AA Thoughts For Today - September

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AA Thought for the Day

September 25

It Really Worked

There is a solution. Almost none of us liked the self-searching,
the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which
the process requires for its successful consummation. But we
saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe
in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 25

Thought to Ponder . . .
We need to uncover to recover.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A A = Alcoholic's Answer.

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

Defects
"What we must recognize now is that we exult
in some of our defects.
We really love them.
Who, for example, doesn't like to feel just a little superior
to the next fellow, or even quite a lot superior?
Isn't it true that we like to let greed
masquerade as ambition?
To think of liking lust seems impossible.
But how many men and women speak love with their lips,
and believe what they say,
so that they can hide lust in a dark corner of their minds?
And even while staying within conventional bounds,
many people admit that their imaginary sex excursions
are apt to be all dressed up as dreams of romance."
c. 1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 66-7

Thought to Consider . . .
If I want God to remove my character defects,
I'll have to stop doing them.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
T I M E = Things I Must Earn

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

Common Denominators
From: "On the bridge back to life"
As Bill read on [in: The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James], his own powers of reasoning helped him extract some important ideas from the weighty and intricate text. He saw that all the cases described by James had certain common denominators, despite the diverse ways in which they manifested themselves. These insights became important to Bill in his thinking about the plight of the alcoholic and his need for spiritual help. (He would later say that James, though long in his grave, had been a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.) Of the three common denominators in the case histories, the first was calamity; each person James described had met utter defeat in some vital area of his life. All human resources had failed to solve his problems. Each person had been utterly desperate.
The next common point was admission of defeat; each of the individuals acknowledged his own defeat as utter and absolute.
The third common denominator was an appeal to a Higher Power. This cry for help could take many forms, and it might or might not be in religious terms.
1984, AAWS, Inc., 'PASS IT ON' - The story of Bill Wilson and how the AA message reached the world, pages 124-125

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

"Those little maxims 'Easy Does It' and 'Live and Let Live' have come to be deeply meaningful and significant."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., January 1947
"Will AA Ever Have a Personal Government?"
The Language of the Heart

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

"...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."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 66~

“When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances!”
Alcoholics Anonymous, P.100

We had to have God's help.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 62

Refusing to place God first, we had deprived ourselves of His help.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 75

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

'Just like you, I have often thought myself the victim of what other people say and do. Yet every time I confessed the sins of such people, especially those whose sins did not correspond exactly with my own, I found that I only increased the total damage. My own resentment, my self-pity would often render me well-nigh useless to anybody.
'So, nowadays, if anyone talks of me so as to hurt, I first ask myself if there is any truth at all in what they say. If there is none, I try to remember that I too have had my periods of speaking bitterly of others; that hurtful gossip is but a symptom of our remaining emotional illness; and consequently that I must never be angry at the unreasonableness of sick people.
'Under very trying conditions I have had, again and again, to forgive others - also myself. Have you recently tried this?

Prayer for the Day: Thank You, God - Thank You, God, for all You have given me. Thank You for all You have taken from me. But, most of all, I thank You, God, for what You've left me: Recovery, along with peace of mind, faith, hope, and love.