April 25, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

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

A man of courage is also full of faith.

 — Cicero

Faith and courage walk hand in hand. Courage empowers us to act in favor of what we believe, but cannot know. Courage is animated by the vision of faith. It doesn’t take any faith to perform an action that doesn’t require a risk. Only when the outcome is uncertain, and the effort itself a feat of daring, must faith and courage come on the scene together to get the job done.

To reach out to another, if we have known frequent rejection, is to act courageously in spite of an uncertain outcome. To stand firm in a decision, if we have always given in and given up, is to back our faith in a most daring and courageous way.

Many recovering people, who never think of themselves as spiritual, are excellent models of faith because they continually reach out for what is not common in their lives. Because they believe, they’re willing and able to take the risk.

Today, I can do what I believe I can do.

You are reading from the book:

Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty

Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty. © 1987, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Today, understand we cannot claim credit if someone we sponsor or to whom we have carried the message finds sobriety. Likewise, let us not feel that we have failed a sponsee or co-member who continue in active alcoholism. To claim credit for anyone else's sobriety or blame for their continued drinking fires our ego and, because of it, we break the commandment to be only a carrier of the message. Just as we cannot credit anyone for our sobriety other than the program or blame our drinking on someone or something other than ourselves, we cannot claim credit for another person's recovery. Today, let us remember that we are a messenger, not the message. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2018

April 25, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, April 25, 2018

AA Thought for the Day
I don't believe that AA works because I read it in a book or because I hear people say so. I believe it because I see people getting sober and staying sober. An actual demonstration is what convinces me. When I see the change in people, I can't help believing that AA works. We could listen to talk about AA all day and still not believe it, but when we see it work, we have to believe it. Seeing is believing.

Do I see AA work every day?

Meditation for the Day
Try saying: "God bless her (or him)" of anyone who is in disharmony with you. Also say it of those who are in trouble through their own fault. Say it, willing that showers of blessings may fall upon them. Let God do the blessing. Leave to God the necessary correcting or disciplining. You should only desire blessing for them. Leave God's work to God. Occupy yourself with the task that He gives you to do. God's blessing will also break down all your own difficulties and build up all your successes.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may use God's goodness so that it will be a blessing to others. I pray that I may accept God's blessing so that I will have harmony, beauty, joy and happiness.

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Reflection for the Day
I have much more to be grateful for than I realize. Too often, I don't remember to give thought to all the things in my life that I could enjoy and appreciate. Perhaps I don't take time for this important meditation because I'm too preoccupied with my own so-called woes. I allow my mind to overflow with grievances; the more I think about them, the more monumental they seem. Instead of surrendering to God and His goodness, I let myself be controlled by the negative thinking into which my thoughts are apt to stray unless I guide them firmly into brighter paths.

Do I try to cultivate an "attitude of gratitude?"

Today I Pray
May God lead me away from my pile-up of negative thoughts, which make for detours in my path of personal growth. May I break the old poor-me habits of remembering the worst and expecting the most dire. May I turn my thoughts ahead to a whole new world out there. May I allow myself to envision the glory of God.

Today I Will Remember
Keep an attitude of gratitude.

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Man is a pretty smart duck, but after all these centuries of study, experimentation and reasoning, we still don't know what we are, where our life came from or what happens to it when we die. True, we have certain faiths and beliefs, but who can say with certainty and with personal knowledge exactly what the answer to the Great Enigma really is?

We have unlocked many of the secrets of Nature, but we still don't know what we are, how we got here or where we will go when we leave.

God still has many secrets. If man knew them all, there would be no incentive to know God better.

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2018 - Let's get groovin' to a far-out Hump Day with determination and confidence

April 24, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

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

Slow Down and Live

Many of us rush through our days as well as rush through our meals. Often we let ourselves get so busy that we do not enjoy what we are doing or what we are eating. We swallow life in great gulps instead of savoring it moment by moment.

Hurry and busyness are forms of self-will. Deluded by an exaggerated sense of our own importance, we deem it crucial to perform all tasks and activities according to our personal schedule. Impatient with traffic tie-ups, other people’s slowness, or unavoidable delays, we make ourselves tense and miserable by our refusal to accept life as it comes.

Time spent each day in quiet meditation can give us glimpses of God’s timelessness. We see that our schedule is not that important after all, when measured against eternity. As the presence of God seeps into our consciousness, we relax into the fullness and peace of each moment. Trusting our Higher Power to order our lives, we can slow down and enjoy God’s gifts.

May I exchange hurry and busyness for Your peace.

You are reading from the book:

Food for Thought by Elisabeth L.

Food for Thought by Elisabeth L. © 1980, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Today, the link between consequences and responsibility - and an appreciation that I and I alone am responsible to the consequences of my behavior and choices, including drinking, and that excuses and justifications will not spare me either consequences or responsibility. The program's 12th Step suggests I "practice these principles in all (my) affairs" - to live by AA's principles and not weasel out of owning my feelings, actions and behavior and the consequences of each. If, for example, I slip or relapse, I cannot blame anything but myself because, in the end, I made the choice to drink. No one tied me down and poured it down my throat, and I and no one else will endure the physical and emotional consequences of my choice to drink. Today, I am mindful that all I say, do and feel will bear consequences and that I alone am responsible to those consequences. And if I want to avoid responsibility for consequences, the "out" is clear: don't do what I don't want to be responsible for. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2018

April 24, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, April 24, 2018

AA Thought for the Day
It's been proved that we alcoholics can't get sober by our willpower. We've failed again and again. Therefore, I believe there must be a Higher Power which helps me. I think of that power as the grace of God. And I pray to God every morning for the strength to stay sober today. I know that Power is there because it never fails to help me.

Do I believe that AA works through the grace of God?

Meditation for the Day
Once I am "born of the spirit," that is my life's breath. Within me is the life of life, so that I can never perish. The life that down the ages has kept God's children through peril, adversity and sorrow. I must try never to doubt or worry, but follow where the life of the spirit leads. How often, when little I know it, God goes before me to prepare the way, to soften a heart, or to overrule a resentment. As the life of the spirit grows, natural wants become less important.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that my life may become centered in God more than in self. I pray that my will may be directed towards doing His will.

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Reflection for the Day
We come to know in The Program that there is no deeper satisfaction and no greater joy than in a Twelfth Step well done. To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness to light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, and above all to watch them awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives - these things are the substance of what we receive as we carry the message of The Program.

Am I learning through Twelfth Step experiences that gratitude should go forward, rather than backward?

Today I Pray
May my Twelfth Steps be as wholehearted and as convincing and as constructive as others' Twelfth-Stepping has been to me. May I realize that the might of The Program and its effectiveness for all of us come through "passing it on." When I guide someone else to sobriety, my own sobriety is underlined and reinforced. I humbly ask God's guidance before each Twelfth Step.

Today I Will Remember
To pass it on.

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, April 24, 2018

The reasoning of the practicing alcoholic is in such foul shape that he is apt to take any attitude on the drinking question and usually does.

It is unreasonable to expect them to view their own or anyone else's sobriety in a rational way. Naturally plain common sense is not possible in the midst of an alcoholic fog, but why - oh, why - do so many practicing alcoholics, including slipees, invariably persist in looking for the most insecure member of AA in their quest for a drinking partner?

If you are homesick for the gutter, go on back to it. But don't take anyone with you.

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2018 - Time to get shaking on a terrific Tuesday of new hope and confidence

April 23, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Monday, April 23, 2018
Today’s thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

 — Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Newcomer

Initially, I was excited about recovery. I felt better for a while. I hate to say it, but now that I’m not at the beginning any more, everything seems worse. I feel more cynical than ever.

Sponsor

What you’re experiencing is part of the process of recovery. Many of us go through a “honeymoon” phase in early recovery. Our craving may feel miraculously lifted. Change feels easy, and hope replaces despair.

Then, life feels difficult again. We may perceive ourselves as having gotten worse, but that’s not accurate. What’s really happening is that, though our addictive craving has been treated, we still have our old problems, habits, and states of mind. We may be getting through the day, showing up for our work responsibilities, attending meetings, but not having much fun.

We may wonder if what we’ve heard is really true — that “our worst day in recovery is better than our best day of active addiction.” We may wonder whether recovery really is the answer after all.

Our doubt makes clear to us that we have to do something. Staying where we are is too uncomfortable. We can attend a Step meeting and read program literature to begin to familiarize ourselves with our next Step. For spirits in need of healing, Step work leads to the next phase of recovery.

Today, I have the courage to move forward in my journey of recovery.

You are reading from the book:

If You Want What We Have by Joan Larkin

If You Want What We Have © 1998 by Joan Larkin

April 23, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Monday, April 23, 2018

Today, reflect on the choices and responsibilities of sponsorship. If I have progressed in my sobriety that I need to ask someone to sponsor me, where and how do I begin? My home group is fertile ground, and I may think about selecting three or four members, narrow them down to those I feel I can trust most and then approach that potential sponsor in confidence. If I am being asked to sponsor someone, however, I ask my Higher Power for the wisdom and responsibility before taking on such a sacred trust. Let me understand that sponsorship does not mean I am the sponsee's pseudo-priest and that the job does not make me "preacher." Today, I extend my recovery to include asking to be sponsored and, God willing, consenting to someone's request to extend my hand to his. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2018

April 23, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, April 23, 2018

AA Thought for the Day
Men and women keep coming into AA, licked by alcohol, often given up by doctors as hopeless cases, they themselves admitting they're helpless to stop drinking. When I see these men and women get sober and stay sober over a period of months and years, I know that AA works. The change I see in people who come into AA not only convinces me that there must be a Power greater than ourselves which helps us to make that change.

Am I convinced that a Higher Power can help me to change?

Meditation for the Day
Cooperation with God is the great necessity for our lives. All else follows naturally. Cooperation with God is the result of our consciousness of His presence. Guidance is bound to come to us as we live more and more with God, as our consciousness becomes more and more attuned to the great Consciousness of the universe. We must have many quiet times when we not so much ask to be shown and led by God, as to feel and realize His presence. New spiritual growth comes naturally from cooperation with God.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that God may supply me with strength and show me the direction in which He wants me to grow. I pray that these things may come naturally from my cooperation with Him.

Hazelden Foundation