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AA Thought for the Day

August 15

Step Eight
"Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all."

We might next ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have “harmed” other people.
What kinds of “harm” do people do one another, anyway?
To define the word “harm” in a practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in collision,
which cause physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual damage to people.
- 12 Steps & 12 Traditions, p. 80

Thought to Ponder
I want the gift of an untroubled mind.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A B C = Accept, Begin, Continue

AA Thought for the Day

August 15

Forgiveness
I cannot make an amends when I am still condemning or forgiving myself or the one I am making amends to,
because of the judgment this implies. I have always found condemnation to be a lonely road
and have always found forgiveness to be a confusing and impossible task.
When I forgive someone I guess what I really mean to say is that I judge others.
Forgiving and condemning are God's business, not mine.
~ The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 2], p. 162

Thought to Ponder . . .
Forgiveness is the final form of love.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
T G I F = Thank God I'm Forgiven.

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

Defiance
" 'As psychiatrists have often observed,
defiance is the outstanding characteristic
of many an alcoholic. . .
When we encountered AA,
the fallacy of our defiance was revealed.
At no time had we asked what God's will was for us;
instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be.
No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too.
Belief meant reliance, not defiance.
In AA we saw the fruits of this belief:
men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe.' "
1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 31

Thought to Consider . . .
God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
B I G B O O K = Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge

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

The Paradoxes
From: "The Professor and the Paradox"
1. We SURRENDER TO WIN. On the face of it, surrendering certainly does not seem like winning. But it is in A.A..
Only after we have come to the end of our rope, hit a stone wall in some aspect of our lives beyond which we can go
no further; only when we hit "bottom" in despair and surrender, can we accomplish sobriety which we could never
accomplish before. We must, and we do, surrender in order to win.
2. We GIVE AWAY TO KEEP. That seems absurd and untrue. How can you keep anything if you give it away? But in
order to keep whatever it is we get in A.A., we must go about giving it away to others, for no fees or rewards of any
kind. When we cannot afford to give away what we have received so freely in A.A., we had better get ready for our next
"drunk." It will happen every time. We've got to continue to give it away in order to keep it.
3. We SUFFER TO GET WELL. There is no way to escape the terrible suffering of remorse and regret and shame
and embarrassment which starts us on the road to getting well from our affliction. There is no new way to shake out a
hangover. It's painful. And for us, necessarily so. I told this to a friend of mine as he sat weaving to and fro on the side
of the bed, in terrible shape, about to die for some paraldehyde. I said, "Lost John" - that's his nickname - "Lost John,
you know you're going to have to do a certain amount of shaking sooner or later." "Well," he said, "for God's sake let's
make it later!" We suffer to get well.
4. We DIE TO LIVE. That is a beautiful paradox straight out of the Biblical idea of being "born again" or "losing one's life
to find it". When we work at our Twelve Steps, the old life of guzzling and fuzzy thinking, and all that goes with it,
gradually dies, and we acquire a different and a better way of life. As our shortcomings are removed, one life of us
dies, and another life of us lives. We in A.A. die to live.
2003, AAWS, Inc., Experience, Strength & Hope, pages 155-156

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

"Let all of us AAs, whether we be trustees, editors, secretaries, janitors, or cooks -- or just members -- ever recall the
unimportance of wealth and authority as compared with the vast import of our brotherhood, love, and service."
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 ^*~*~*~*~*

"...we then look at Step Six. We have emphasized willingness as
being indispensable. Are we now ready to let God remove from us all
the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take
them all-every one? If we still cling to something we will not let
go, we ask God to help us be willing."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 76~

"We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we
needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well.
Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in
ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became
interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt
new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we
could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we
began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were
reborn."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 63~

“We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone.”
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 561

“The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 129

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

The alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are
dead. Affections have been uprooted. Selfish and inconsiderate habits have kept the home in turmoil.
We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is enough. He is like the farmer who came up out of his
cyclone cellar to find his home ruined. To his wife, he remarked, 'Don't see anything the matter here, Ma. Ain't it grand
the wind stopped blowin'?'
We ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have 'harmed' other people. What kinds of 'harm' do people do
one another, anyway? To define the word 'harm' in a practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in collision,
which cause physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual damage to those about us.

Prayer for the Day: Dear Lord, When I do wrong, help me admit to it. Lord, When I do wrong, help me to leave nothing out. Lord, When I do wrong, help me to swallow my pride. Lord, When I do wrong, help me to do right. Amen.