12 Step Spiritual Readings for July
| Feel free to post any of this months (July) 12 step readings or spiritual quotes you connect with in the comment section. |
| Feel free to post any of this months (July) 12 step readings or spiritual quotes you connect with in the comment section. |
Sean UK :)
July 13
Daily Reflections
HUMILITY IS A GIFT, p.203
As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a
Higher Power was out of the question. That basic ingredient of all
humility, a desire to seek and do God’s will, was missing.
12 & 12, p.72
When I first came to A.A., I wanted to find some of the elusive
quality called humility. I didn’t realize I was looking for humility
because I thought it would help me get what I wanted, and I would
do anything for others if I thought God would somehow reward me
for it. I try to remember now that the people I meet in the course
of my day are as close to God as I am ever going to get while on
this earth. I need to pray for knowledge of God’s will today, and see
how my experience with hope and pain can help other people; if I can
do that, I don’t need to search for humility, it has found me.
Suzy :) Just for today
NA Just For Today
Humility In Action
“If we are hurting, and most of us do from time to time, we learn to ask for help.”
Basic Text, p.80
Sometimes recovery gets downright difficult. It can be even more difficult to get humble enough to ask for help. We think, “I have all this time clean. I should be better than this!” But the reality of recovery is simple: whether we have thirty days or thirty years clean, we must be willing to ask for help when we need it.
Humility is a common theme in our Twelve Steps. The program of Narcotics Anonymous is not about keeping up appearances. Instead, the program helps us get the most from our recovery. We must be willing to lay bare our difficulties if we expect to find solutions to problems that arise in our lives.
There’s an old expression sometimes heard in Narcotics Anonymous: We can’t save our face and our ass at the same time. It isn’t easy to share in a meeting when we have a number of years clean only to dissolve into tears because life on life’s terms has made us realize our powerlessness. But when the meeting ends and another member comes up and says, “You know, I really needed to hear what you had to say,” we know that there is a God working in our lives.
The taste of humility is never bitter. The rewards of humbling ourselves by asking for help sweetens our recovery.
Just for today: If I need help, I will ask for it. I will put humility into action in my life.
pg. 203
Tracey (California) :)
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Ten – “Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.”
NEVER since it began has Alcoholics Anonymous been divided by a major controversial issue. Nor has our Fellowship ever publicly taken sides on any question in an embattled world. This, however, has been no earned virtue. It could almost be said that we were born with it, for, as one old-timer recently declared, “Practically never have I heard a heated religious, political, or reform argument among A.A. members. So long as we don’t argue these matters privately, it’s a cinch we never shall publicly.”
p. 176
Davey
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
If we feel the need of saying something to put another member on the
right track, we should try to say it with understanding and
sympathy, not with a critical attitude. We should keep everything
out in the open and aboveboard. The A.A. program is wonderful, but
we must really follow it. We must all pull together or we’ll all be
sunk. We enjoy the privilege of being associated with A.A. and we
are entitled to all its benefits. But gossip and criticism are not
tolerance, and tolerance is an A.A. principle that is absolutely
necessary to group unity. Am I truly tolerant of all my group’s
members?
Meditation For The Day
“Faith can move mountains.” That expression means that faith can
change any situation in the field of personal relationships. If you
trust Him, God shows you the way to “move mountains.” If you are
humble enough to know that you can really do little by yourself to
change a situation, if you have enough faith to ask God to give you
the power you need, and if you are grateful enough for the grace He
gives you, you can “move mountains.” Situations will be changed for
the better by your presence.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may have enough faith to make me really effective. I
pray that I may learn to depend less on myself and more on God.
Suzy :) Just for today
NA Just For Today
Surrender Is For Everyone
“If, after a period of time, we find ourselves in trouble with our recovery, we have probably stopped doing one or more of the things that helped us in the earlier stages of our recovery.”
Basic Text, p.92
Surrender is just for newcomers, right? Wrong!
After we’ve been around awhile, some of us succumb to a condition particular to old-timers. We think we know something about recovery, about God, about NA, about ourselves-and we do. The problem is, we think we know enough, and we think that merely knowing is enough. But it’s what we learn and what we do after we think we know it all that really makes the difference.
Conceit and complacency can land us in deep trouble. When we find that “applying the principles” on our own power just isn’t working, we can practice what worked for us in the beginning: surrender. When we find we are still powerless, our lives again unmanageable, we need to seek the care of a Power greater than ourselves. And when we discover that self-therapy isn’t so therapeutic after all, we need to take advantage of “the therapeutic value of one addict helping another.”
Just for today: I need guidance, support, and a Power beyond my own. I will go to a meeting, reach out to a newcomer, call my sponsor, pray to my Higher Power-I will do something that says, “I surrender.”
pg. 211
California Colin :)
NA Just For Today
Fulfilling Our Dreams
“Dreams that we gave up long ago can now become realities.”
Basic Text, p. 68
All things begin with a dream. But how many of us fulfilled our dreams while using? Even if we managed to complete something we had started, our addiction usually robbed us of any pride in our accomplishment. Perhaps when we used, we dreamed of the day when we would be clean. That day has come. We can use this day to make our dreams come true. To fulfill our dreams we must take action, but our lack of self confidence may keep us from trying. We can begin by setting realistic goals.
The success we experience when we attain our initial goals allows us to dream bigger dreams the next time around.Some of our members share that when they compare the ambitions they had when they first got clean with what they have actually achieved in recovery, they are astounded. In recovery, we often find more dreams come true than we could ever have imagined.
Just for today: I will remember that all things begin with a dream. Today, I will allow myself to make my dreams come true.
pg. 209
Davey
July 19
Daily Reflections
FALSE PRIDE, p.209
Many of us who had thought ourselves religious awoke to the
limitations of this attitude. Refusing to place God first, we had
deprived ourselves of His help.
12 & 12, p. 75
Many false notions operate in false pride. The need for direction to
live a decent life is satisfied by the hope experienced in the A.A.
Fellowship. Those who have walked the way for years–a day at a
time–say that a God centered life has limitless possibilities for
personal growth. This being so, much hope is transmitted by the elder A.A.s.
I thank my Higher Power for letting me know that He works through
other people, and I thank Him for our trusted servants in the
Fellowship who aid new members to reject their false ideals and to
adopt those which lead to a life of compassion and trust. The elders
in A.A. challenge the newcomers to “Come To”–so that they can
“Come to Believe.” I ask my Higher Power to help my unbelief.
Sheila
Alcoholics Anonymous – Fourth Edition Stories
The Housewife Who Drank At Home
She hid her bottles in clothes hampers and dresser drawers. In A.A., she discovered she had lost nothing and had found everything.
I had problems. We all have them, and I thought a little brandy or a little wine now and then could certainly hurt no one. I don’t believe, when I started, that I even had in mind the thought that I was drinking. I had to sleep, I had to clear my mind and free it from worry, and I had to relax. But from one or two drinks of an afternoon or evening, my intake mounted, and mounted fast. It wasn’t long before I was drinking all day. I had to have that wine. The only incentive that I had, toward the end, for getting dressed in the morning was to get out and get “supplies” to help me get my day started. But the only thing that got started was my drinking.
p. 296
Terence
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
In Alcoholics Anonymous there is no thought of individual profit. No
greed or gain. No membership fees, no dues. Only voluntary
contributions of our money and ourselves. All that we hope for is
sobriety and regeneration, so that we can live normal, respectable
lives and can be recognized by others as men and women willing to do
unto others as we would be done by. These things we accomplish by
the help of each other, by following the twelve steps and by the grace
of God. Am I willing to work for A.A. without material gain to myself?
Meditation For The Day
What is sometimes called by religion as conversion is often only the
discovery of God as a friend in need. What is sometimes called
religion is often only the experiencing of the help and strength of
God’s power in our lives. What is sometimes called holiness is often
only the invitation of God to be our Friend. As God becomes your
friend, you become a friend to others. We experience true human
friendship and from this experience we can imagine what kind of
Great Friend God can be. We believe Him to be a tireless, selfless, all
conquering, miracle-working Friend. We can reach out to the Great
Friend and figuratively take His hand in ours.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may think of God as a Great Friend in need. I pray that I
may go along with Him.