AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AA-Alive.net)
November 11, 2015
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The Ninth Step Promise
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 83
Thought to Ponder . . .
It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.
A Member Shares:
I'm Peyton, an alcoholic. "Painstaking." Hmmm ... that means I can't half way make my amends, and I can't just make them to the ones I want to and forget about the rest. What it does mean is that I have to have a list of all the people I've harmed and be ready to make amends to all of them. Granted, some were pretty much on the bottom of my list which I affectionately called, "I'll make these amends when hell freezes over." As I made those easier amends, and some that I wasn't quite ready to do right away, something changed within me. I felt free, I was at peace within; real serenity in my life. And it became easier to look at the tougher amends as perhaps possible to do some day. I ended up even making some of them. There are some folks I cannot find, I don't know where they are, even if they are still living or not. That's ok because if God gives me the opportunity to make the amends, I'm ready and willing to do so. What a change from the self-centered, selfish, "I'll hold this grudge against you until I die!" person I was. Despite everything I'd ever tried on my own in my life, I've never experienced anything like this. No longer do I have to live in the shadow of shame, guilt and pain. There is no way I could have done this on my own. By taking the Steps up into the Ninth, I was learning to rely on God more, to try to do His will rather than mine. There is no doubt in my mind today, that God truly has done for me what I never could. Thanks for showing me how it works, and that it does work IF and only IF I work it.
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(All shares are reproduced with the kind permission of the person sharing)
Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope in carrying the AA message.
Blessings in sobriety to all,
In love and service,
joanna b
dailythought@aa-alive.org
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