~A.A.
Thoughts
For
The Day~
^*^*^*^*^
(\ ~~
/)
( \(AA)/ )
(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\
^*^*^*^*^
Meetings
"Sobriety and a plan for living that produces a personality
change and a spiritual awakening are imperative. Through AA, many
receive the needed change and awakening just by trying to live by AA
principles and associating with AA people. We do this by going to many
AA meetings with an open mind and a desire to live the good-feeling life
without chemicals -- liquid or otherwise."
c. 1976AAWS, Alcoholics
Anonymous, p. 459
Thought
to Consider . . .
The ankle-biters of everyday struggles will eat away at me
unless I go to meetings and share.
*~*AACRONYMS*~*
H O P E = Hearing Other Peoples'
Experience
"I was born an Anglican (Church of England), and the following crops up in one of our services (perhaps in the services of other denominations also): 'Therefore with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, we laud and glorify Thy name.' Since I have no knowledge of heaven or the company kept there, whenever I repeat this passage of praise, I substitute the word 'and the whole company of Alcoholics Anonymous.'
"Being an A.A. Loner, I have
felt very out of things and on my own. But I do believe in the power of
collective thought, whether for good or evil. Thus, I believe that the
collective thought of the body of Alcoholics Anonymous throughout the world must
have some effect on alcoholics, whether they are aware of it or not. -
Kenton-on-Sea, South Africa"
1973 AAWS Inc.
Came to
Believe, 30th printing 2004, pg.
87
*^Daily
Reflections^*
LOVE WITHOUT STRINGS
Practical experience
shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work
with other alcoholics.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89
Sponsorship held two surprises for me. First, that my sponsees
cared about me. What I had thought was gratitude was more like love. They
wanted me to be happy, to grow and remain sober. Knowing how they felt kept me
from drinking more than once. Second, I discovered that I was able
to love someone else responsibly, with respectful and genuine concern for that
person's growth. Before that time, I had thought that my ability to care
sincerely about another's well-being had atrophied from lack of use. To
learn that I can love, without greed or anxiety, has been one of the deepest
gifts the program has given me. Gratitude for that gift has kept me sober many
times.
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES,
INC.
*~*^As
Bill
Sees
It^*~*
A.A. in Two Words
"All
A.A. progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words: humility and
responsibility. Our whole spiritual development can be accurately measured by
our degree of adherence to these magnificent standards. "Ever deepening
humility, accompanied by an ever greater willingness to accept and to act upon
clear-cut obligations - these are truly our touchstones for all growth in the
life of the spirit. They hold up to us the very essence of right being and right
doing. It is by them that we are enabled to find and to do God's will."
TALK, 1965 (PRINTED IN GRAPEVINE, JANUARY
1966)
*~*^Big
Book
Quote^*~*
"We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we
recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we
will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our
new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort
on our part. It just comes!"
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition
Into Action, pg.
84
*^Twenty
Four
Hours A
Day^*
A.A. Thought for the Day
For the past two months we have been studying passages and steps
from the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Now why not read the book itself again?
It is essential that the A.A. program become part of us. We must have its
essentials at our fingertips. We cannot study the Big Book too much or too
often. The more we read it and study it, the better equipped we are to think
A.A., act A.A., and live A.A. We cannot know too much about the program. The
chances are that we will never know enough. But we can make as much of it our
own as possible. How much of the Big Book have I thoroughly mastered?
Meditation for the Day
We need to accept the difficulties and disciplines
of life so as to fully share the common life of other people. Many things that
we must accept in life are not to be taken so much as being necessary for us
personally, as to be experienced in order that we may share in the sufferings
and problems of humanity. We need sympathy and understanding. We must share many
of the experiences of life, in order to understand and sympathize with others.
Unless we have been through the same experiences, we cannot understand other
people or their makeup well enough to be able to help them.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may accept everything that comes my way as a part of life.
I pray that I may make use of it in helping other people.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN
55012