Thoughts For The Day~*~Sacrifices ^*^*^*^*^ June 12

[Transitions Daily]

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Sacrifices 
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"At the beginning we sacrificed alcohol.  We had to, or it would have killed us. But we couldn't get rid of alcohol unless we made other sacrifices.  Big-shotism and phony thinking had to go.  We had to toss self-justification, self-pity, and anger right out the window.  We had to quit the crazy contest for personal prestige and big bank balances.  We had to take personal responsibility for our sorry state and quit blaming others for it.  Were these sacrifices?  Yes, they were.  To gain enough humility and self-respect to stay alive at all we had to give up what had really been our dearest possessions - our ambitions and our illegitimate pride." 
Bill W., January 1955
1988 AAGrapevine, The Language of the Heart, p. 210 
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Thought to Consider . . . 
Sobriety is a journey, not a destination

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
S O B E R  =  Son Of a Basket, Everything's Real

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~* 

Core From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":

"On many a day I felt like throwing the book out the window.  "I was in this anything-but-spiritual mood on the night when the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous were written. I was sore and tired clear through. I lay in bed at 182 Clinton Street with pencil in hand and with a tablet of scratch paper on my knee. I could not get my mind on the job, much less put my heart in it. But here was one of those things that had to be done. Slowly my mind came into some kind of focus.

"Since Ebby's visit to me in the fall of 1934 we had gradually evolved what we called 'the word-of-mouth program.' Most of the basic ideas had come from the Oxford Groups, William James, and Dr. Silkworth."

2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 160

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*

FORMING TRUE PARTNERSHIPS 

But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends, and society at large that many of us have suffered the most.  We have been especially stupid and stubborn about them.  The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true partnership with another human being. 
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 53 

Can these words apply to me, am I still unable to form a true partnership with another human being? What a terrible handicap that would be for me to carry into my sober life!  In my sobriety I will meditate and pray to discover how I may be a trusted friend and companion. 
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.

*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Release and Joy 

Who can render an account of all the miseries that once were ours, and who can estimate the release and joy that the later years have brought to us? Who can possibly tell the vast consequences of what God's work through A.A. has already set in motion? And who can penetrate the deeper mystery of our wholesale deliverance from slavery, a bondage to a most hopeless and fatal obsession which for centuries possessed the minds and bodies of men and women like ourselves?
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We think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recovered, and have helped others to recover. What greater cause could there be for rejoicing than this? 
1. A.A. COMES OF AGE, PP. 44-45
2. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, P. 132 

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Faith without works was dead, he said. And how appallingly true for the alcoholic! For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, pg. 14~

*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day 

When we came into A.A., we made a tremendous discovery. We found that we were sick persons rather than moral lepers. We were not such odd ducks as we thought we were. We found other people who had the same illness that we had, who had been through the same experiences that we had been through. They had recovered. if they could do it, we could do it. Was hope born in me the day I walked into A.A.? 

Meditation for the Day 

"He that heareth these sayings and doeth them is like unto a man who built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the wind blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock." When your life is built upon obedience to God and upon doing His will as you understand it, you will be steadfast and unmovable even in the midst of storms. The serene, steadfast, unmovable life - the rock home - is laid stone by stone - foundation, walls, and roof - by acts of obedience to the heavenly vision. The daily following of God's guidance and the daily doing of His will shall build your house upon a rock. 

Prayer for the Day 

I pray that my life may be founded upon the rock of faith.  I pray that I may be obedient to the heavenly vision. 
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012