Daily Recovery Readings
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Daily Reflections
March 11
GOOD ORDERLY DIRECTION
It is when we try to make our will conform with God’s that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a most wonderful revelation. Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God’s intention for us. To make this increasingly possible is the purpose of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, and Step Three opens the door.
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 40
All I have to do is look back at my past to see where self-will has led me. I just don’t know what’s best for me and I believe my Higher Power does. G.O.D., which I define as “Good Orderly Direction,” has never let me down, but I have let myself down quite often. Using my self-will in a situation usually has the same result as forcing the wrong piece into a jigsaw puzzle–exhaustion and frustration. Step Three opens the door to the rest of the program. When I ask God for guidance I know that whatever happens is the best possible situation, things are exactly as they are supposed to be, even if they aren’t what I want or expect. God does for me what I cannot do for myself, if I let Him.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
March 11
A.A. Thought For The Day
By having quiet times each morning, we come to depend on God’s help during the day, especially if we should be tempted to take a drink. And we can honestly thank Him each night for the strength He has given us. So our faith is strengthened by these quiet times of prayer. By listening to other members, by working with other alcoholics, by times of quiet meditation, our faith in God gradually becomes strong. Have I turned my drink problem entirely over to God, without reservations?
Meditation For The Day
It seems as though, when God wants to express to men what He is like, He makes a very beautiful character. Think of a personality as God’s expression of character attributes. Be as fit an expression of Godlike character as you can. When the beauty of a person’s character is impressed upon us, it leaves an image which in turn reflects through our own actions. So look for beauty of character in those around you.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may look at great beauty of souls until their beauty of character becomes a part of my soul. I pray that I may reflect this character in my own life.
As Bill Sees It
Truth, the Liberator, p. 70
How truth makes us free is something that we A.A.’s can well understand. It cut the shackles that once bound us to alcohol. It continues to release us from conflicts and miseries beyond reckoning; it banishes fear and isolation. The unity of our Fellowship, the love we cherish for each other, the esteem in which the world holds us–all of these are products of the truth which, under God, we have been privileged to perceive.
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Just how and when we tell the truth–or keep silent–can often reveal the difference between genuine integrity and none at all.
Step Nine emphatically cautions us against misusing the truth when it states: “We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” Because it points up the fact that the truth can be used to injure as well as to heal, this valuable principle certainly has a wide-ranging application to the problem of developing integrity.
Grapevine, August 1961
Thought For The Day
Whatever you put in front of your sobriety is the first thing you’re going to lose if you drink.
Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book) In Short Takes
Part 1. The Pioneers of A.A.
The Vicious Cycle
How it finally broke a Southerner’s obstinacy and destined this salesman to start A.A. in Philadelphia.
Peddling off my polish samples for expenses, I crawled back to New York a few days later in a very chastened frame of mind. When the others saw my altered attitude, they took me back in, but for me they had to make it tough; if they hadn’t, I don’t think I ever would have stuck it out. Once again, there was the challenge of a tough job, but this time I was determined to follow through. For a long time the only Higher Power I could concede was the power of the group, but this was far more than I had ever recognized before, and it was at least a beginning. It was also an ending, for never since June 16, 1938, have I had to walk alone.
