~*~A.A.
Thoughts
For
The Day~*~
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(\ ~~
/)
( \ (AA)/ )
(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\
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Promises
"We are
going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not
regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the
word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we
have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That
feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose
interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking
will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear
of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively
know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly
realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Are
these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being
fulfilled among us -- sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They
will always materialize if we work for them."
c. 1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp.
83-4
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Thought
to Consider . . .
The
Promises are a result not a right.
*~*AACRONYMS*~*
P R O G R A M = People Relying On God Relay A
Message
*~*^Just
For
Today!^*~*
How To
Live
From: "Stars
Don't Fall"
AA taught me how not to drink. And also, on the twenty-four hour
plan, it taught me how to live. I know I do not have to be queen of them all to
salve a frightened ego. Through going to meetings and listening, and
occasionally speaking, through doing Twelve Step work, whereby in helping others
you are both the teacher and the student, by making many wonderful AA friends, I
have been taught all the things in life that are worth having. I am no longer
interested in living in a palace, because palace living was not the answer for
me. Nor were those impossible dreams I used to have the things I really
wanted.
2003, AAWS, Inc., Experience, Strength & Hope,
pages 362-363
*~*^Daily
Reflections^*~*
ATTRACTION, NOT PROMOTION
Through many painful experiences, we
think we have arrived at what that policy ought to be. It is the opposite
in many ways of usual promotional practice. We found that we had to rely
upon the principle of attraction rather than of
promotion.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.
180-181
While I was drinking I reacted with anger,
self-pity and defiance against anyone who wanted to change me. All I
wanted then was to be accepted by another human simply as I was and, curiously,
that is what I found in A.A. I became the custodian of this concept of
attraction, which is the principle of our Fellowship's public relations.
It is by attraction that I can best reach the alcoholic who still suffers.
I thank God for having given me the attraction of a well-planned and
established program of Steps and Traditions. Through humility and the
support of my fellow sober members, I have been able to practice the A.A. way of
life through attraction, not promotion.
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES,
INC.
*~*^As
Bill
Sees
It^*~*
I Am Responsible . . .
When anyone, anywhere, reaches out
for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there. And for that: I am
responsible.
- DECLARATION OF 30TH ANNIVERSARY - INTERNATIONAL
CONVENTION, 1965
DEAR FRIENDS:
Since
1938, the greatest part of my A.A. life has been spent in helping to create,
design, manage, and insure the solvency and effectiveness of A.A.'s world
services - the office of which has enabled our Fellowship to function all over
the globe, and as a unified whole. It is no exaggeration to say that, under
their trustees, these all important services have accounted for much of our
present size and over-all effectiveness. The A.A. General Service Office is
by far the largest single carrier of the A.A. message. It has well related A.A.
to the troubled world in which we live. It has fostered the spread of our
Fellowship everywhere. A.A. World Services, Inc., stands ready to serve the
special needs of any group or isolated individual, no matter the distance or
language. Its many years of accumulated experience are available to us
all. The members of our trusteeship - the General Service Board of A.A .-
will, in the future, be our primary leaders in all of our world affairs. This
high responsibility has long since been delegated to them; they are the
successors in world service to Dr. Bob and to me, and they are directly
accountable to A.A. as a whole. This is the legacy of world-service
responsibility that we vanishing oldtimers are leaving to you, the A.A.'s of
today and tomorrow. We know that you will guard, support, and cherish this world
legacy as the greatest collective responsibility that A.A. has or ever can
have.
Yours in trust, and in affection,
Bill
Bill W. died on January 24, 1971
*~*^Big
Book Quote^*~*
"We are careful never to show
intolerance or hatred of drinking as an institution. Experience shows that
such an attitude is not helpful to anyone. Every new alcoholic looks for
this spirit among us and is immensely relieved when he finds we are not
witch-burners. A spirit of intolerance might repel alcoholics whose lives
could have been saved, had it not been for such
stupidity."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th
Edition, Working With Others, pg. 103~
*~*^Twenty
Four Hours A
Day^*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day
The A.A. way is the way of sobriety. A.A. is known everywhere as
a method that has been successful with alcoholics. Doctors, psychiatrists, and
the clergy have had some success. Some men and women have gotten sober all by
themselves. We believe that A.A. is the most successful and happiest way to
sobriety. And yet A.A. is, of course, not wholly successful. Some are unable to
achieve sobriety and some slip back into alcoholism after they have had some
measure of sobriety. Am I deeply grateful to have found A.A.?
Meditation for the Day
Gratitude to God is the theme of Thanksgiving Day. The pilgrims
gathered to give thanks to God for their harvest which was pitifully small. When
we look around at all the things we have today, how can we help being grateful
to God? Our families, our homes, our friends, our A.A. fellowship: all these
things are free gifts of God to us. "But for the grace of God," we would not
have them.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be very grateful today. I pray that I may
not forget where I might be but for the grace of God.Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN
55012