The road to recovery and clearing the path

July 1, 2015 - Equality forces now face clerks, probate judges who refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses

Associated Press: July 1, 2015 - Marriage equality fight turns to clerks, probate judges who refuse licenses to same-sex couples – LGBTQ Nation

July 1, 2015 - Marriage equality, political division and the 'right' side of history

The Good Men Project: July 1, 2015 - Gay Marriage, Political Division, and the "Right Side" of History -

July 1, 2015 - When going to the store with your 10-year-old gay son is a political act

The Good Men Project: July 1, 2015 - When Going to the Store With Your 10-Year-Old Gay Son Is a Political Act -

July 1, 2015 - Dear Evangelicals: Realities and myths post-marriage equality ruling

The Good Men Project: July 1, 2015 - My Dear Evangelicals: Realities and Myths After Marriage Ruling

July 1, 2015 - Opinion: How the notorious 1857 Dred Scott decision is tied to the victory for gay marriage

Washington Post: July 1, 2015 - Opinion: How an 1857 case about slave-holders’ rights relates to the gay marriage ruling - The Washington Post

July 1, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Today's thought from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Seeing the good

The beauty of our souls shines in many ways. The greatest of these is love.

In the spirit of loving kindness, every day a little ugliness is removed; our perspective on life grows broader and deeper.

In the spirit of love, our lives become fresher, our souls humbler; evil seems to disappear, and we learn to distinguish sinner from the sin.

Do I see the good in people?

Higher Power, let me walk in your love and see the good in all things.

You are reading from the book:

Day by Day - Second Edition by Anonymous

July 1, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Wednesday, July 1, 2015

"God will constantly disclose more to you ...Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. ...(O)bviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 11 ("A Vision for You"), p 164.

Today: "This is the Great Fact for us." And it is "great events" for me and "countless others" and answers that I may not have yet but will receive. This Great Fact is not free, however . We must have a relationship that is right with our Higher Power, and our own house has to be in order before we can carry out the command of the 12th Step to help someone else. But if our relationship with our God as we understand him is "right" and our own house is in order, this - the promise of the Program - comes to us. Today, I focus my vision on the promise of what will be instead of returning to what drinking does to me. And my beginning echoes back to Step One: "(I am) powerless ..."). Second, I seek the willingness to come to believe in that power greater than myself. I want the promise of the program, and I am willing and ready to work for it. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2015

July 1, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, July 1, 2015

AA Thought for the Day
In following the AA program with its twelve steps, we have the advantage of a better understanding of our problems. Day after day, our sobriety results in the formation of new habits, normal habits. As each 24-hour period ends, we find that the business of staying sober is a much less trying and fearsome ordeal than it seemed in the beginning.

Do I find it easier as I go along?

Meditation for the Day
Learn daily the lesson of trust and calm in the midst of the storms of life. Whatever of sorrow or difficulty the day may bring, God's command to you is the same. Be grateful, humble, calm and loving to all people. Leave each soul the better for having met you or heard you. For all kinds of people, this should be your attitude: a loving desire to help and an infectious spirit of calmness and trust in God. You have the answer to loneliness and fear, which is calm faith in the goodness and purpose in the universe.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be calm in the midst of storms. I pray that I may pass on this calmness to others who are lonely and full of fear.

Hazelden Foundation

July 1, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Reflection for the Day

Fear may have originally brought some of us to The Program. In the beginning, fear alone may help some of us stay away from the first drink, pill, joint or whatever. But a fearful state is hardly conducive to comfort and happiness - not for long. We have to find alternatives to fear to get us through those first empty hours, days or even weeks. For most of us, the answer has been to become active in and around The Program. In no time, we feel that we truly belong; for the first time in a long time, we begin to feel a "part of" rather than "apart from."

Am I willing to take the initiative?

Today I Pray

May God please help me find alternatives to fear - that watchdog of my earliest abstinence. I thank Him for directing me to a place where I can meet others who have experienced the same compulsions and fears. I am grateful for my feeling of belonging.

Today I Will Remember

I am "a part of," not "apart from."

Hazelden Foundation

July 1, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, July 1, 2015

A sinner is usually a sinner because he is thinking wrong, whereas a mean person has a warped and deformed personality.

A sinner's faults usually lie in his thoughtlessness, but the mean person is nearly always a person of strong will and determination.

Sinning stems from weakness, meanness from strength.

A dog will love a sinner but seldom a mean person.