On awakening let us think of the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Every day I ask God to kindle within me the fire of His love, so that love, burning bright and clear, will illuminate my thinking and permit me to better do His will. Throughout the day, as I allow outside circumstances to dampen my spirits, I ask God to sear my consciousness with the awareness that I can start my day over any time I choose; a hundred times, if necessary.
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
The Prodigal Son "Took his journey into a far country and wasted his substance on riotous living." That's what we alcoholics do. We waste our substance with riotous living. "When he came to himself, he said: I will arise and go to my father." That's what an alcoholic does in A.A. He comes to himself. His alcoholic self is not his real self. His sane, sober, respectable self is his real self. That's why we're so happy in A.A. Have I come to myself?
Meditation For The Day
Simplicity is the keynote of a good life. Choose the simple things always. Life can become complicated if you let it be so. You can be swamped by difficulties if you let them take up too much of your time. Every difficulty can be either solved or ignored and something better substituted for it. Love the humble things of life. Reverence the simple things. Your standard must never be the world's standard of wealth and power.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may love the simple things of life. I pray that I may keep my life uncomplicated and free.
Walk in Dry Places
Popular Gossip Higher Thinking
The newsstands are full of publications that seem to delight in exposing the sins and foibles of celebrities and prominent officials. Think of the excitement that's been generated just over the sexual misadventures of important people running for public office. While some of these disclosures may be true, we don't help ourselves by revelling in them or reading them. We may even harm ourselves if we get secret enjoyment over the fall of a celebrity. It's never beneficial to find ourselves thinking, "it serves him right." Reading such trash, even in the daily newspapers, is a form of gossip. We can use our time in better ways if we wish to enhance our sobriety.
If this sounds a little too stringent, we should remind ourselves that growth in sobriety calls for better management of our thinking and attitudes. Nobody ever got drunk simply because he or she read gossipy trash. But neither did that person make progress over the general problem of gossip.
I'll have no interest in the weaknesses or shortcomings of those who might be in the news. Popular gossip can be just as harmful as personal gossip.
Keep It Simple
The Twelve Step program is spiritual, based on action coming from love… Martha Cleveland
To be spiritual means to be an active person. It means spending time with others. It means sharing love. It means looking for ways to be more loving to others. It means looking for ways to make the world a better place. Step Three helps us to look at the world better. We turn our lives over to the care of our Higher Power. So Lets allow care to direct our lives. Let's always be asking ourselves, "Is what I'm doing something that shows care?" Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, let me be active in a loving, caring way. Let the love in my heart be my guide. Action for the Day: Today, I'll do something good for someone and keep it a secret.
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
Dreams
"I have learned this at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." – Henry David Thoreau
Drugs brought me nightmares, never dreams. For years I lived in fear. In the night I imagined horrible shapes, strange colours and sounds, experienced unspeakable tortures and awake in tension and sweat. Today in sobriety my dreams are serene and tranquil; I remember friends and loved ones and those I most admire. I imagine God in the beauty of His creation. He breathes His love through me. My dreams are part of my wellness. God, who created men to dream their dreams, help me to live mine.
Daily Inspiration If you count your blessings and answered prayers, there is less time for grumbling and complaining. Lord, may I always appreciate the wonders of my life and celebrate Your presence in it. You cannot be discouraged for long if you are close to our Heavenly Father, the giver of all hope and blessings. Lord
Contributed by Shreerang Karkare
