AA Thought For Today - October

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AA Thought for the Day

October 22

Discipline
Unless each AA member follows to the best of his ability
our suggested Twelve Steps to recovery,
he almost certainly signs his own death warrant.
His drunkenness and dissolution are not penalties inflicted by people in authority;
they result from his personal disobedience to spiritual principles.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 174

Thought to Ponder . . .
Great suffering and great love are AA's disciplinarians;
we need no others.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
N U T S = Not Using The Steps.

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

Amends
"This is a very large order.
It is a task which we may perform with increasing skill,
but we never really finish.
Learning how to live in the greatest peace, partnership,
and brotherhood with all men and women,
of whatever description,
is a moving and fascinating adventure.
Every AA has found that he can make little headway
in this new adventure of living until he first backtracks
and really makes an accurate and unsparing survey
of the human wreckage he has left in his wake."
c.1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 77

Thought to Consider . . .
It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes
and to make amends for them.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
T I M E = Things I Must Earn

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

Message that Transcends
From: "Window of Opportunity"
I was fortunate to have an opportunity to spend time abroad during law school. That was something I had dreamed of doing while drinking, but when push came to shove, I drank. Now sober, I have been in meetings in probably a dozen countries and have always been amazed at the message that transcends all linguistic and cultural differences. There is a solution. Together, we can live soberly, joyously, and freely.
2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, page 430

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

"My anger served as an iron shield, and I refused to remove it for fear God would send me still more pain."
Jamaica Plain, Mass., May 1997
"The Littlest Things,"
No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety

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

"We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: 'Once an
alcoholic, always an alcoholic.' Commencing to drink after a period
of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 33

Many a man, yet dazed from his hospital experience, has stepped over
the threshold of that home into freedom. Many an alcoholic who
entered there came away with an answer. He succumbed to that gay
crowd inside, who laughed at their own misfortunes and understood
his. Impressed by those who visited him at the hospital, he
capitulated entirely when, later, in an upper room of this house, he
heard the story of some man whose experience closely tallied with his
own. The expression on the faces of the women, that indefinable
something in the eyes of the men, the stimulating and electric
atmosphere of the place, conspired to let him know that here was
haven at last.
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, A Vision For You, pg. 160

He may be an example of the truth that faith alone is insufficient.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.93

Faith, to be sure, is necessary, but faith alone can avail nothing.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.34

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

We thought we had been deeply serious about religious practices. However, upon honest appraisal we found that we had been most superficial. Or sometimes, going to extremes, we had wallowed in emotionalism and had also mistaken this for true religious feeling. In both cases, we had been asking something for nothing.
We had not prayed rightly. We had always said, 'Grant me my wishes,' instead of 'Thy will be done.' The love of God and man we understood not at all. Therefore we remained self-deceived, and so incapable of receiving enough grace to restore us to sanity.

Prayer for the Day: True Power - Take from me, High Power, my false pride and grandiosity, all my phoniness and self-importance, and help me find the courage that shows itself in gentleness, the wisdom that shows itself in simplicity, and the true power that shows itself in modesty and humility.