Dec. 31, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford foundation is:

The gods bless you.

— Sappho

We have cause for celebration. Though as individuals and as a community we may have suffered losses, let’s remember that we are still here and stronger than ever before. Our joys are meant to be spoken, sung, danced, and shared.

Celebrations are ways to acknowledge ourselves and one another, give praise and thanks for our accomplishments, strengthen our sense of identity and connection, and reinforce our dedication to our dreams.

We have survived. We have a voice. We have helped to nurture and heal one another, physically and spiritually. We have used our many talents to help make the world saner and more beautiful. We have reinvented the family. We’ve expanded the known boundaries of love. We’ve been faithful to our visions.

Today, I have cause to celebrate.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 31, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023

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 — hopefully — 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., 2023

Dec. 31, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023

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, 2023 – Rise ‘n shine for a serene Sunday and last day of 2023

 

Good morning with sincere wishes of a quiet and serene Sunday and last day of 2023 for everyone, and that nothing and no one is empowered to ruin the beautiful day ahead

Dec. 30, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

AA Thought for the Day

In AA alcoholics find a way to solve their personality problems. They do this by recovering three things. First, they recover their personal integrity. They pull themselves together. They get honest with themselves and with other people. They face themselves and their problems honestly, instead of running away. They take a personal inventory of themselves to see where they really stand. Then they face the facts instead of making excuses for themselves.

Have I recovered my integrity?

Meditation for the Day

When trouble comes, do not say: “Why should this happen to me?” Leave yourself out of the picture. Think of other people and their troubles and you will forget about your own. Gradually get away from yourself and you will know the consolation of unselfish service to others. After a while, it will not matter so much what happens to you. It is not so important anymore, except as your experience can be used to help others who are in the same kind of trouble.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may become more unselfish. I pray that I may not be thrown off track by letting the old selfishness creep back into my life.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 30, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023

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 — recovery, 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., 2023

Dec. 30, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023

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, 2023 – Good morning to the last super Saturday and weekend of 2023

 

Good morning and here’s hoping for a fabulous Saturday and weekend for everyone as we usher out the old and ring in the new

Dec. 29, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, Dec. 29, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Being quiet does not mean sacrificing productivity.

— Jane Nelsen

To be quiet is to be focused. When we are focused, we are generally much more productive. But our inner dialogue often interrupts our focus. How seldom we manage to throw our entire being into the present moment. How much more we might accomplish if we could do this at will.

Learning to be quiet is not difficult, even though it doesn’t come naturally to most of us. We are used to racing around; it doesn’t occur to us that life can be experienced in another way. Once we grow accustomed to slowing down, quieting the clatter of our thoughts, we experience a sense of peace: the knowledge of the spirit within.

How lucky for us who share this recovery path that we have the tools we need to learn quietness. Practicing the suggestions in the Eleventh Step will change our lives.

I will relish the quiet today. What I need to do can be easily accomplished with quiet focus.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 29, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Friday, Dec. 29, 2023

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., 2023

Dec. 29, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, Dec. 29, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Friday, Dec. 29, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Friday, Dec. 29, 2023

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, 2023 – Good morning to the last fabulous Friday of the year

 

Good morning and let’s make the last Friday of the year totally fabulous and not be discouraged by people and things we don’t need in our lives

Dec. 28, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Nothing is predestined: the obstacles of your past can become gateways that lead to new beginnings.

— Ralph Blum

At this doorway to a new year, we look ahead to new beginnings. In some ways, this is like any other day in the cycle of our lives. Some things we know for sure, and other things are yet to be revealed. We can know that again on this day we will stay sober and true to our path of healing and recovery. Still, we look to the year ahead with a sense of adventure. This year will be a continuing flow of experiences, and on this path, we deal with each experience with the calm certainty that we are not alone.

We know that we cannot control what happens to us, but we can stay true to ourselves. “Keep coming back” is a well-known motto for our life in recovery. We are not perfect, and we don’t expect perfection of ourselves. What we expect is to keep returning to our path. Like any driver or any pilot who continuously reorients his craft as he travels along his route, we look forward to this year, knowing that we will keep returning to the true course we have chosen. It will be an adventure, and we will take whatever happens and use it for our growth.

Living one day at a time, my pledge is to keep coming back to this path of renewal.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 28, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023

Today, loosen my grip on my perspective that the Program hammers what I cannot do and, instead, what it enables me to 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, 2023

Dec. 28, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023

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, 2023 – Good morning and let’s shoot for a terrific Thursday

 

Good morning with wishes of a quiet and paced but productive and worthwhile Thursday for everyone …and without the garbage of people and things that don’t deserve our time

Dec. 27, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The heart has reasons which reason does not know.

— Blaise Pascal

In a technological age, we think we can engineer the answers to all our problems. Reason and analysis are the tools we reach for. Our heads rule our hearts.

But our hearts have voices, too, and they deserve to be heard. Emotion is not just a force; it is also a language whose words are often more powerful and effective than those of the mind’s language. Our hearts can tell us about caring and affection and helping and loving and being in touch.

In our addiction, we stopped listening to our hearts. Our hearts themselves almost stopped. Recovery sets the heart beating again in hope and love.

I am coming to trust in the language of my heart – the language of loving.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 27, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023

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., 2023

Dec. 27, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023

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