~A.A.
Thoughts For The Day~
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(\ ~~ /)
( \(AA)/ )
(_ /AA\ _)
/ AA \
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The Light
"To what extent I was personally responsible for my
drinking, I don't know. Yet I'm not one to take complete refuge in the idea that
I was a sick man only. In earlier years, I certainly had some degree of free
will. That free will I used badly, to the great misery of my mother and
countless others. I am deeply ashamed. As one who knows me a little, you may
have heard how, ten years ago, a friend, himself a liberated alcoholic, came to
me bearing the light which finally led me out of the toils. There will come a
day like that for you and yours - I'm so confident!"
Bill W., Letter to the Mother of an Alcoholic,
Dec. Language of the Heart, p.
102
Thought
to Consider . . .
It's
impossible for me to love God and hate myself.
*~*AACRONYMS*~*
I S M
I, Self,
Me
*~*^Just
For
Today!^*~*
Substitute
From "Stay
Sober on Love":
"The things I thought I
needed for so many years no longer seem important, now that I have become aware
of the spiritual resources God has given me. With these, I don't need alcohol to
function. What a joy to stay sober on love instead of fear!"
Toronto, Ontario/Canada
1973 AAWS, Inc.
Came
to Believe, 30th printing 2004, pg. 35
*^Daily
Reflections^*
SURRENDERING SELF-WILL
Made a decision to turn our will and
our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 34
No matter how much one wishes to try,
exactly how can one turn his own will and his own life over to the care of
whatever God he thinks there is? In my search for the answer to this
question, I became aware of the wisdom with which it was written: that this is a
two-part Step.
I could see many times where I should have died, or at
least been injured, during my previous style of living, and it never
happened. Someone, or something, was looking after me. I choose to
believe my life has always been in God's care. He alone controls the
number of days I will be granted until physical death.
The matter of
will (self-will or God's will) is the more difficult part of the Step for
me. It is only when I have experienced enough emotional pain, through
failed attempts to fix myself, that I become willing to surrender to God's will
for my life. Surrender is like the calm after the storm. When my
will is in line with God's will for me, there is peace
within.
Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES,
INC.