November 16, 2024

A DAILY REPRIEVE What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 85 Maintaining my spiritual condition is like working out every day, planning for the marathon, swimming laps, jogging. It's staying in good shape spiritually, and that requires prayer and meditation. The single most important way for me to improve my conscious contact with a Higher Power is to pray and...

November 15, 2024

VITAL SUSTENANCE Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason. When we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 97 Step Eleven doesn't have to overwhelm me....

November 14, 2024

INTUITION AND INSPIRATION . . . we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don't struggle. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 86 I invest my time in what I truly love. Step Eleven is a discipline that allows me and my Higher Power to be together, reminding me that, with God's help, intuition and inspiration are possible. Practice of the Step brings on selflove. In a consistent attempt to improve my...

November 13, 2024

LOOKING OUTWARD We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no requests for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 87 As an active alcoholic, I allowed selfishness to run rampant in my life. I was so attached to my drinking and other selfish habits that people and moral principles came second. Now, when...

November 12, 2024

MORNING THOUGHTS Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164 For many years I pondered over God's will for me, believing that perhaps a great destiny had been ordained for my life. After all, having been born into a specific faith, hadn't I been told early that I was "chosen"? It   finally  occurred to me, as I considered the above passage, that God's will for me was...