Daily Readings
Daily Reflections
May 8
A RESTING PLACE
All of A.A.’s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires … they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few Steps are harder to take than Five. But scarcely any Step is more necessary to longtime sobriety and peace of mind than this one.
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 55
After writing down my character defects, I was unwilling to talk about them, and decided it was time to stop carrying this burden alone. I needed to confess those defects to someone else. I had read – and been told – I could not stay sober unless I did. Step Five provided me with a feeling of belonging, with humility and serenity when I practiced it in my daily living.
It was important to admit my defects of character in the order presented in Step Five: “to God, to ourselves and to another human being.” Admitting to God first paved the way for admission to myself and to another person . As the taking of the Step is described, a feeling of being at one with God and my fellow man brought me to a resting place where I could prepare myself for the remaining Steps toward a full and meaningful sobriety.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
May 8
A.A. Thought For The Day
I’m grateful that I found a program in A.A. that could keep me sober. I’m grateful that A.A. has shown me the way to faith in a Higher Power, because the renewing of that faith has changed my way of life. And I’ve found a happiness and contentment that I had forgotten existed, by simply believing in God and trying to live the kind of a life that I know He wants me to live. As long as I stay grateful, I’ll stay sober. Am I in a grateful frame of mind?
Meditation For The Day
God can work through you better when you are not hurrying. Go very slowly, very quietly, from one duty to the next, taking time to rest and pray between. Do not be too busy. Take everything in order. Venture often into the rest of God and you will find peace. At work that results from resting with God is good work. Claim the power to work miracles in human lives. Know that you can do many things through the Higher Power. Know that you can do good things through God who rests you and gives you strength. Partake regularly of rest and prayer.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may not be in too much of a hurry. I pray that I may take time out often to rest with God.
As Bill Sees It
Back To Work, p. 128
It is possible for us to use the alleged dishonesty of other people as a plausible excuse for not meeting our own obligations.
Once, some prejudiced friends exhorted me never to go back to Wall Street. They were sure that the rampant materialism and double-dealing down there would stunt my spiritual growth. Because this sounded so high-minded, I continued to stay away from the only business that I knew.
When, finally, my household went broke, I realized I hadn’t been able to face the prospect of going back to work. So I returned to Wall Street, and I have ever since been glad that I did. I needed to rediscover that there are many fine people in New York’s financial district. Then, too, I needed the experience of staying sober in the very surroundings where alcohol had cut me down.
A Wall Street business trip to Akron, Ohio, first brought me face to face with Dr. Bob. So the birth of A.A. hinged on my effort to meet my bread-and-butter responsibilities.
Grapevine, August 1961
The AA Grapevine Daily Quote
“It’s not the wonderful people I’ve met from throughout these great lands who have helped keep me sober most of the time, but those wonderful people sitting around the table in my hometown who loved me when I could not love, who waited for me to quit lying, who tolerated me when I would be part of nothing, and who never asked me to leave when I was obnoxious. Because of their love and patience, I was able to get outside of myself and make some sort of commitment to the group.”
“Why Have a Home Group?” Neosho, Missouri, September 1986, The Home Group: Heartbeat of AA
Thought For The Day: Active alcoholics don't have relationships, they take hostages.
Alcoholics Anonymous, the Big Book,
In Short Takes
PART 3
They Lost Nearly All
Empty On The Inside
She grew up around A.A. and had all the answers—except when it came to her own life.
By the time a month passed, my feet were firmly planted in Alcoholics Anonymous. And I kept coming back. I cannot begin to list all the wonderful things that have happened in my years here. My kids were four and six when I got sober, and they have “grown up” in A.A. I brought them to open meetings, and the people there gave them what I couldn’t in the early days—love and attention. Gradually they became part of my life again, and today I have custody of my children.
Credits.
Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book), The Daily Reflections and As Bill Sees It are published by The General Services Office (GSO) of Alcoholics Anonymous. These and other A.A. literature can be purchased here.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day is Published by Hazelton Publishing. It and other Hazelton literature can be purchase here.
The AA Grapevine is published by The AA Grapevine, Inc. You can subscribe here.
