AA Thoughts For Today - February

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AA Thought for the Day

February 5

Expressing Our Regret

Nevertheless, with a person we dislike, we take the bit in our teeth.
It is harder to go to an enemy than to a friend, but we find it much
more beneficial to us. We go to him in a helpful and forgiving spirit,
confessing our former ill feeling and expressing our regret.
Under no condition do we criticize such a person or argue.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 77

Thought to Ponder . . .
Don't mess up an amend with an excuse.

AA-related 'Alconym'
P R I D E = Personal Recovery Involves Deflating Ego.

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

Faith
People of faith have a logical idea
of what life is all about.
Actually, we used to have no reasonable
conception whatever.
We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting
spiritual beliefs and practices
when we might have observed that many
spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors and creeds
were demonstrating a degree of stability,
happiness and usefulness
which we should have sought ourselves.
c. 2002 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 49

Thought to Consider . . .
Feed your faith and starve your doubt.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F A I T H = Finding Answers In The Heart.

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

Faith
Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
"'When we encountered A.A., 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 A.A. we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol's final
catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible
situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions.
We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay.'"
1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 31

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quotes ^*~*~*~*~*

"What matters is what works, not my opinion of what works."
November 1991
From: "Trusting the Silence"
Beginner's Book: Getting and Staying Sober in AA

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

"...with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a
spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely
grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings
we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity
of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to
die."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 66

"If we skip this vital step (5th Step), we may not overcome drinking.
Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain
facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience,
they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk.
Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why
they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their
housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of
the worst items in stock. They only thought they had lost their
egoism and fear; they only thought they had humbled themselves. But
they had not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in
the sense we find it necessary, until they told someone else all
their life story."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 72~

It was only by repeated humiliations that we were forced to learn something about humility.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 72

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress.'
For Dr. Bob, the insatiable craving for alcohol was evidently a physical phenomenon which bedeviled several of his first
years in A.A., a time when only days and nights of carrying the message to other alcoholics could cause him to forget
about drinking. Although his craving was hard to withstand, it doubtless did account for some part of the intense
incentive that went into forming Akron's Group Number One.
Bob's spiritual release did not come easily; it was to be painfully slow. It always entailed the hardest kind of work and the
sharpest vigilance.

Prayer for the Day: For Healing - Lord, You invite all who are burdened to come to You. Allow Your healing hand to heal
me. Touch my soul with Your compassion for others. Touch my heart with Your courage and infinite love for all. Touch
my mind with Your wisdom, that my mouth may always proclaim Your praise. Teach me to reach out to You in my need,
and help me to lead others to You by my example. Most loving Heart of Jesus, bring me health in body and spirit that I
may serve You with all my strength. Touch gently this life which You have created, now and forever. Amen.