Daily Reflections
June 14
WHEN THE GOING GETS ROUGH
It is a design for living that works in rough going.
-ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 15
When I came to A.A., I realized that A.A. worked wonderfully to help keep me sober. But could it work on real life problems, not concerned with drinking? I had my doubts. After being sober for more than two years I got my answer. I lost my job, developed physical problems, my diabetic father lost a leg, and someone I loved left me for another – and all of this happened during a two-week period. Reality crashed in, yet A.A. was there to support, comfort, and strengthen me. The principles I had learned during my early days of sobriety became a mainstay of my life for not only did I come through, but I never stopped being able to help newcomers. A.A. taught me not to be overwhelmed, but rather to accept and understand my life as it unfolded.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
June 14
A.A. Thought For The Day
In A.A. we have to learn that drink is our greatest enemy. Although we used to think that liquor was our friend, the time came when it turned against us and became our enemy. We don’t know just when this happened, but we know that it did because we began to get into trouble – jails and hospitals. We realize now that liquor is our enemy. Is it still my main business to keep sober?
Meditation For The Day
It is not your circumstances that need altering so much as yourself. After you have changed, conditions will naturally change. Spare no effort to become all that God would have you become. Follow every good leading of your conscience. Take each day with no backward look. Face the day’s problems with God, and seek God’s help and guidance as to what you should do in every situation that may arise. Never look back. Never leave until tomorrow the thing that you are guided to do today.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that God will help me to become all that He would have me be. I pray that I may face today’s problem as with good grace.
As Bill Sees It
“Success” in Twelfth-Stepping, p. 165
“We now see that in twelfth-stepping the immediate results are not so important. Some people start out working with others and have immediate success. They are likely to get cocky. Those of us who are not so successful at first get depressed.
“As a matter of fact, the successful worker differs from the unsuccessful only in being lucky about his prospects. He simply hits newcomers who are ready and able to stop at once. Given the same prospects, the seemingly unsuccessful person would have produced almost the same results. You have to work on a lot of newcomers before the law of averages commences to assert itself.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All true communications must be founded on mutual need. We saw that each sponsor would have to admit humbly his own needs as clearly as those of his prospect.
1. Letter, 1942
2. A.A. Today, p. 10
Thought For The Day
AA Paradox #2: We forgive to be forgiven.
Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book) In Short Takes
Part 1. The Pioneers of A.A.
The Keys To The Kingdom
This worldly lady helped to develop A.A. in Chicago and thus passed her keys to many.
We watch the alcoholic performing in a position of responsibility, and we know that because he is drinking heavily and daily, he has cut his capacities by 50 percent, and still he seems able to do a satisfactory job. And we wonder how much further this man could go if his alcoholic problem could be removed and he could throw 100 percent of his abilities into action.
“But, of course,” he continued, “eventually the alcoholic loses all of his capacities as his disease gets progressively worse, and this is a tragedy that is painful to watch: the disintegration of a sound mind and body.”
