With love to my recovery family,
Today’s “Twenty-Four Hours A Day” AA reading
A.A. Thought For The Day
Be careful not to brand new prospects as alcoholics. Let them draw
their own conclusion. But talk to them about the hopelessness of
alcoholism. Tell them exactly what happened to you and how you
recovered. Stress the spiritual feature freely. If they are agnostics
or atheists, make it emphatic that they do not have to agree with
your concept of God. They can choose any concept they like,
provided it makes sense to them. The main thing is that they be
willing to believe in a power greater than themselves and that they
live by spiritual principles.” Do I hold back too much in speaking
of the spiritual principles of the program?
Meditation For The Day
“I will never leave or forsake thee.” Down through the centuries,
thousands have believed in God’s constancy, untiringness, and
unfailing love. God has love. Then forever you are sure of His
love. God has power. Then forever you are sure, in every
difficulty and temptation, of His strength. God has patience. Then
always there is One who can never tire. God has understanding.
Then always you will understand and be understood. Unless you want
Him to go, God will never leave you. He is always ready with
power.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may feel that God’s love will never fail. I pray that I
may have confidence in His unfailing power.
“We become able to make wise and loving decisions based on principles and ideals that have real value in our lives.”
Basic Text, pg. 101
Addiction gave us a certain set of values, principles we applied in our lives. “You pushed me” one of those values told us, “so I pushed back, hard.” “It’s mine” was another value generated by our disease. “Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t mine to start with, but I liked it, so I made it mine.” Those values were hardly values at all – more like rationalizations – and they certainly didn’t help us make wise and loving decisions. In fact, they served primarily to dig us deeper and deeper into the grave we’d already dug for ourselves.
The Twelve Steps give us a strong dose of real values, the kind that help us live in harmony with ourselves and those around us. We place our faith not in ourselves, our families, or our communities, but in a Higher Power – and in doing so, we grow secure enough to be able to trust our communities, our families, and even ourselves. We learn to be honest, no matter what-and we learn to refrain from doing things we might want to hide. We learn to accept responsibility for our actions. “It’s mine” is replaced with a spirit of selflessness. These are the kind of values that help us become a responsible, productive part of the life around us. Rather than digging us deeper into a grave, these values restore us to the world of the living.
Just for today: I am grateful for the values I’ve developed. I am thankful for the ability they give me to make wise, loving decisions as a responsible, productive member of my community.
pg. 255
Macy
With love to my recovery family,
Today’s “Twenty-Four Hours A Day” AA reading
A.A. Thought For The Day
Be careful not to brand new prospects as alcoholics. Let them draw
their own conclusion. But talk to them about the hopelessness of
alcoholism. Tell them exactly what happened to you and how you
recovered. Stress the spiritual feature freely. If they are agnostics
or atheists, make it emphatic that they do not have to agree with
your concept of God. They can choose any concept they like,
provided it makes sense to them. The main thing is that they be
willing to believe in a power greater than themselves and that they
live by spiritual principles.” Do I hold back too much in speaking
of the spiritual principles of the program?
Meditation For The Day
“I will never leave or forsake thee.” Down through the centuries,
thousands have believed in God’s constancy, untiringness, and
unfailing love. God has love. Then forever you are sure of His
love. God has power. Then forever you are sure, in every
difficulty and temptation, of His strength. God has patience. Then
always there is One who can never tire. God has understanding.
Then always you will understand and be understood. Unless you want
Him to go, God will never leave you. He is always ready with
power.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may feel that God’s love will never fail. I pray that I
may have confidence in His unfailing power.
Suzy :) Just for today
NA Just For Today 🙂 xx
Real Values
“We become able to make wise and loving decisions based on principles and ideals that have real value in our lives.”
Basic Text, pg. 101
Addiction gave us a certain set of values, principles we applied in our lives. “You pushed me” one of those values told us, “so I pushed back, hard.” “It’s mine” was another value generated by our disease. “Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t mine to start with, but I liked it, so I made it mine.” Those values were hardly values at all – more like rationalizations – and they certainly didn’t help us make wise and loving decisions. In fact, they served primarily to dig us deeper and deeper into the grave we’d already dug for ourselves.
The Twelve Steps give us a strong dose of real values, the kind that help us live in harmony with ourselves and those around us. We place our faith not in ourselves, our families, or our communities, but in a Higher Power – and in doing so, we grow secure enough to be able to trust our communities, our families, and even ourselves. We learn to be honest, no matter what-and we learn to refrain from doing things we might want to hide. We learn to accept responsibility for our actions. “It’s mine” is replaced with a spirit of selflessness. These are the kind of values that help us become a responsible, productive part of the life around us. Rather than digging us deeper into a grave, these values restore us to the world of the living.
Just for today: I am grateful for the values I’ve developed. I am thankful for the ability they give me to make wise, loving decisions as a responsible, productive member of my community.
pg. 255