Sept. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

In my view, we of this world are pupils in a great school of life.

— Bill W.

Our addiction has taught us much. It has taught us how far we can drift from ourselves, our Higher Power, and those who love us. Hopefully, we’ve learned we can’t go it alone. Do I allow myself to learn from the bad things that happened?

Recovery has much to teach us too. We need to be students of life. We need to be open to learning. Our spirits can grow if we’re willing to do three things: First, we listen. Second, we think about what we’ve learned. Third, we turn what we’ve learned into action. Listening, combined with thought and action, will help us learn life’s best lessons.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, You’ll test me so I can learn. Help me accept the tasks You give me. And help me learn from them.

Action for the Day

I will view today as a class. I will do three things: listen, think, act.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023

“Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.” — Step Ten

” …Step Ten …suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. …Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 6 (“Into Action”), p 84.

Today, let me not neglect Step 10 as the extension of the Fourth Step, that the reason for the 10th is to maintain for the rest of my life the clean-up from the Fourth. It does little good if the character defects and conduct I acknowledged and reconciled in my Fourth crop up again but are not quickly acknowledged and corrected. To do so could diminish the quality of my sobriety at best and, at worst, build up to explode in a slip or relapse. Going through the brute honesty of a Fourth does not guarantee that the wrongs I found will not creep up again and, today, if they do, give me the wisdom of honesty and humility to admit them and come to terms. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Sept. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
“Offer new prospects friendship and fellowship. Tell them that if they want to get well you will do anything to help. Burn the idea into the consciousness of new prospects that they can get well, regardless of anyone else. Job or no job, spouse or no spouse, they cannot stop drinking as long as they place dependence on other people ahead of dependence on God. Let no alcoholic say they cannot recover unless they have their family back. This just isn’t so. Their recovery is not dependent upon other people. It is dependent on their own relationship to God.”

Can I recognize all excuses made by a prospect?

Meditation for the Day
The spiritual life depends upon the Unseen. To live the spiritual life, you must believe in the Unseen. Try not to lose the consciousness of God’s spirit in you and in others. As a child in its mother’s arms, stay sheltered in the understanding and love of God. God will relieve you of the weight of worry and care, misery and depression, want and woe, faintness and heartache, if you will let Him. Lift up your eyes from earth’s troubles and view the glory of the unseen God. Each day try to see more good in people, more of the Unseen in the seen.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may rest and abide in the presence of the unseen God. I pray that I may leave my burdens in His care.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023

Reflection for the Day
Sometimes, even when friends in and outside of The Program tell us how well we’re doing, we know deep down that we’re really not doing well enough. We still have trouble handling life and facing reality on reality’s terms. We suspect, at those times, that there must be a serious flaw in our spiritual practice and development. Chances are strong that our trouble lies in either misunderstanding or neglect of Step Eleven — prayer, meditation and the guidance of God. The other Steps can keep most of us clean and sober, free from other addictions and functioning. But Step Eleven can keep us growing — so long as we try hard and work at it continuously.

Do I trust infinite God rather than my finite self?

Today I Pray
I pray for a deepening of my spiritual awareness, for a stronger faith in the Unseen, for a closer communion with God. May I realize that my growth in The Program depends on my spiritual development. May I give over more of my trust to God’s eternal wisdom.

Today I Will Remember
I will not give in or give up, but give over to the power of God.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023

Faith is probably the first natural virtue that the human being acquires. A baby’s reaction to its mother is different from earliest infancy. It is an instinctive faith that this one person, above all others, can and will supply all its needs. This faith in mother decreases as the child develops and becomes more self-reliant. He loses faith in the parent as he develops faith in himself. Finally he arrives at a point where he depends upon himself entirely. When Alcoholism develops and he begins to lose faith in himself, he feels completely helpless.

He must then start rebuilding faith, first in the Group or his Sponsor, then in the Program itself, and finally in God. When this is accomplished, then faith returns in himself.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 3, 2023 – Good morning and let’s aim for a restful but productive Sunday

 

Good morning with hopes of a refreshing but productive and worthwhile Sunday for everyone …and without the interference of people and things that don’t deserve our attention

Sept. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

— Mother Goose

Poor Humpty ended up such a scrambled egg. Maybe that’s what comes from sitting too long in one place, choosing neither this way nor that, playing both sides against the middle. Maybe he played too much politics, got too much advice, had too much to think about.

When the centipede was asked which leg he first moved when setting out on a stroll, he got those legs all tangled in his mind and couldn’t walk at all. It is better to be simply moved by those around us, or by our Higher Power, with faith and love. When our thoughts fail, their hearts, hands, and eyes will show the way.

Do I sometimes decide my fate by refusing to decide?

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023

Today, simplify the Program as it relates to my recovery to three basic concepts: choice, consequences, and responsibility. If I take the infamous first drink or use, after all the excuses or justifications I can think of and all the blame I can put on other people or circumstances, drinking or using is my choice. And with that choice comes consequences, and with the consequences comes personal responsibility. Ultimately, I am the only one who will be responsible to the consequences of my choice, and the consequences of my drinking became simply too high for me to want to face. And we must honestly remember the consequences of our choice to use or drink — separation from or loss of family and-or friends, loss of a job or the threat of it, standing before a judge after spending the night in the county jail’s drunk tank for another DUI or for physically hurting someone else like a passing motorist or whoever we picked a fight with. Today, I can pray that the high cost of the consequences of choosing to drink and not wanting to be responsible to those consequences will keep me clean and sober another 24 Hours. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

Sept. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
“Outline the program of action to new prospects, explaining how you made a self-appraisal, how you straightened out your past, and why you are now endeavoring to help them. It is important for them to realize that your attempt to pass this on to them plays a vital part in your own recovery. The more hopeless they feel, the better. They will be more likely to follow your suggestions. Tell them about the fellowship of AA and, if they show interest, lend them a copy of the book.”

Can I get over the AA story to another alcoholic?

Meditation for the Day
You should try to stand aside and let God work through you. You should try not to block Him off by your own efforts, or prevent His spirit working through you. God desires your obedient service and your loyalty to the ideals of the new life you are seeking. If you are loyal to God, He will give you protection against mistakes. His spirit will plan for you and secure for you a sufficiency of all spiritual help. You will have true victory and real success, if you will put yourself in the background and let God work through you.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not interfere with the working of God’s spirit in me and through me. I pray that I may give it full rein.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023

Reflection for the Day
When I wake up, I’ll think quietly about the twenty-four hours ahead. I’ll ask God to direct my thinking, especially asking that it be free from self-pity and from dishonest or self-seeking motives. If I have to determine which of several courses to take, I’ll ask God for inspiration, for an intuitive thought or a decision. Then I’ll relax and take it easy, confident that all will be well.

Can I believe that when I give up my “rights” of expectations, I’ll know freedom …?

Today I Pray
I praise God for being able to praise God, to choose the times when I will seek Him, to find my own words when I talk to Him, to address Him in the way that seems most right to me. May I expect that He in turn must be free of my expectations, to affect my life as He sees fit.

Today I Will Remember
Who am I to try to tell God what to do?

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023

The secret of cutting any tree down, regardless of size, is to hew it one chip at a time.

Men are not put in a position to do great things until they have established the reputation for doing many small things well.

If you have the great ambition to bring happiness to a whole world, a good starting point is within your own undershirt.

Hazelden Foundation