*~*^Just For Today!^*~*
"It was evident that here was a world-wide movement that had no direct access to its own principal service affairs. The Trustees had authority over our services; A.A. itself had no authority. The simple trusteeship had been the ideal guardian for our infancy and adolescence, but how in future years could it possibly go on functioning as it had?
"At first we had talked vaguely about a hand-picked advisory council or an elected conference of some sort. But since there was no imminent danger, no action was taken.
"Following a long plea for an elected A.A. conference and other reforms, and after having pointed out that the Trustees had all the authority there was, with no responsibility to anyone, even to Dr. Bob and me.
"I set out on the road
in 1948 to sound out among the groups the possibility of an elected conference
to which the Board of Trustees could eventually become accountable. Bill
W."
2001 AAWS, Inc.
Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs.
210-11
*~*^As
Bill
Sees
It^*~*
No Personal Power
"At first, the remedy for my personal
difficulties seemed so obvious that I could not imagine any alcoholic turning
the proposition down were it properly presented to him. Believing so firmly that
Christ can do anything, I had the unconscious conceit to suppose that He would
do everything through me--right then and in the manner I chose. After six long
months, I had to admit that not a soul had surely laid hold of the Mater--not
excepting myself. "This brought me to the good healthy realization that there
were plenty of situations left in the world over which I had no personal
power--that if I was so ready to admit that to be the case with alcohol, so I
must make the same admission with respect to much else. I would have to be still
and know that He, not I, was God."
LETTER, 1940
*~*^Big
Book
Quote^*~*
"Do not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. Search out another alcoholic and try again. You are sure to find someone
desperate enough to accept with eagerness what you offer. We find it a waste of
time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you. If you leave
such a person alone, he may soon become convinced that he cannot recover by
himself. To spend too much time on any one situation is to deny some other
alcoholic an opportunity to live and be happy."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition
Working With
Others, pg. 96
*^Twenty
Four
Hours A
Day^*
A.A. 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 sell I pray that my will
may be directed toward doing His will.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012