My life is unfolding exactly as it should. At this moment my every need is being attended to. We will always get what we need, when we need it. We need not lament what we think we need. Celebrating what we get and knowing there is good in it eases whatever trial we are undergoing. We get what we need, in the way of relationships, adventures, joys and sorrows, today and every day. The experiences we are offered will fail to satisfy our expectations because we expect so much less than God has planned for us in the days ahead. Less so today than yesterday, but limited still. We simply don’t know just what’s best for us. Each time we choose to lament what isn’t, we close the door on the invitation to a better existence. However, in each circumstance we are offered an opportunity for growth or change, a chance for greater understanding of life’s heights and pitfalls. The circumstances of our lives seldom live up to our expectations or desires. I will take time to list all the ways I am now free. Guide me, for keeping my freedom is a big taskĪction for the Day: I will meditate on my freedom. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You set me free. Each day without alcohol or other drugs is a gift, a gift from God. So each day we keep learning, we keep growing. We also want to be happy, and to do something with our lives. We need to learn how to give and receive.įreedom from dependence is not enough. We need to learn new values and how to stand up for them. We need to let a Higher Power guide our hearts, and bodies. We need to let a Higher Power guide our hearts, minds, and bodies. But to keep this life, we need to change. We’ve been given a second chance or third chance.įor that, we thank our Higher Power. I’ll also remember that my need for help in maintaining sobriety will never end. I’ll be thankful today for the sobriety AA has given me. If AA was able to help us in our hour of desperate need, it can help us as the days unfold into the future. If we have found sobriety in AA, we have no need to look further. No program is useful to us if we cannot apply it in our own lives. The only real test for any program is that it works. The need is so great that we should welcome anything that helps alcoholics. We should, in fact, be delighted if ways are found to reach those whom we are unable to help. Nobody in AA should feel threatened by these new programs. These are designed to appeal to those who either will not or cannot accept AA. Now that alcoholism recovery has been well established, alternatives to the AA program are being developed. and have taught me many a valuable lesson.” But the reasonable ones have always done a great job for all of A.A. The unreasonable ones have taught me, I hope, a little patience. Both have often restrained me from doing much worse than I actually have done. “For myself, I have come to set a high value on the people who have criticized me, whether they have seemed reasonable critics or unreasonable ones. “Thanks much for your letter of criticism: I’m certain that had it not been for its strong critics, A.A. I pray that I may be content with doing small things as long as they are right. I pray that today I may do the next thing, the unselfish thing, the loving thing. Offering this day’s service to God, you are sharing in His work. In that spirit, a blessing will attend all that you do. Take each day’s happenings as opportunities for something you can do for God. Am I making progress?Įach new day brings an opportunity to do some little thing that will help to make a better world, that will bring God’s kingdom a little nearer to being realized on earth. has ever “arrived.” But we are getting better. And we will be on the way as long as we live. We are not so interested in what we are as in what we are becoming. we are willing to make mistakes and to stumble, provided we are always stumbling forward. We realize that perfectionism is only a result of false pride and an excuse to save our faces. we are content if we are making progress. Instead of being pretended perfectionists, in A.A. Thus, I receive support from many sources in staying away from the first drink. My sobriety is greatly enriched, and my practice of the Eleventh Step more fruitful, when I use both the literature and practices of my Judeo-Christian tradition, and the resources of other religions. If I keep an open mind about what others have to say, I have much to gain. There are others who are also engaged in a spiritual search. I do not claim to have all the answers in spiritual matters, any more than I claim to have all the answers about alcoholism. Be quick to see where religious people are right.
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