April 14, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Sunday, April 14, 2024

In Step Eight, we “made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.“

It is a lot easier to list those persons whom we have harmed by some intentional and direct action than it is to list those whom we have hurt by acts of omission.

We have not only done those things which we ought not to have done, but we have left undone those things which we ought to have done.

Carelessness, neglect, lack of appreciation and thoughtlessness can hurt as much as a kick in the teeth.

Hazelden Foundation

April 14, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Sunday, April 14, 2024

Reflection for the Day

Every man and woman who has joined The Program and intends to stick around has, without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three. Isn’t it true that, in all matters related to their addictions, each of them has decided to turn his or her life over to the care, protection and guidance of The Program? So already a willingness has been achieved to cast out one’s own will and one’s own ideas about the addiction in favor of those suggested by The Program. If this isn’t turning one’s will and life over to a newfound “Providence,” then what is it?

Have I had a spiritual awakening as the result of The Steps?

Today I Pray

For myself, I pray for a God-centered life. I thank Him often for the spiritual awakening I have felt since I turned my life over to Him. May the words “spiritual awakening” be a clue to others that there is a free fund of spiritual power within each person. It must only be discovered.

Today I Will Remember

I will try to be God-centered.

Hazelden Foundation

April 14, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, April 14, 2024

AA Thought for the Day
A police captain once told about certain cases he had come across in his police work. The cause of the tragedy in each case was drunkenness. He told his audience about a man who got into an argument with his wife while he was drunk and beat her to death. Then he went out and drank some more. The police captain also told about a man who got too near the edge of an old quarry hole when he was drunk and fell 150 feet to his death.

When I read or hear these stories, do I think about our motto: “But for the grace of God?”

Meditation for the Day
I must keep balance by keeping spiritual things at the center of my life. God will give me this poise and balance if I pray for it. This poise will give me power in dealing with the lives of others. This balance will manifest itself more and more in my own life. I should keep material things in their proper place and keep spiritual things at the center of my life. Then I will be at peace amid the distractions of everyday living.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may dwell with God at the center of my life. I pray that I may keep that inner peace at the center of my being.

Hazelden Foundation

April 14, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Sunday, April 14, 2024

Today, Step Four to identify destructive and positive character traits, although this alone is insufficient. I also need to understand the reason for them, especially the bad, so that the behavior will not trigger actions of my character defects. It is not enough to say I am sorry that I thought ill of my father and that I failed to respect him. I need to ask why I did not respect him. Was I so selfish that I blamed him when he didn’t get me the new car when I got my driver’s license, or was it because he beat me when he was drunk — which might have been a lot? Similarly, if I identify a positive character trait, why do I think it is good? Is it because I sincerely want to be good or is it because I expect something in return, a marker to be called in down the road? Today, if I take my Fourth, I will try to understand it is not enough to name and ask my Higher Power to take away my character defects and hold onto the good without first knowing the reasons for them. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024

April 13, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Saturday, April 13, 2024

Many persons look upon AA as something new and revolutionary whereas it is just the reverse. We have no new thoughts or doctrines, and we have certainly discovered no new cures.

Our medications are those administered 2,000 years ago. Our philosophies were borrowed, not word for word but in substance, from the Great Book our mothers read to us as children.

While science experimented for new and certain cures, we dug out the old but still potent prescription and administered it with sympathy and understanding. We can attest to the fact that it still works.

Hazelden Foundation

April 13, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Saturday, April 13, 2024

Reflection for the Day

Any number of addicted people are bedeviled by the dire conviction that if they ever go near The Program — whether by attending meetings or talking one-to-one with a member — they’ll be pressured to conform to some particular brand of faith or religion. They don’t realize that faith is never an imperative for membership in The Program; that freedom from addiction can be achieved with an easily acceptable minimum of it; and that our concepts of a Higher Power and God — as we understand Him — afford everyone a nearly unlimited choice of spiritual belief and action.

Am I receiving strength by sharing with newcomers?

Today I Pray

May I never frighten newcomers or keep away those who are considering coming to The Program by “laying on them” my particular, personal ideas about a Higher Power. May each discover his or her own spiritual identity. May all find within themselves a link with some great universal Being or Spirit whose power is greater than theirs individually. May I grow, both in tolerance and in spirituality, every day.

Today I Will Remember

I will reach, not preach.

Hazelden Foundation

April 13, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, April 13, 2024

AA Thought for the Day

Having found my way into this new world by the grace of God and the help of AA, am I going to take that first drink when I know that just one drink will change my whole world? Am I deliberately going back to the suffering of that alcoholic world? Or am I going to hang onto the happiness of this sober world? Is there any doubt about the answer?

With God’s help, am I going to hang onto AA with both hands?

Meditation for the Day

I will try to make the world better and happier by my presence in it. I will try to help other people find the way God wants them to live. I will try to be on the side of good, in the stream of righteousness, where all things work for good. I will do my duty persistently and faithfully, not sparing myself. I will be gentle with all people. I will try to see other people’s difficulty and help them to correct it. I will always pray to God to act as interpreter between me and the other person.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may live in the spirit of prayer. I pray that I may depend on God for the strength I need to help me to do my part in making the world a better place.

Hazelden Foundation

April 13, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Saturday, April 13, 2024

Today, detach to be objective and see and accept myself for what I am and not what I want to see. Because I am asked in recovery to work through my emotional and character defects, I must first see them honestly before I can correct them. Here, I look to  the Fourth Step to identify those flaws and, instead of rationalizing or justifying them, I have to see and accept them for what they are — defects that I cannot afford to carry into recovery. And, after reviewing my Fourth, I must look to the Serenity Prayer for the “courage to change the things I can.” Today, when I look in a mirror, I need to see the man in it. I won’t see him if I look at him through rose-colored glasses. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024

April 12, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Friday, April 12, 2024

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

How can anybody read the Gospels and fail to see how Jesus, in his contacts with all sorts and conditions of people, even the apparent good-for-nothings and worse, always seemed to find in them possibilities for sublime development?

— Carroll E. Simcox

Many of us feel we don’t deserve God’s love. We judge ourselves harshly and attribute the same judgment to God as the strict parent, the demanding teacher, or the punishing judge. We cannot believe that anyone could accept us as we are, and so we don’t turn toward God.

Why do we feel this way? Perhaps because it’s hard to feel that God could love us when we so rarely received love without strings attached from others. Many of us remain skeptical even when newfound spiritual friends shower us with love. Though we may not realize it at the time, these friends are providing a human framework into which the unconditional love of God can fit. If these friends can accept us as we are, we think, maybe God will, too. And of course God does.

When my hand reaches out to another, God’s hand reaches back.

Hazelden Foundation

April 12, 2024 – Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Friday, April 12, 2024

When we alcoholics arrived at that point in our drinking careers that we commonly call “our bottom;” when difficulties were pouring in from every side; when there was no longer any room left to retreat and all our defenses had crumbled — we found that we had no other alternative but take the last desperate effort of the totally beaten.

AA proved, as history has often done, that the best defense is a strong offense.

Hazelden Foundation