A Prayer & Some Thoughts - October

[bluidkiti]

October 23

This Morning Prayer

Lord,
Please keep me and my loved ones from all danger and harm. Help me start this day with a new, pleasant attitude with plenty of gratitude. Let me make the best of each and every day to clear my mind so I can hear Your voice. Please broaden my mind so that I can accept all things without judgment. Let me not whine or complain over things I have no control over. And when the world closes in on me, let me remember, to slip away and find a quiet place to pray. Continue to use me to do Your Will.

Amen

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Just a Thought

Do I always want to be up front in the limelight? Do I feel that nobody else can do as good a job as I can?

Am I willing to take a seat in the back row once in a while and let somebody else carry the ball? Part of the effectiveness of any A.A. group is the development of new members to carry on, to take over from the older members.

Am I reluctant to give up authority? Do I try to carry the load for the whole group? If so, I am not being fair to the newer members. Do I realize that no one person is essential?

So ............

Do I know that A.A. could carry on without me, if it had to?

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Just a Contemplation

Listening

It's hard to listen in a complete way. Often, we listen, but we're still thinking about ourselves. We wonder, "How do their words relate to me? Do I have anything to add?" Often, fear is behind these questions. We fear saying the wrong thing. We fear looking stupid. Good listeners know how to let go of their fears. To listen completely, we step outside ourselves, and we're totally there for someone else. Sometimes we listen for only a few moments. Sometimes we don't even agree with the people we're listening to. But we let them know that they count. What a gift we give when we listen in a complete way!

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Praise

It's always heady stuff when others congratulate us on our victory over alcohol. Fair-minded people will have considerable admiration for what appears to be a bootstrap effort to make a comeback from despair and defeat.

We can accept this praise with grace and modesty. At some point, however, we should emphasize that our recovery was an example of spiritual principles at work and that thousands have been able to follow in the same path. Sober AA members are not exceptions; they are examples of what the program can do in people's lives.

It is important to emphasize that we are ordinary people. The marvelous thing about the program is that it works for ordinary people like ourselves. Many people in the fellowship have great talent and ability, but those gifts have nothing to do with staying sober. The gifted person gets sober the same way anybody does..... by admitting powerlessness over alcohol and by accepting the program.

~ Mel B.

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Just a Quote

"Repetition of the same thought or physical action develops into a habit which, repeated frequently enough, becomes an automatic reflex." ~ Norman Vincent Peale