So at the outset, how best to live and work together
as groups became the prime question. In the world about us we saw personalities
destroying whole peoples. The struggle for wealth, power, and prestige was
tearing humanity apart as never before. If strong people were stalemated in the
search for peace and harmony, what was to become of our erratic band of
alcoholics? As we had once struggled and prayed for individual recovery, just so
earnestly did we commence to quest for the principles through which AA itself
might survive. On anvils of experience, the structure of our Society was
hammered out.
1981 AAWS Inc.
Twelve Steps and Twelve
Traditions, pages
130-131
*~*^As
Bill
Sees
It^*~*
Give Thanks
Though I still
find it difficult to accept today's pain and anxiety with any great degree of
serenity - as those more advanced in the spiritual life seem able to do - I can
give thanks for present pain nevertheless. I find the willingness to do this
by contemplating the lessons learned from past suffering - lessons which have
led to the blessings I now enjoy. I can remember how the agonies of alcoholism,
the pain of rebellion and thwarted pride, have often led me to God's grace, and
so to a new freedom.
GRAPEVINE, MARCH 1962
*~*^Big
Book
Quote^*~*
"'There is a principle which is a bar against all
information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to
keep a man in everlasting ignorance that principle is contempt prior
to investigation.'"
Alcoholics Anonymous 4th Edition
Appendice
II, Spiritual Experience, pg.
568
*^Twenty
Four
Hours A
Day^*
A.A. Thought for the Day
Step Twelve is, "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result
of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to
practice these principles in all our affairs." Note that the basis of
our effectiveness in carrying the message to others is the reality of our
own spiritual awakening. If we have not changed, we cannot be used to change
others. To keep this program, we must pass it on to others. We cannot hoard
it for ourselves. We may lose it unless we give it away. It cannot flow into
us and stop; it must continue to flow into us as it flows out to others. Am
I always ready to give away what I have learned in A.A.?
Meditation for the Day
"Draw nigh unto
God and He will draw nigh unto you." When you are faced with a problem
beyond your strength, you must turn to God by an act of faith. It is that
turning to God in each trying situation that you must cultivate. The turning
may be one of glad thankfulness for God's grace in your life. Or your appeal
to God may be a prayerful claiming of His strength to face a situation and
finding that you have it when the time comes. Not only the power to face
trials, but also the comfort and joy of God's nearness and companionship are
yours for the asking.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to draw near to God
each day in prayer. I pray that I may feel His nearness and His strength in
my life.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN
55012