AA Thoughts For Today - August

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AA Thought for the Day

August 7

Defects
Practically every body wishes to be rid of his most glaring and destructive handicaps.
No one wants to be so proud that he is scorned as a braggart, nor so greedy that he is labeled a thief. . .
We who have escaped these extremes are apt to congratulate ourselves. Yet can we?
After all, hasn't it been self-interest, pure and simple, that has enabled most of us to escape?
Not much spiritual effort is involved in avoiding excesses which will bring us punishment anyway.
But when we face up to the less violent aspects of these very same defects, then where do we stand?
- 12 Steps & 12 Traditions, p. 66

Thought to Ponder
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

AA-related 'Alconym'

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

Tolerance
"Honesty with ourselves and others gets us sober,
but it is tolerance that keeps us that way.
Experience shows that few alcoholics
will long stay away from a group because
they don't like the way it is run.
Most return and adjust themselves
to whatever conditions they must.
Some go to a different group, or form a new one.
In other words, once an alcoholic fully realizes
that he cannot get well alone,
he will somehow find a way to get well and stay well
in the company of others.
It has been that way from the beginning of AA
and probably always will be so."
Bill W., Letter, 1943
1967AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 312

Thought to Consider . . .
What does it benefit me to not like another human being?

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
H E A R T = Healing, Enjoying, And Recovering, Together

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

Conviction
>From "How It Works":
"We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper, even though we had no resentment in connection with them. We asked ourselves why we had them. Wasn't it because self-reliance had failed us? Self-reliance was good as far as it went, but it didn't go far enough. . . .
"Perhaps there is a better way -- we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves."
2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 68

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

"The ideal of AA, however short we may be of it personally, is a thing of beauty and perfection. It is a Power greater than ourselves which has lifted us out of the quicksand and set us safe on shore."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., May 1946
"Safe Use of Money"
The Language of the Heart

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

"Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his family
back. This just isn't so. In some cases the wife will never come
back for one reason or another. Remind the prospect that his
recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his
relationship with God. We have seen men get well whose families have
not returned at all. We have seen others slip when the family came
back too soon."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 99~

"But my friend sat before me, and he made the pointblank declaration
that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. His
human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable.
Society was about to lock him up. Like myself, he had admitted
complete defeat. Then he had, in effect, been raised from the dead,
suddenly taken from the scrap heap to a level of life better than
the best he had ever known!"
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, pg. 11~

“Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 87

“Above all, we should try to be absolutely sure that we are not delaying because we are afraid. For the readiness to take the full consequences of our past acts, and to take responsibility for the well-being of others at the same time, is the very spirit of Step Nine.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 87

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they might mean to you. At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious relation with God as we understood Him. Afterward, we found ourselves accepting many things which had seemed entirely out of reach. That was growth. But if we wished to grow we had to begin somewhere. So at first we used our own conceptions of God, however limited they were.
We needed to ask ourselves but one short question: 'Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?'' As soon as a man can say that he does believe, even in this small degree, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way.

Prayer for the Day: God help me to become willing to sweep away the debris of self will and self reliant living. Thy will be done for this person as well as for me. Amen