AA Thoughts For Today - June

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AA Thought for the Day

June 12

Truth
I began with blind faith, but the proof of truth is that it works.
I believed those who said they had suffered from alcoholism, but, through AA, were now enjoying sobriety.
So the truth was there for me to see. But shortly I knew the truth from my own experience.
I was not only released from the compulsion to drink; I was guided toward a compulsion to live!
- Came To Believe . . ., p. 3

Thought to Ponder . . .
Truth is to inner space what sunshine is to a garden.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
F A I T H = Facing An Inner Truth Heals.

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

Sacrifices
"At the beginning we sacrificed alcohol.
We had to, or it would have killed us.
But we couldn't get rid of alcohol
unless we made other sacrifices.
Big-shotism and phony thinking had to go.
We had to toss self-justification, self-pity,
and anger right out the window.
We had to quit the crazy contest for personal prestige
and big bank balances.
We had to take personal responsibility for our sorry state
and quit blaming others for it.
Were these sacrifices? Yes, they were.
To gain enough humility and self-respect
to stay alive at all we had to give up
what had really been our dearest possessions -
our ambitions and our illegitimate pride."
Bill W., January 1955
1988AAGrapevine, The Language of the Heart, p. 210

Thought to Consider . . .
Sobriety is a journey, not a destination

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
S O B E R = Son Of a Basket, Everything's Real

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

Core
>From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":
"On many a day I felt like throwing the book out the window.
"I was in this anything-but-spiritual mood on the night when the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous were written. I
was sore and tired clear through. I lay in bed at 182 Clinton Street with pencil in hand and with a tablet of scratch paper
on my knee. I could not get my mind on the job, much less put my heart in it. But here was one of those things that had
to be done. Slowly my mind came into some kind of focus.
"Since Ebby's visit to me in the fall of 1934 we had gradually evolved what we called 'the word-of-mouth program.' Most
of the basic ideas had come from the Oxford Groups, William James, and Dr. Silkworth."
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 160

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

"Where before there was a gaping hole of emptiness, I seek within me that faint ember of self-love, self-worth, and desire for goodness."
Westfield, Mass., July 1997
"The Faint Ember"
AA Grapevine

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

"Faith without works was dead, he said. And how appallingly true for
the alcoholic! For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his
spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could
not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not
work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely
die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, pg. 14~

"If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the
brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal
men, but for alcoholics these things are poison."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 66~

Many of us also like the experience of an occasional retreat from the outside world where we can quiet down for an
undisturbed day or so of self-overhaul and meditation.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 89

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Who can render an account of all the miseries that once were ours, and who can estimate the release and joy that the
later years have brought to us? Who can possibly tell the vast consequences of what God's work through A.A. has
already set in motion?
And who can penetrate the deeper mystery of our wholesale deliverance from slavery, a bondage to a most hopeless
and fatal obsession which for centuries possessed the minds and bodies of men and women like ourselves?
We think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into
merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recovered, and
have helped others to recover. What greater cause could there be for rejoicing than this?

Prayer For The Day: Dear heavenly Father, we do appreciate Your patience and love toward us. May we show this same love to those around us; especially to those with whom we might have a disagreement. Lord, grant us grace to be gracious and not get into contention with others. Lord, remove murmuring and disputing from our hearts and let us be joyful and peace makers. Father, guard our tongues that we do not say things that we will later regret. Forgive us when we fail You and give us Your grace to forgive others who have hurt us. We ask this in Your son, Jesus' name. Amen.