and recovering.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 30, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020

If man was created by God in the image of God and did not possess human frailties, he would be God. All men would then be perfect and Heaven would exist here on earth. There would be no logical reason for it to operate simply as a branch of Heaven.

With our limited understanding of God’s purpose, we must suppose that man was intended from the very first to work out his own evolution. The reason this process has required so many centuries has been man’s persistence in the exercise of his puny little will as opposed to the Will of God. That we are less than God is due to our freedom of choice between being one with God and our attempt to play God.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 30, 2020 - Good morning with a loud whoop for this magnificent Wednesday and just two days left in an otherwise unmemorable year

 

Let's get going with enthusiasm for this awesome Wednesday and gratitude that we're down to just two days left in a year that didn't give us much to remember with fondness ...and give the bird to anything and anyone out to spoil the promise of the day

Dec. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

AA Thought for the Day

The AA program is one of faith, hope, and charity. It’s a program of hope because when new members come into AA, the first thing they get is hope. They hear older members tell how they had been through the same kind of hell that they have and how they found the way out through AA. And this gives them hope that if others can do it, they can do it.

Is hope still strong in me?

Meditation for the Day

The rule of God’s kingdom is perfect order, perfect harmony, perfect supply, perfect love, perfect honesty, perfect obedience. There is no discord in God’s kingdom, only some things still unconquered in God’s children. The difficulties of life are caused by disharmony in the individual man or woman. People lack power because they lack harmony with God and with each other. They think that God fails because power is not manifested in their lives. God does not fail. People fail because they are out of harmony with Him.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be in harmony with God and with other people. I pray that this harmony will result in strength and success.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020

Today, when resolutions for the coming new year are in vogue, I will make none because to do so skirts the Program’s suggestion to take life one day at a time. Further, I have no guarantee that an entire year is promised me, and I cannot live for a day in the future because, in doing that, I am neglecting today. Recovery discourages us from looking too far ahead if today is sacrificed and encourages us to make our resolutions daily. Today, awakening to a new day, my resolution is to adhere to the Steps and Principles of the Program and not drink and, further, to grow in sobriety - one day at a time. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2020

Dec. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020

AA Thought for the Day

Participating in the privileges of the movement, I shall share in the responsibilities, taking it upon myself to carry my fair share of the load, not grudgingly but joyfully. I am deeply grateful for the privileges I enjoy because of my membership in this great movement. They put an obligation upon me which I will not shirk. I will gladly carry my fair share of the burdens. Because of the joy of doing them, they will no longer be burdens, but opportunities.

Will I accept every opportunity gladly?

Meditation for the Day

Work and prayer are the two forces which are gradually making a better world. We must work for the betterment of ourselves and other people. Faith without works is dead. But all work with people should be based on prayer. If we say a little prayer before we speak or try to help, it will make us more effective. Prayer is the force behind the work. Prayer is based on faith that God is working with us and through us. We can believe that nothing is impossible in human relationships, if we depend on the help of God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that my life may be balanced between prayer and work. I pray that I may not work without prayer or pray without work.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020

Reflection for the Day

The success of The Program, I’ve been taught, lies in large measure in the readiness and willingness of its members to go to any lengths to help others tyrannized by their addictions. If my readiness and willingness cools, then I stand in danger of losing all that I’ve gained. I must never become unwilling to give away what I have, for only by so doing will I be privileged to keep it.

Do I take to heart the saying, “Out of self into God into others …?”

Today I Pray

May I never be too busy to answer a fellow addict’s call for help. May I never become so wound up in my pursuits that I forget that my own continuing recovery depends on that helping – a half-hour or so on the telephone, a call in person, a lunch date, whatever the situation calls for. May I know what my priorities must be.

Today I Will Remember

Helping helps me.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020

Is someone happier, better or braver because of some act of yours today? If you can answer yes to any or all of them, then you can feel rather confident that you are progressing in the AA way of living.

If you can’t – then you are not giving it the old College try and you are cheating yourself out of a lot of happiness that could have been yours.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 29, 2020 - Good morning with a guarantee that it's a terrific Tuesday 'cause it's the last one of a totally forgettable year

 

Time to rev it up for a fantastic Tuesday -- 'cause it's the last Tuesday in the last week of a totally f**ked up year ...do today grand, folks, and don't be discouraged by anything and anyone wanting to screw it up

Dec. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Dec. 28, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The more one judges, the less one loves. — Honoré de Balzac

At times we need to make judgments about people’s behavior. We stand back and look at how their lives affect our sobriety. We have to do this to choose people whose friendships will be good for us. We have to do this before we trust someone in business. We should take a good look at the other person before we fall in love. But once we decide to trust or love someone, we have to stop always judging.

When we love someone, we don’t stand back. We move in close. We give them all our love can offer. We don’t just think and judge. We feel. We are on their side. We look for the good in them. We don’t pick them apart. We love the whole person.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me to judge a little and love a lot. Help me accept the people I love, faults and all. Help me love them better.

Action for the Day

Today I’ll catch myself when I start to judge others. I will accept them as they are.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Monday, Dec. 28, 2020

Today, loosen my grip on my perspective that the Program hammers what I cannot do and, instead, that it enables me with what I can do. While I cannot continue in futile endeavor to regain control over alcohol, I can control it by not feeding it. While I cannot continue to engage in conduct that injures myself and others, I can chart a 180-degree course change and start to give something nurturing instead of something destructive. And while I cannot always make direct amends for whatever reason, I can make indirect amends by working a Program in which my sobriety is its own amend. AA is not a Program of cannot; it is, instead, a Program of can. Today the first word in can’t is can. And I can. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M, 2020

Dec. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, Dec. 28, 2020

AA Thought for the Day

AA may be human in its organization, but it is divine in its purpose. The purpose is to point me toward God and the good life. My feet have been set upon the right path. I feel it in the depths of my being. I am going in the right direction. The future can be safely left to God. Whatever the future holds, it cannot be too much for me to bear. I have the Divine Power with me to carry me through everything that may happen.

Am I pointed toward God and the good life?

Meditation for the Day

Although unseen, the Lord is always near to those who believe in Him and trust Him and depend on Him for the strength to meet the challenges of life. Although veiled from mortal sight, the Higher Power is always available to us whenever we humbly ask for it. The feeling that God is with us should not depend on any passing mood of ours; we should try to be always conscious of His power and love in the background of our lives.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may feel that God is not too far away to depend on for help. I pray that I may feel confident of His readiness to give me the power that I need.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Monday, Dec. 28, 2020

Reflection for the Day

The Program, for me, is not a place nor a philosophy, but a highway to freedom. The highway leads me toward the goal of a “spiritual awakening as a result of these Steps.” The highway doesn’t get me to the goal as quickly as I sometimes wish, but I try to remember that God and I work from different timetables. But the goal is there, and I know that the Twelve Steps will help me reach it.

Have I come to the realization that I – and anyone – can now do what I had always thought impossible?

Today I Pray

As I live The Program, may I realize more and more that it is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. May I keep in mind that the kind of spirituality it calls for is never complete, but is the essence of change and growth, a drawing nearer to an ideal state. May I be wary of setting time-oriented goals for myself to measure my spiritual progress.

Today I Will Remember

Timetables are human inventions.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Monday, Dec. 28, 2020

It is very often easier to identify an alcoholic by his hang-over than by his drinking pattern. Alcoholics, for the most part, resemble the non-alcoholics when they have a load aboard, but in the morning, when the sweats and the shakes set in, then the alcoholic can be identified by the degree of his suffering. The alcoholic’s hang-over cannot be gotten rid of by 10:30 simply with aspirin or Bromos.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 28, 2020 - Good morning with a loud 'HELL, YEAH' for the last Monday and week of a year not fondly remembered

 

Rise 'n shine for the last Monday and week of a year that probably not many are going to reflect on fondly ...no reason not to have a joyous day today -- and no reason to waste time on anything and anyone intent on f**king it up

Dec. 27, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

One must be leery of words because they tum into cages. — Viola Spolin

We defeat ourselves with labels…We hem ourselves in; we shorten our vision; we cut off opportunities in the making. We influence how others think of us, too. Someone wise said that we teach others how to treat us. Are we teaching people to expect nothing great from us—because we are always afraid? Do we shatter their vision of our potential—by never thinking we can handle what may come?

We become the persons we have programmed ourselves to be. We can revamp the program, anytime. And right now is a good time to begin. We are surrounded by persons who have done just that.

It’s time for praise. We are all that we need to be, and more. We will be helped to do all we are asked to do. We have an inner beauty that only needs encouragement to shine forth. If we smile from within today, we will free ourselves from our negative cages. A new life awaits us.

To catch myself each time I insult myself will be a challenge, but one worth taking on. And it’s one I can win!

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 27, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020

Today, the first word in hopeless is hope; the first word in helpless is help; the first word in senseless is sense; the first word in powerless is power. Within insanity is sanity; within fear, fearlessness; within pain, strength; within anger, reconciliation. This is our Program: from hopeless, hope; from helpless, help; from senseless, sense; from powerless, power; from insanity, sanity; from fear, courage; from pain, strength; from anger, forgiveness. And from them – recovery. It’s that simple. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2020

Dec. 27, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020

AA Thought for the Day

I need the AA principles for the development of the buried life within me, that good life which I had misplaced but which I found again in this fellowship. This life within me is developing slowly but surely, with many setbacks, many mistakes, many failures, but still developing. As long as I stick close to AA, my life will go on developing, and I cannot yet know what it will be, but I know that it will be good. That’s all I want to know. It will be good.

Am I thanking God for AA?

Meditation for the Day

Build your life on the firm foundation of true gratitude to God for all His blessings and true humility because of your unworthiness of these blessings. Build the frame of your life out of self-discipline; never let yourself get selfish or lazy or contented with yourself. Build the walls of your life out of service to others, helping them to find the way to live. Build the roof of your life out of prayer and quiet times, waiting for God’s guidance from above. Build a garden around your life out of peace of mind and serenity and a sure faith.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may build my life on AA principles. I pray that it may be a good building when my work is finished.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 27, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020

Reflection for the Day

“The central characteristic of the spiritual experience,” wrote AA co-founder Bill W., “is that it gives the recipient a new and better motivation out of all proportion to any process or discipline, belief or faith. These experiences cannot make us whole at once; they are a rebirth to a fresh and certain opportunity.”

Do I see my assets as God’s gifts, which have been in part matched by an increasing willingness on my part to find and do His will for me?

Today I Pray

I pray for the wholeness of purpose that can only come through spiritual experience. No amount of intellectual theory, pep-talking to myself, disciplined deprivation, “doing it for” somebody else can accomplish the same results. May I pray for spiritual enlightenment, not only in order to recover, but for itself.

Today I Will Remember

Total motivation through spiritual wholeness.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 27, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020

The average person has so much trouble in finding a satisfactory faith simply because the mind has difficulty visualizing a force so powerful as anything but a very complex thing. He thinks he must understand it in order to acquire it and use it.

When we eat a meal, we believe that we shall digest it and that we will be strengthened and sustained by it. Yet few of us know the mysteries of the digestive functions, but we get just as much sustenance from our meals as those who do.

We, therefore, eat our meals on faith, and we would probably ruin our digestion if we tried to figure it out.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 27, 2020 - Good morning to a beautiful Sunday, and let's do it as relaxing but productively as we can

 

Good morning and let's greet this beautiful Sunday with gratitude that we're closing in on the finale of a year that probably few of us want to remember fondly ...make it a truly great but productive and safe day -- and stay away from everything and everyone thinking they can screw it up

Dec. 26, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness. — William Saroyan

Through Twelve Step recovery we are coming to believe that happiness wears many faces. It is a state of mind we can choose. It is within us when we get our ego and negative thoughts out of the way and discover that our Higher Power is our companion. We can join God anytime we seek joy, serenity, and security.

Through Twelve Step recovery we are coming to believe that happiness wears many faces. It is a state of mind we can choose. It is within us when we get our ego and negative thoughts out of the way and discover that our Higher Power is our companion. We can join God anytime we seek joy, serenity, and security.

Just knowing that God is within me will make me happy today.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 26, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020

“When I try to reconstruct what my life was ‘before,’ I see a coin with two faces.

“One, the side I turned to myself and the world, was respectable …

“The other side …was sinister, baffling. I was inwardly unhappy most of the time. There would be times when the life of respectability and achievement seemed insufferably dull – I had to break out. This I would do by going completely ‘bohemian’ for a night, getting drunk and rolling home with the dawn. Next day remorse would be on me like a tiger. I’d claw my way back to ‘respectability’ and stay there – until the inevitable next time.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Stopped in Time,” Ch 16 (“Me an Alcoholic?”), p 432. 

Today, faith and security in recovery to know that there does not have to be “the inevitable next time.” Recovery encourages us to live in the solution of sobriety and not in the problem of alcoholism, and I am in the latter if my focus is on fighting off "the inevitable next time.” The threat of a “next time” is weakened if I practice with diligence and integrity the Program’s Steps and principles and accept intuitively that drinking now, for me, is a choice and that I will be held responsible to the consequences of that choice. Today, “the inevitable next time” may be less so if I stick to the Program and the understand that I have a choice and the choice I make will have consequences. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2020

Dec. 26, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020

AA Thought for the Day

I am glad to be a part of AA, of that great fellowship that is spreading over the United States and all over the world. I am only one of the many AA’s, but I am one. I am grateful to be living at this time, when I can help AA to grow, when it needs me to put my shoulder to the wheel and help keep the movement going. I am glad to be able to be useful, to have a reason for living, a purpose in life. I want to lose my life in this great cause and so find it again.

Am I grateful to be an AA?

Meditation for the Day

These meditations can teach us how to relax. We can be of service to other people in a small way, at least. And we can be happy while doing it. We should not worry too much about people we cannot help. We can make it a habit to leave the outcome of the things we do to the Higher Power. We can go along through life doing the best we can, but without a feeling of urgency or strain. We can enjoy all the good things and the beauty of life, but at the same time depend deeply on God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may give my life to this worthwhile cause. I pray that I may enjoy the satisfaction that comes from good work well done.

Hazelden Foundation