AA Thoughts For Today - July

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AA Thought for the Day

July 8

Priceless Gift

We enjoy moments in which there is something like real peace of mind.
To those of us who have hitherto known only excitement, depression, or
anxiety—in other words, to all of us—this newfound peace is a priceless gift.
Something new indeed has been added. Where humility had formerly stood
for a forced feeding on humble pie, it now begins to mean the nourishing
ingredient which can give us serenity.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Seven) p. 74

Thought to Ponder
Humility is the soil in which all other virtues grow.

AA-related 'Alconym'
S T E P = Something That Enhances Peace.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~

Resentment
"It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment
leads only to futility and unhappiness.
To the precise extent that we permit these,
do we squander the hours
that might have been worth while.
But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance
and growth of a spiritual experience,
this business of resentment is infinitely grave.
We found that it is fatal.
For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off
from the sunlight of the Spirit.
The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again.
And with us, to drink is to die."
1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 66

Thought to Consider . . .
We are prisoners of our own resentments.
Forgiveness unlocks the door and sets us free.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F E A R = Frustration, Ego, Anxiety, Resentment

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Humility at Work
Tradition Twelve: "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."
"As this tide offering top public approval swept in, we realized that it could do us incalculable good or great harm.
Everything would depend upon how it was channeled. We simply couldn't afford to take the chance of letting self-
appointed members present themselves as messiahs representing A.A. before the whole public. The promoter instinct
in us might be our undoing. If even one publicly got drunk, or was lured into using A.A.'s name for his own purposes,
the damage might be irreparable. At this altitude (press, radio, films, and television), anonymity - 100 percent
anonymity - was the only possible answer. Here, principles would have to come before personalities, without
exception. "These experiences taught us that anonymity is real humility at work. It is an all-pervading spiritual quality
which today keynotes A.A. life everywhere."
1981, AAWS, Inc., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 187

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"I'm becoming so secure in AA, I've even discarded the cute, funny, phony me my civilian friends used to know. I don't
have to dance with a rose in my teeth; I can just dance. And I don't have to be the only girl at the picnic who can swing
Tarzan-style from a rope into the river. I can swim calmly, like the forty-year-old mother of four I am."
Houston, Texas, June 1976
"Growth,"
Emotional Sobriety

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

"We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us
a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is
indescribably wonderful."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 17~

"Let families realize, as they start their journey, that all will not
be fair weather. Each in his turn may be footsore and may straggle.
There will be alluring shortcuts and by-paths down which they may
wander and lose their way."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 122~

"But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful."
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 17 (There is a Solution)

"With clear understanding and right, grown-up attitudes, very happy results do follow."
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 119 (Step Twelve)

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

We agnostics liked A.A. all right, and were quick to say that it had done miracles. But we recoiled from meditation and prayer as obstinately as the scientist who refused to perform a certain experiment lest it prove his pet theory wrong.
When we finally did experiment, and unexpected results followed, we felt different; in fact, we knew different; and so we were sold on meditation and prayer. And that, we have found, can happen to anybody who tries. It has been well said that 'Almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried it enough.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thank you for the desire to grow and understand myself and others.