July 26, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Monday, July 26, 2021

" ...(T)his program is not for sissies for ...it takes a man to make the grade. It is not too difficult nor easy to grasp. I have had many more reasons to drink since I have been in AA than I had in all the years of my drinking. I've had more problems but, thank God, I have had the teachings of AA with which to face them. ...When I hear the more rugged stories of alcoholics who became sicker than I did with this affliction, I humbly thank God for showing me 'the handwriting on the wall.'" - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Part II ("They Stopped in Time"), Ch 8 ("Rum, Radio and Television"), p 367.

Today, a Program that is not without work, that working it takes more courage than to keep drinking and that being sober will not shield us from the problems that non-alcoholics face but will arm us with stronger combat ammunition. I heed the word of the experienced and not set myself up for a slip or relapse if the promises of the Program don't come quickly enough to me - because I haven't worked for those promises. Nor will I dismiss the Program that it doesn't work when I face the problems that everyone else has. Problems will continue to arise; how I handle them will depend on how I work the Program. For as courageous and bold my decision to stop drinking, I need even more to graduate from being dry to being sober. Today, I'm ready to give it my all, to "go to any lengths." And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

July 26, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, July 26, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
When we come to the end of our lives on earth, we will take no material thing with us. We will not take one cent in our cold, dead hands. The only things that we may take are the things we have given away. If we have helped others, we may take that with us; if we have given of our time and money for the good of AA, we may take that with us. Looking back over our lives, what are we proud of? Not what we have gained for ourselves, but what few good deeds we have done. Those are the things that really matter in the long run.

What will I take with me when I go?

Meditation for the Day
"Hallowed be Thy Name." What does that mean to us? Here "name" is used in the sense of "spirit." The words mean praise to God for His spirit in the world, making us better. We should be especially grateful for God's spirit, which gives us the strength to overcome all that is base in our lives. His spirit is powerful. It can help us to live a conquering, abundant life. So we praise and thank Him for His spirit in our lives and in the lives of others.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be grateful for God's spirit in me. I pray that I may try to live in accordance with it.

Hazelden Foundation

July 26, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Monday, July 26, 2021

Reflection for the Day
Now that I avail myself of the letters H-O-W suggested by friends in The Program - Honesty, Open-Mindedness, Willingness - I see things differently. In ways that I couldn't have predicted and surely never expected, I've come to see things quite differently from the person I was before coming to The Program. I feel good most days. I seldom feel bad, and never for long. Certainly never as bad as I used to feel all of the time.

Is my worst day now infinitely better than my best day previously?

Today I Pray
May I remember today to say "thank you" to my Higher Power, to my friends in the group and to the whole, vast fellowship of recovering chemically dependent persons for making me know that things do get better. I give thanks, too, for those verbal boosters, the tags and slogans which have so often burst into my brain at exactly the moments when they were needed, redefining my purpose, restoring my patience, reminding me of my God.

Today I Will Remember
How it was.

Hazelden Foundation

July 26, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Monday, July 26, 2021

Patience is a virtue that few alcoholics have. We want to do everything yesterday. Even after we sober up, we seldom acquire any substantial amount of this virtue. We feel a real need to make up for all our lost years; we fret and fume over delays; we feel the world should synchronize their watches with ours.

Like Phillips Brooks, we are in a hurry, but God isn't.

Hazelden Foundation

July 26, 2021 - Good morning and let's get revved for Monday and a new week

 

Good morning and have determination to make another Monday and new week worth something good ...have a really magnificent Monday, and allow nothing and no one the control to screw it up

July 25, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

At fifteen, life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice. — Maya Angelou

We had to surrender to a power greater than ourselves to get to where we are today. And each day, we have to turn to that power for strength and guidance. For us, resistance means struggle—struggle with others as well as an internal struggle.

Serenity isn’t compatible with struggle. We cannot control forces outside of ourselves. We cannot control the actions of our family or our co-workers. We can control our responses to them. And when we choose to surrender our attempts to control, we will find peace and serenity.

That which we abhor, that which we fear, that which we wish to conquer seems suddenly to be gone when we decide to resist no more — to tackle it no more.

The realities of life come to us in mysterious ways. We fight so hard, only to learn that what we need will never be ours until the struggle is forsaken. Surrender brings enlightenment.

Life’s lessons are simple once I give up the struggle.

Hazelden Foundation

July 25, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Sunday, July 25, 2021

Today, self-pity comes off my dance card. Just as alcohol drove me to being sick and tired of being sick and tired, so it goes with self-pity. The reason for self-pity can never be justified. For me, self-pity ranks behind resentment as the quickest and surest way to a slip or relapse. I have to ask why I harbor pity for myself. Is it because I endured so many travails during and after my drinking days? Or maybe I lost a job or two, got a lifetime driver's license suspension, drank my way into a sea of debt, got a divorce or two, have family who still wants nothing to do with me. Or maybe there's death taking too much and too many from me. So what is the function of self-pity? Maybe my ego still requires me to be the center of attention, or maybe I have a victim complex, or maybe I'm looking for justification to start drinking again - or to keep drinking. Or maybe I simply don't know how to deal with whatever psychic pain exists. Whatever its reason or purpose, self-pity serves only to impose isolation and keeps me from feeling and living something better. Today, just as it did with drinking, the same goes for self-pity: enough is enough! And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

July 25, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, July 25, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
We are living on borrowed time. We are living today because of AA and the grace of God. And what there is left of our lives we owe to AA and to God. We should make the best use we can of our borrowed time and in some small measure pay back for that part of our lives which we wasted before we came into AA. Our lives from now on are not our own. We hold them in trust for God and AA. And we must do all we can to forward the great movement that has given us a new lease on life.

Am I holding my life in trust for AA?

Meditation for the Day
You should hold your life in trust for God. Think deeply on what that means. Is anything too much to expect from such a life? Do you begin to see how dedicated a life on trust for God can be? In such a life, miracles can happen. If you are faithful, you can believe that God has many good things in store for you. God can be Lord of your life, controller of your days, of your present and your future. Try to act as God guides and leave all results to Him. Do not hold back, but go all out for God and the better life. Make good your trust.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may hold my life in trust for God. I pray that I may no longer consider my life as all my own.

Hazelden Foundation

July 25, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Sunday, July 25, 2021

Reflection for the Day
The slogans of The Program are seemingly clear and simple. Yet they may still have different meanings for different people, according to their own experience and reaction to the words and ideas. Take, for example, the slogan, "Let Go and Let God." For some people, it may suggest that all we have to do is sidestep the challenges that confront us and, somehow, God will do all the work. We must remember that God gives us free will, intelligence and good sense - it is clearly His intention that we use these gifts. If I'm receptive, God will make His will known to me step by step, but I must carry it out.

Do I sometimes act as if surrender to God's will is a passport to inertia?

Today I Pray
May my "passport" be stamped with "action." May my travels be motivated by challenges I can readily recognize as things to do, not things to watch. I pray that I may make the most of my gifts from God, of talents that I am aware of and some I have yet to discover. May I not "let go" and give up but keep on learning, growing, doing, serving, praying, carrying out the will of God as I understand it.

Today I Will Remember
God meant me to make the most of myself.

Hazelden Foundation

July 25, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Sunday, July 25, 2021

Poverty will often force a man into sobriety because of the lack of funds with which to purchase more to drink. Prosperity, on the other hand, gives us the money, the leisure and inclination to celebrate that prosperity.

Far too frequently the new man climbs out of the gutter, gets a job and becomes re-established with his family and does well until a payday puts cash in his pocket again.

That bank roll which you think you want may be the very thing you least want.

Hazelden Foundation

July 25, 2021 - Good morning to a beautiful and serene Sunday

 

Good morning and let's swing into this fabulous Sunday and make it productive but safe, and ignore anything and anyone intent on screwing it up

July 24, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Imagination has always had powers of resurrection that no science can match. — Ingrid Bengis

Our ability to create an image of ourselves — successfully handling a conflict with a friend or stranger; growing in confidence regarding our role as parent, worker, or friend; communicating frequently with our Higher Power — is a tool that can enhance our sense of wellbeing throughout every moment of the twenty-four hours that lie ahead.

How lucky we are to have the ability to think what we want to think and to visualize situations that will bring us pleasure. God is in control of the outcomes of our life, but we’re in control of our contributions toward those outcomes. And one way we contribute most productively is by thinking positively and imagining ourselves fulfilled and content through our acts of love toward others.

My Higher Power and I are in partnership in the outcomes of my life. I know how to fulfill my part, and I can trust God to fulfill God’s part.

Hazelden Foundation

July 24, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Saturday, July 24, 2021

Today, gratitude as attitude. Gratitude for even the smallest of gains, seen and unseen, as opposed to complaining that the gains aren't big enough. My attitude is a reflection of the quality of my sobriety. Even in the most demanding of days when most things seem to go wrong and few of them right, I must pause before reacting in a way I will likely regret later and remember my attitude in my drinking days. Then, my attitude was based on feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, fear, anger, regret, revenge, apathy and self-centeredness. They are the character defects as confessed in my Fourth Step, and confession alone does not mean those defects are gone. They remain; my Program is to improve on them day by day until they exist no more. Today, my attitude is not to rekindle the defects of my character but to disempower them with humility, empathy, answering a call to service and remembering, always, that my attitude defines me as either sober or as a dry drunk. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

July 24, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, July 24, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
AA is like a dike, holding back the ocean of liquor. If we take one glass of liquor, it is like making a small hole in the dike and, once such a hole has been made, the whole ocean of alcohol may rush in upon us. By practicing the AA principles, we keep the dike strong and in repair. We spot any weakness or crack in that dike and make the necessary repairs before any damage is done. Outside the dike is the whole ocean of alcohol, waiting to engulf us again in despair.

Am I keeping the dike strong?

Meditation for the Day
Keep as close as you can to the Higher Power. Try to think, act and live as though you were always in God's presence. Keeping close to a Power greater than yourself is the solution to most of the earth's problems. Try to practice the presence of God in the things you think and do. That is the secret of personal power. It is the thing which influences the lives of others for good. Abide in the Lord and rejoice in His love. Keep close to the Divine Spirit in the universe. Keep God close behind your thoughts.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may keep close to the Mind of God. I pray that I may live with Him in my heart and mind.

Hazelden Foundation

July 24, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Saturday, July 24, 2021

Reflection for the Day
How, exactly, can a person turn his own will and his own life over to the care of a Power greater than himself? All that's needed is a beginning, no matter how small. The minute we put the key of willingness in the lock, the latch springs open. Then the door itself starts to open, perhaps ever so slightly; in time, we find that we can always open it wider. Self-will may slam the door shut again, and it often does. But the door can always be re-opened, time and time again if necessary, so long as we use our key of willingness.

Have I reaffirmed my decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understand Him?

Today I Pray
May I reaffirm my decision to turn my will and my life over to a Higher Power. May my faith be staunch enough to keep me knowing that there is, indeed, a power greater than I am. May I avail myself of that Power simply by being willing to "walk humbly with my Lord."

Today I Will Remember
Self-will minus self equals will.

Hazelden Foundation