April 28, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Thursday, April 28, 2016
 
Today, no running from mistakes with a sense of failure or blaming someone. No recovery program reaches for perfection because no person will or can ever achieve it. Likewise, I cannot and must not impose that unreachable goal on myself - and others. AA's 10th Step says, in part, that we "promptly admitted" when we are wrong - not if. Thus, let me not be so vain as to place responsibility for my mistakes, big and small, on someone or something else. Adversely, let me not be discouraged by a sense of failure when I err in word, thought and deed. Instead, let me be open to owning my mistakes, identifying the reason for them and correcting the reason so that I do not repeat them. Today, I am not mistake-proof and I cannot expect myself to be - nor can I expect anyone and anything else to be. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016

April 28, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thursday, April 28, 2016 
 
AA Thought for the Day 
We're so glad to be free from liquor that we do something about it. We get into action. We come to meetings regularly. We go out and try to help other alcoholics. We pass on the good news whenever we get a chance. In a spirit of thankfulness to God, we get into action. The AA program is simple. Submit yourself to God, find release from liquor and get into action. Do these things and keep doing them and you're all set for the rest of your life. 
 
Have I got into action?

Meditation for the Day 
God's eternal quest must be the tracking down of souls. You should join Him in His quest. Through briars, through waste places, through glades, up mountain heights, down into valleys. God leads you. But ever with His leadership goes your helping hand. Glorious to follow where the Leader goes. You are seeking lost sheep. You are bringing the good news into places where it has not been known before. You may not know which soul you will help, but you can leave all results to God. Just go with Him in His eternal quest for souls.

Prayer for the Day 
I pray that I may follow God in His eternal quest for souls. I pray that I may offer God my helping hand.

Hazelden Foundation

April 28, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Thursday, April 28, 2016
 
Reflection for the Day
I will resolve to observe with new interest even the commonplace things that happen today. If I learn to see everything with a fresh eye, perhaps I'll find I have countless reasons for contentment and gratitude. When I find myself trapped in the quicksand of my negative thoughts, I'll turn away from them - and grab for the life-saving strength of sharing with others in The Program.

Do I carry my weight as an all-important link in the worldwide chain of The Program?

Today I Pray
I pray that God will open my eyes to the smallest everyday wonders, that I may notice and list among my blessings things like just feeling good, being able to think clearly. Even when I make a simple, unimportant choice like whether to order coffee or tea or a soft drink, may I be reminded that the power of choice is a gift from God.

Today I Will Remember
I am blessed with the freedom of choice.

Hazelden Foundation

April 28, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Thursday, April 28, 2016
 
The span of human life is such a small part of eternity that the length of your life, whether it be 20 years or 100, is of no moment. Yet the lifespan of some men has, and will continue to have, great influence upon many succeeding generations.

If you can by one single act do something that will benefit just one person 50 years from now, you will have done more than millions who have before you. Few leave anything to posterity when they die that will outlive their tombstone.

Hazelden Foundation

April 28, 2016 - Good morning to an awesome Thursday, folks!

April 27, 2016 - Six Yale athletes come out as gay, establish student athlete support group

April 27, 2016 - Outsports.com - Six male athletes come out at Yale, create LGBT student-athlete support group - Outsports

April 27, 2016 - Sex may be the greatest single threat to Christianity

April 27, 2016 - GoodMenProject.com - Why Sex May Be the Greatest Threat to Christianity—and Why Men Should Care -

April 27, 2016 - Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato cancel North Carolina shows over bathroom law

April 27, 2016 - LGBTQNation.com - Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato cancel North Carolina shows – LGBTQ Nation

April 27, 2016 - North Carolina Republican wants 'to keep our state straight'

North Carolina state Rep. Buck Newton (R)

April 27, 2016 - LGBTQNation.com - North Carolina Dems criticize ‘keep our state straight’ comment – LGBTQ Nation

April 27, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

The Serenity Prayer

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The person who is bored in the modern world shows that he is in no full sense a member of it.
 -- Brand Blanshard

Enthusiasm doesn't just happen to us. It's an attitude that is either fostered or hindered by our decisions about what we'll bring to our experiences from the most mundane to the momentous. This is true either throughout the day at hand or throughout our life. Deciding to be enthusiastic for a project comes easily when we've made up our mind to simply enjoy being alive.

Gratitude for the many blessings that recovery has brought even further heightens our enthusiasm for living. We all know people who are bored with their jobs, who withdraw from social involvement. Most of these people have lost touch with their fundamental sense of gratitude for what life has given them.

The power to enjoy life fully, to bring enthusiasm to whatever we do, is within our grasp. In fact, it's within our own mind.

I'll be as enthusiastic as I am grateful today.

You are reading from the book:

In God's Care by Karen Casey

In God's Care by Karen Casey. © 1991 by Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2016 - Editorial: Again North Carolina, this time a loss of voting rights

April 27, 2016 - NYTimes.com - Editorial: Voting Rights Lose in North Carolina - The New York Times

April 27, 2016 - Trump sweeps five states, Clinton takes four in Tuesday primaries

April 27, 2016 - NYTimes.com - Donald Trump Sweeps 5 States; Hillary Clinton Takes 4 - The New York Times

April 27, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

The Serenity Prayer

Step by Step
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
 
Today, character defects of frustration and impatience as they relate to relationships and communications. As a drinking alcoholic, frustration and impatience walked hand-in-hand when it came to dealing with others: frustration with impatience of people who did not react how and when I expected. As a recovering alcoholic, frustration and impatience still walk hand-in-hand in dealing with others. Clearly, little change. Also clearly, abstaining from the bottle isn't all that recovery requires. A fundamental change in character and emotions is needed. If I overreact when people do not respond when and how I think they should, maybe I am the problem. Today, I work consciously and conscientiously on my defects of frustration and impatience by considering the possibility that someone other than myself might have a better idea. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016

April 27, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
 
AA Thought for the Day
By submitting to God, we're released from the power of liquor. It has no more hold on us. We're also released from the things that were holding us down: pride, selfishness, and fear. And we're free to grow into a new life, which is so much better than the old life that there's no comparison. This release gives us serenity and peace with the world.

Have I been released from the power of alcohol?

Meditation for the Day
We know God by spiritual vision. We feel that He is beside us. We feel His presence. Contact with God is not made by the senses. Spirit-consciousness replaces sight. Since we cannot see God, we have to perceive Him by spiritual perception. God has to span the physical and the spiritual with the gift to us of spiritual vision. Many persons, though they cannot see God, have had a clear spiritual consciousness of Him. We are inside a box of space and time, but we know there must be something outside of that box - limitless space, eternity of time, and God.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may have a consciousness of God's presence. I pray that God will give me spiritual vision.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

The Serenity Prayer

A Day at a Time

Wednesday, April 27, 2016 

Reflection for the Day 
Am I so sure I'm doing everything possible to make my new life a success? Am I using my capabilities well? Do I recognize and appreciate all I have to be grateful for? The Program and its Twelve Steps teach me that I am the possessor of unlimited resources. The more I do with them, the more they will grow - to overshadow and cancel out the difficult and painful feelings that now get so much of my attention. 
 
Am I less sensitive today than when I first came to The Program? 
 
Today I Pray 
May I make the most of myself in all ways. May I begin to look outward to people and opportunities and wonderful resources around me. As I become less ingrown and understand myself better in relation to others, may I be less touchy and thin-skinned. May I shrug off my old "the world-is-out-to-get-me" feeling and see that same world as my treasure-house, God-given and boundless. 
 
Today I Will Remember 
My resources are unlimited. 
 
Hazelden Foundation