Daily Readings
Daily Reflections
May 4
“ENTIRELY HONEST”
We must be entirely honest with somebody if we expect to live long or happily in this world.
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 73-74
Honesty, like all virtues, is to be shared. It began after I shared “ … [my] whole life’s story with someone … ” in order to find my place in the Fellowship. Later I shared my life in order to help the newcomer find his place with us. This sharing helps me to learn honesty in all my dealings and to know that God’s plan for me comes true through honest openness and willingness.
Twenty-Four Hours
A Day
May 4
A.A. Thought For The Day
When I was drinking, I always tried to build myself up. I used to tell tall stories about myself. I told them so often that I half believe some of them now, even though I know they aren’t true. I used to hang around the lowbrow barrooms so I could feel superior to the other customers. The reason I always tried to build myself up was that I knew deep down in my heart that I really didn’t amount to anything. It was a kind of defense against my feeling of inferiority. Do I still build myself up?
Meditation For The Day
God thought about the universe and brought it into being. His thought brought me into being. I must think God’s thought after Him. I must often keep my mind occupied with thoughts about God and meditate on the way He wants me to live. I must train my mind constantly in quiet times of communion with God. It is the work of a lifetime to develop to full stature spiritually. This is what I am on earth for. it gives meaning to my life.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may think God’s thoughts after Him. I pray that I may live as He wants me to live.
As Bill Sees It
Built by the One and the Many, p. 155
We give thanks to our Heavenly Father, who, through so many friends and through so many means and channels, has allowed us to construct this wonderful edifice of the spirit in which we are now dwelling–this cathedral whose foundations already rest upon the corners of the earth.
On its great floor we have inscribed our Twelve Steps of recovery. On the side walls, the buttresses of the A.A. Traditions have been set in place to contain us in unity for as long as God may will it so. Eager hearts and hands have lifted the spire of our cathedral into its place. That spire bears the name of service. May it ever point straight upward toward God.
“It is not only to the few that we owe the remarkable developments in our unity and in our ability to carry A.A.’s message everywhere. It is to the many, indeed, it is to the labors of all of us that we owe these prime blessings.”
1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 234
2. Talk, 1959
AA Grapevine Daily Quote
Good things increase in direct proportion to my willingness to become teachable.”
“Freedom Began in Prison,” Universal City, California, February 1970, AA Grapevine
Thought For The Day: Easy does it.
Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book) In Short
Takes
PART 3
They Lost Nearly All
Empty On The Inside
She grew up around A.A. and had all the answers—except when it came to her own life.
The local clubhouse had a noon Big Book meeting every day, and I went, every day. Not to get sober, mind you, and certainly not to learn about what was in the book. Here was my thinking: I knew you were supposed to read your Big Book every day, and they went around the room reading an entire chapter, so that should count, right? This also took up nearly thirty minutes, so it was less likely that I would get called on to talk. And the meeting was at noon, which left my nights free. I figured out all of that with my keen alcoholic mind!
Credits.
Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book), The Daily Reflections and As Bill Sees It are published by The General Services Office (GSO) of Alcoholics Anonymous. These and other A.A. literature can be purchased here.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day is Published by Hazelton Publishing. It and other Hazelton literature can be purchase here.
The AA Grapevine is published by The AA Grapevine, Inc. You can subscribe here.
