AA Thoughts For Today - July

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AA Thought for the Day

July 14

Powerless to Purposeful Lives

But upon entering AA we soon take quite another view of this
absolute humiliation. We perceive that only through utter defeat
are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength.
Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be
firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Step One) p. 21

Thought to Ponder
The Twelve Steps -- a manuscript for rational living.

AA-related 'Alconym'
S T E P S = Solutions Through Each Powerful Step.

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

Powerless
"I had no problem admitting I was powerless over alcohol,
and I certainly agreed that my life had become
unmanageable.
I had only to reflect on the contrast between the plans I made
so many years ago for my life with what really happened
to know I couldn't manage my life drunk or sober.
AA taught me that willingness to believe
was enough for a beginning."
1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 550

Thought to Consider . . .
Life didn't end when I got sober ... it started.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
A C T I O N = Any Change To Improve Our Natures

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

Like the Effect
from: "The Doctor's Opinion"
"Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks - drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery."
2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, pages xxviii-xxix

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

"By our Twelve Steps we have recovered, by our Twelve Traditions we have unified, and through our Third Legacy -- Service -- we shall carry the AA message down through the corridors of time to come."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., November 1951
"Services Make AA Tick"
The Language of the Heart

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

He Sold Himself Short - But he found that there was a Higher Power which had more faith in him than he had in himself. Thus, A.A. was born in Chicago. The day before I was due to go back to Chicago, a Wednesday and Dr. Bob's afternoon off, he had me down to the office and we spent three or four hours formally going through the Six-Step program as it was at that time. The six steps were:
1. Complete deflation.
2. Dependence and guidance from a Higher Power.
3. Moral Inventory.
4. Confession.
5. Restitution.
6. Continued work with other alcoholics.
2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 266

"The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society,
from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering
denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness
settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us
sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship
and approval. Momentarily we did—then would come oblivion and
the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen—Terror,
Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, A Vision For You, pg. 151~

“Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.”
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 68

“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 p. 74

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Why, at this particular point in history, has God chosen to communicate His healing grace to so many of us? Every aspect of this global unfoldment can be related to a single crucial word. The word is 'communication among ourselves, with the world around us, and with God.
From the beginning, communication in A.A. has been no ordinary transmission of helpful ideas and attitudes. Because of our kinship in suffering, and because our common means of deliverance are effective for ourselves only when constantly carried to others, our channels of contact have always been charged with the language of the heart.

Prayer for the Day: "Higher Power, help me discover what's most important in my life. Help me learn patience, so that I can devote my resources to the important things."