July 1, 2016 - Commentary: God vs. the Constitution
July 1, 2016 - Editorial: The lethal mix of guns and domestic violence
July 1, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Friday, July 1, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Yesterday is over
It is a fact of life that what is old dies to make way for what is new. Endings are often painful - we mourn the death of a relationship, we regret leaving a familiar neighborhood, we don't like to say good-bye.
Endings, though, give us the chance to begin again. A new friend comes in to fill the empty space left when an old friend moves away. A new school, a new job, a new season of the year - these are fresh starts that evolve from what has gone before.
We need not fear the inevitable endings in our lives. Daily, we are renewed. Our bodies produce new cells continually. When we are going through an ending, we may not be able to see the new beginning that lies beyond, but we can trust it will be there for us when we are ready. We can welcome the new opportunities that each day brings and consider them gifts from the Higher Power that is with us to guide us through each end and each beginning.
I will let yesterday end so that today can begin.
You are reading from the book:
This book is now out of print and no longer available to purchase. Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L. © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation
July 1, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Friday, July 1, 2016
"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" 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., 2016
July 1, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, July 1, 2016
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, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
A Day at a Time
Friday, July 1, 2016
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, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
The Eye Opener
Friday, July 1, 2016
Friday, July 1, 2016
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.
Hazelden Foundation
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Oct. 12, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Step by Step Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 ” …(T)he best thing of all for me is to remember that my serenity is inversely proportional to my exp...
-
Good morning and let's make it a drama- and trauma-free and worthwhile Saturday and let nothing and no one make it less -
Twenty-Four Hours a Day Sunday, May 29, 2016 AA Thought for the Day We who have learned to put our drink problem in God's hands can h... -
Step by Step Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 ” …(T)he best thing of all for me is to remember that my serenity is inversely proportional to my exp...