Thoughts For The Day~*~Defects ^*^*^ September 25
TransitionsDaily
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Defects
"What we must recognize now is that we exult in some of our
defects. We really love them. Who, for example, doesn't like to feel
just a little superior to the next fellow, or even quite a lot superior?
Isn't it true that we like to let greed masquerade as ambition? To
think of liking lust seems impossible. But how many men and women
speak love with their lips, and believe what they say, so that they can
hide lust in a dark corner of their minds? And even while staying within
conventional bounds, many people admit that their imaginary sex excursions
are apt to be all dressed up as dreams of romance."
c. 1952 AAWS
Twelve Steps and Twelve
Traditions, pp. 66-7
Thought
to Consider . . .
If I want God to remove my character defects, I'll have to
stop doing them.
*~*AACRONYMS*~*
T I M E
Things I Must
Earn
As Bill read on [in: The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James], his own powers of reasoning helped him extract some important ideas from the weighty and intricate text. He saw that all the cases described by James had certain common denominators, despite the diverse ways in which they manifested themselves. These insights became important to Bill in his thinking about the plight of the alcoholic and his need for spiritual help. (He would later say that James, though long in his grave, had been a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.) Of the three common denominators in the case histories, the first was calamity; each person James described had met utter defeat in some vital area of his life. All human resources had failed to solve his problems. Each person had been utterly desperate.
The next common point was admission of defeat; each of the individuals acknowledged his own defeat as utter and absolute.
The third common
denominator was an appeal to a Higher Power. This cry for help could take many
forms, and it might or might not be in religious terms.
1984 AAWS Inc.,
'PASS IT ON'
The story
of Bill Wilson and how the AA message reached the world
Pages
124-125
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job - wife or no wife - we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 98
Before coming to A.A., I always had excuses for taking a drink: "She said . . .," "He said . . .," "I got fired yesterday," "I got a great job today." No area of my life could be good if I drank again. In sobriety my life gets better each day. I must always remember not to drink, to trust God, and to stay active in A.A. Am I putting anything before my sobriety, God, and A.A. today?
Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
Those Other People
"Just like you, I have often thought myself the victim of what other people say and do. Yet every time I confessed the sins of such people, especially those whose sins did not correspond exactly with my own, I found that I only increased the total damage. My own resentment, my self-pity would often render me well-nigh useless to anybody. So, nowadays, if anyone talks of me so as to hurt, I first ask myself if there is any truth at all in what they say. If there is none, I try to remember that I too have had my periods of speaking bitterly of others; that hurtful gossip is but a symptom of our remaining emotional illness; and consequently that I must never be angry at the unreasonableness of sick people. Under very trying conditions I have had, again and again, to forgive others - also myself. Have you recently tried this?"
LETTER, 1946
*~*^Big Book Quote^*~*
". . . with the
alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual
experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that
it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the
sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again.
And with us, to drink is to die."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition
How It Works, pg.
66
*^Twenty
Four
Hours A
Day^*
A.A. Thought for the Day
Let us consider
the term "spiritual experience" as given in Appendix II of the Big Book,
Alcoholics Anonymous. "A spiritual experience is something that brings about a
personality change. By surrendering our lives to God as we understand Him, we
are changed. The nature of this change is evident in recovered alcoholics. This
personality change is not necessarily in the nature of a sudden and spectacular
upheaval. We do not need to acquire an immediate and overwhelming God
consciousness, followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook. In most
cases, the change is gradual." Do I see a gradual and continuing change in
myself?
Meditation for the Day
"Come unto me all ye that labor and are
heavy laden and I will give you rest." For rest from the care of life, you can
turn to God each day in prayer and communion. Real relaxation and serenity come
from a deep sense of the fundamental goodness of the universe. God's everlasting
arms are underneath all and will support you. Commune with God, not so much for
petitions to be granted as for the rest that comes from relying on His will and
His purposes for your life. Be sure of God's strength available to you, be
conscious of His support, and wait quietly until that true rest from God fills
your being.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that
I may be conscious of God's support today. I pray that I may rest safe and sure
therein.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN
55012
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