Wednesday, June 1, 2016
June 1, 2016 - White House proclamation of June as LGBT Pride Month
June 1, 2016 - Video: London ComicCon pushes LGBT superhero diversity in PSA trailer
June 1, 2016 - Editorial: Donald Trump, bully in chief
June 1, 2016 - Editorial: Trump crosses the line in attacking sitting judge
June 1, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
-- Step Six of Alcoholics Anonymous
Readiness is the key to all-important passages in life. Until we're ready to know something, the mystery is not revealed. Until we're ready to do something, the power is not mobilized. Until we're ready to receive a gift, even if we trip over it, that gift will not be ours. It may not even be recognized as a gift.
The Sixth Step talks about our readiness to have the obstacles to our happiness removed. These obstacles are our character defects. Until we're ready to let them go - boxed up, on the porch, waiting for pickup, so to speak - they will be left with us. It's that simple.
The Sixth Step is also very specific about who will take them away. For all our intelligence and willpower, we're not the ones who do the removing. When we're ready to admit the power of God into our lives, and only then, we will be ready for freedom.
The experience of my fellows has empowered me to have faith in renewal.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
-- Step Six of Alcoholics Anonymous
Readiness is the key to all-important passages in life. Until we're ready to know something, the mystery is not revealed. Until we're ready to do something, the power is not mobilized. Until we're ready to receive a gift, even if we trip over it, that gift will not be ours. It may not even be recognized as a gift.
The Sixth Step talks about our readiness to have the obstacles to our happiness removed. These obstacles are our character defects. Until we're ready to let them go - boxed up, on the porch, waiting for pickup, so to speak - they will be left with us. It's that simple.
The Sixth Step is also very specific about who will take them away. For all our intelligence and willpower, we're not the ones who do the removing. When we're ready to admit the power of God into our lives, and only then, we will be ready for freedom.
The experience of my fellows has empowered me to have faith in renewal.
You are reading from the book:
Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty
June 1, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
"The spiritual life is not theory. We have to live it. Unless one's family expresses a desire to live upon spiritual principles, we think we ought not to urge them. We should not talk incessantly to them about spiritual matters. They will change in time. Our behavior will convince them more than our words." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 6, p 83.
Today, if called on to 12th-Step a prospect, I will not hammer the spiritual aspect of recovery if the topic seems to push away rather than draw in the prospect. Should the prospect who is weary of spirituality subsequently embrace the program and find sobriety, the words "(Spiritual awareness) will change in time" will ring true. Paraphrasing the saying that I was born of the Spirit but was taught religion, let me understand that others, like me, also may tie the two together - religion and spirituality - but that the program will lead them to their own understanding of a higher power. Today, if spirituality cannot be discussed with a potential member, let my actions speak louder than my words. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
June 1, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
Some things I do not miss since becoming dry: that overall awful feeling physically, including the shakes, a splitting headache, pains in my arms and legs, bleary eyes, fluttering stomach, droopy shoulders, weak knees, a three-day beard, and a flushed complexion. Also, facing my wife or my husband at breakfast. Also, comprising the alibi and sticking to it. Also, trying to shave or put on makeup with a shaky hand. Also, opening up my wallet to find it empty.
I don't miss these things, do I?
Meditation for the Day
You were born with a spark of the Divine within you. It had been all but smothered by the life you were living. That celestial fire has to be tended and fed so that it will grow eventually into a real desire to live the right way. By trying to do the will of God, you grow more and more in the new way of life. By thinking of God, praying to Him and having communion with Him, you gradually grow more like Him. The way of your transformation from the material to the spiritual is the way of Divine Companionship.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may tend the spark of the Divine within me so that it will grow. I pray that I may be gradually transformed from the old life to the new life.
Hazelden Foundation
June 1, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Reflection for the Day
Slowly but surely, I'm becoming able to accept other people's faults as well as their virtues. The Program is teaching me to "always love the best in others - and never fear their worst." This is hardly an easy transition from my old way of thinking, but I'm beginning to see that all people - including myself - are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong.
Am I approaching true tolerance? Am I beginning to see what real love for my fellows actually means?
Today I Pray
May God give me tolerance for any shortcomings or sick symptoms or insensitivities of others, so that I can love the qualities that are good in them. May God instruct me in the truest meaning of love - which must also include patience and forgiveness. May I not overlook the faults of those I love, but may I try to understand them.
Today I Will Remember
Love is understanding.
Hazelden Foundation
June 1, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Each of us has only so many hours to live, and we alcoholics have wasted far too many of them in the past.
New men, by the thousands, are crowding our doors, searching for our Message of Hope. Those who are endeavoring to carry the Message are frequently pushed to the limit of their available time for this purpose.
Have you the right to monopolize the time of the Twelve Steppers by indulging yourself in so-called slips?
Hazelden Foundation
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