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| Darren Crotty |
Three-fifths a person, Ferguson and the banality of racism
Nov. 26, 2014 - Today's Gift from Hazelden
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
You start preparing when you're thirty for the person you'll be at eighty.
-- Janice Clark
We can't get away from ourselves, at least not entirely. Who we were at ten and twenty and forty and fifty remain as threads in our tapestries. Many of us shudder because some details of our personal panorama weren't so very pretty. But that's the way life is. We are what we are. And yet, we have examples of favorable changes, too. How we were never kept us from becoming who we wanted to be. This truth continues to reign in our lives.
We all know women and men who continue to be enthused about even the tiny happenings in the passing of a day. A bird's flight from the porch to a nearby tree to feed its young, the laughter of children passing the house on their way home from school, the family reunions, large or small, bring smiles and memories that comfort. Probably we envy those folks, unless we happen to be them already. In either case, imitating others or serving as their role models helps to strengthen our positive responses to life's details. No matter how old we are, there is still joy to be felt. And there is still time to change and grow.
There is no rule that says I have to be and think and act the same way my whole life. Today is a clean slate. I can be who I want to be.
You start preparing when you're thirty for the person you'll be at eighty.
-- Janice Clark
We can't get away from ourselves, at least not entirely. Who we were at ten and twenty and forty and fifty remain as threads in our tapestries. Many of us shudder because some details of our personal panorama weren't so very pretty. But that's the way life is. We are what we are. And yet, we have examples of favorable changes, too. How we were never kept us from becoming who we wanted to be. This truth continues to reign in our lives.
We all know women and men who continue to be enthused about even the tiny happenings in the passing of a day. A bird's flight from the porch to a nearby tree to feed its young, the laughter of children passing the house on their way home from school, the family reunions, large or small, bring smiles and memories that comfort. Probably we envy those folks, unless we happen to be them already. In either case, imitating others or serving as their role models helps to strengthen our positive responses to life's details. No matter how old we are, there is still joy to be felt. And there is still time to change and grow.
There is no rule that says I have to be and think and act the same way my whole life. Today is a clean slate. I can be who I want to be.
From the book:
Keepers of the Wisdom © 1996 by Karen Casey
Nov. 26, 2014 - Step by Step
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014
"Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery. A kindly act once in a while isn't enough. You have to act the Good Samaritan every day, if need be. It may mean the loss of many nights' sleep, great interference with your pleasures, interruptions to your business. It may mean sharing your money and your home, counseling frantic (spouses) and relatives, innumerable trips to police courts, sanitariums, hospitals, jails and asylums. Your telephone may jangle at any time of the day or night. ...A drunk may smash the furniture in your home, or burn a mattress. You may have to fight with him if he is violent. Sometimes you will have to call a doctor and administer sedatives under his direction." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 7 ("Working With Others"), p 97.
Today, just as I was responsible for the consequences of my drinking, so I am also responsible to the benefits of sobriety and recovery. Both sobriety and recovery are a gift, and they require nurturing and work to grow. "(T)he foundation stone of ...recovery" is helping others, that is 12th-stepping by carrying the AA message to others who need and want it. But in our work, we must understand that we are also required to stress individual obligation to the gift of sobriety, that it is neither a right nor given without responsibility. The work of the truly effective and committed 12th-stepper is seldom limited to just talking to someone who cries for help. But the work to carry the message and in the process holding onto it is nowhere near the work needed to get and stay drunk. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2014
Nov. 26, 2014 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014
AA Thought for the Day
Continuing our thoughts about the rewards that have come to us as a result of our new way of living, we have found we have got rid of many of our fears, resentments, inferiority complexes, negative points of view, self-centeredness, criticism of others, over-sensitiveness, inner conflicts, the habits of procrastination, undisciplined sex, wasting money, boredom, false perfectionism, jealousy and envy of others. We are glad to be rid of our drinking, and we are also very glad to be rid of these other things. We can now go forward in the new way of life, as shown us by AA.
Am I ready to go forward in the new life?
Meditation for the Day
"He that has eyes to see, let him see." To the seeing eye, the world is good. Pray for a seeing eye, to see the purpose of God in everything good. Pray for enough faith to see God's care in His dealings with you. Try to see how He has brought you safely through your past life so that now you can be of use in the world. With the eyes of faith, you can see God's care and purpose everywhere.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may have a seeing eye. I pray that with the eye of faith I may see God's purpose everywhere.
Hazelden Foundation
Nov. 26, 2014 - A Day at a Time
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014
Reflection for the Day
During our first days in The Program, we got rid of alcohol and pills. We had to get rid of our chemicals, for we knew they surely would have killed us. We got rid of the addictive substances, but we couldn't get rid of our addictions until we took further actions. So we also had to learn to toss self-pity, self-justifications, self-righteousness and self-will straight out the window. We had to get off the rickety ladder that supposedly led to money, property and prestige. And we had to take personal responsibility. To gain enough humility and self-respect to stay alive at all, we had to give up our most valued possessions - our ambition and our pride.
Am I well rid of the weights and chains that once bound me?
Today I Pray
May I give credit to my Higher Power not only for removing my addiction, but for teaching me to remove my old demanding, pushy "self" from all my spiritual and earthly relationships. For all the things I have learned and unlearned, for my own faith and for the grace of God, I am fully and heartily thankful.
Today I Will Remember
Gratitude for the grace of God.
Hazelden Foundation
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