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| Al Corley of Dynasty |
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Jan. 6, 2016 - Photo gallery: Hollywood hunks laid bare, 1980s-90's
Jan. 6, 2016 - The path to Charlie Sheen's HIV disclosure
Jan. 6, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive.
-- Sir Walter Scott
To deceive means to fool people into believing things that are not true. As addicts, we did this in many ways. We lied. We hid facts. We were sneaky. While we were trying to fool other people, we also fooled ourselves. Every lie was like a knot. Pretty soon we were a tangled mess. Our lives became unmanageable, tangled webs of life.
Our recovery program – an honesty program – tells us how we can untangle our lives. In the First Step, we admit we are all tangled up in our life of addiction. Second, we realize we can fix it. Third, we decide to take on the job of fixing it, no matter how much work it takes. In Steps Four and Five, we find the knots with the help of another person. In Steps Six to Ten, we untangle these knots.
Without the tangles, our life is free and ready to be used for whatever we decide. Steps Eleven and Twelve help us find good ways to use the gift of life.
Prayer for the Day
Higher Power, thanks for giving me my life, strong as a good rope. Please help me keep it straight by being honest today with myself and others in everything I do.
Today's Action
Today I will work on straightening out one knot – just one.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive.
-- Sir Walter Scott
To deceive means to fool people into believing things that are not true. As addicts, we did this in many ways. We lied. We hid facts. We were sneaky. While we were trying to fool other people, we also fooled ourselves. Every lie was like a knot. Pretty soon we were a tangled mess. Our lives became unmanageable, tangled webs of life.
Our recovery program – an honesty program – tells us how we can untangle our lives. In the First Step, we admit we are all tangled up in our life of addiction. Second, we realize we can fix it. Third, we decide to take on the job of fixing it, no matter how much work it takes. In Steps Four and Five, we find the knots with the help of another person. In Steps Six to Ten, we untangle these knots.
Without the tangles, our life is free and ready to be used for whatever we decide. Steps Eleven and Twelve help us find good ways to use the gift of life.
Prayer for the Day
Higher Power, thanks for giving me my life, strong as a good rope. Please help me keep it straight by being honest today with myself and others in everything I do.
Today's Action
Today I will work on straightening out one knot – just one.
You are reading from the book:
God Grant Me. . . © 2005 by Hazelden Foundation
Jan. 6, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Step by Step
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016
Today, I cannot take for granted the vital lifeline that the support of an AA home group and other program members are in my own recovery. As such, I need to determine that I am attending enough meetings to bolster my recovery or, if I am limited by whatever restraints to make the meetings, that I have a strong enough social network through the program to carry me through. Working toward any goal, and maybe especially so if the goal is sobriety, can be more difficult if I am working alone. That difficulty is weakened when I have the support of others working toward the same goal but, in the process, I need to be willing to be honest in sharing my own history, what I have gained in the program and on which steps I need more work. Today, I need not be in self-imposed isolation, even in recovery, and I have to recognize the importance of peer and group support and acceptance. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
Jan. 6, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
Keeping sober is the most important thing in my life. The most important decision I ever made was my decision to give up drinking. I am convinced that my whole life depends on not taking that first drink. Nothing in the world is as important to me as my own sobriety. Everything I have, my whole life, depends on that one thing.
Can I afford ever to forget this, even for one minute?
Meditation for the Day
I will discipline myself. I will do this disciplining now. I will turn out all useless thoughts. I know that the goodness of my life is a necessary foundation for its usefulness. I will welcome this training, for without it God cannot give me this power. I believe that this power is a mighty power when it is used in the right way.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may face and accept whatever discipline is necessary. I pray that I may be fit to receive God's power in my life.
Hazelden Foundation
Jan. 6, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016
Reflection for the Day
"As individuals and as a fellowship," Bill W. continued, "we shall surely suffer if we cast the whole idea of planning for tomorrow into a fatuous idea of providence. God's real providence has endowed us human beings with a considerable capability for foresight, and He evidently expects us to use it. Of course, we shall often miscalculate the future in whole or in part, but that is better than to refuse to think at all."
Have I begun to believe that I am only an actor in a play which the Manager directs?
Today I Pray
May I make prudent use of the foresight and power of choice which God has given me, to plan wisely, one Step at a time, without becoming a slave to apprehension, regret or anxiety. I pray that God's will be done through the exercising of my own will, which He, in His goodness, has given me.
Today I Will Remember
God wills my will to be.
Hazelden Foundation
Jan. 6, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016
Let us stop and think about our room here on earth. We have occupied it all our lives; we have free heat and light. From the windows of this room, we can look upon the grandest of nature's landscapes if we so desire, but it also looks upon poverty, slums and filth, if that is what we have eyes for.
How can we pay for our Room on Earth? Only by serving our fellow men, the children of the Landlord,"and inasmuch as ye did it unto these, ye did it unto Me."
If you do less, you are not worthy of your Room on Earth.
Hazelden Foundation
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Jan. 5, 2016 - Online literacy and anal rape
Jan. 5, 2016 - Religious discrimination here and now
Jan. 5, 2016 - Straight talk for gay men
Jan. 5, 2016 - Homophobic public figure calls for worldwide anti-gay laws
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| Scott Lively |
Jan. 5, 2016 - New Twitter rules aim to fight homophobia, transphobia
Jan. 5, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.
-- Spanish proverb
The beauty of the Third Step is that there's no real work for us to do. Making a decision to turn our will and our life over to the care of God requires no energy, no movement. We don't have to grit our teeth. It's only a decision and can be made in the blink of an eye. The action comes from God.
We don't need to do anything to earn the grace of God. In fact, there isn't any way we could earn it. This grace is ours when we let it come to us. Trusting God's love for us is all it takes.
I will rest knowing that my life is in God's hands.
How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.
-- Spanish proverb
The beauty of the Third Step is that there's no real work for us to do. Making a decision to turn our will and our life over to the care of God requires no energy, no movement. We don't have to grit our teeth. It's only a decision and can be made in the blink of an eye. The action comes from God.
We don't need to do anything to earn the grace of God. In fact, there isn't any way we could earn it. This grace is ours when we let it come to us. Trusting God's love for us is all it takes.
I will rest knowing that my life is in God's hands.
You are reading from the book:
In God's Care by Karen Casey. © 1991 by Hazelden Foundation
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