AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) December 6, 2021 Dear Readers, my apologies. Yesterday's reading comes from "Working With Others," p. 96. Day By Day Both you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist, remarkable things will happen. When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) December 5, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Your Prospect Do not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. Search out another alcoholic and try again. You are sure to find someone desperate enough to accept with eagerness what you offer. We find it a waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you. If you leave such a person alone, he may soon become convinced that he cannot recover by himself. To spend too much time on any one sit ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) December 4, 2021 Freely Give We can be the ones who take on the unspectacular but important tasks that make good Twelfth Step work possible, perhaps arranging for the coffee and cake after the meetings, where so many skeptical, suspicious newcomers have found confidence and comfort in the laughter and talk. This is Twelfth Step work in the very best sense of the word. "Freely ye have received; freely give . . ." is the core of this part of Step Twelve. - Twelve ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) December 3, 2021 Merciless Obsession Under the lash of alcoholism, we are driven to A.A., and there we discover the fatal nature of our situation. Then, and only then, do we become as open-minded to conviction and as willing to listen as the dying can be. We stand ready to do anything which will lift the merciless obsession from us. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step One) p. 24 Thought to Ponder Learn to listen, then listen to learn. AA-related 'Alconym' A R T ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) December 2, 2021 In The Stillness In all times of emotional disturbance or indecision, we can pause, ask for quiet, and in the stillness simply say: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done." - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Three) pp. 40 - 41 Thought to Ponder The stillness of God speaks louder than a choir of voices. AA-relat ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) December 1, 2021 Lay Aside Prejudice We, who have traveled this dubious path, beg you to lay aside prejudice, even against organized religion. We have learned that whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to millions. People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about. Actually, we used to have no reasonable conception whatever. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 49 Thought to Ponder True reli ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 30, 2021 The First Milestone A whole lifetime geared to self-centeredness cannot be set in reverse all at once. Rebellion dogs our every step at first. When we have finally admitted without reservation that we are powerless over alcohol, we are apt to breathe a great sigh of relief, saying, "Well, thank God that's over! I'll never have to go through that again!" Then we learn, often to our consternation, that this is only the first milestone on the new ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 29, 2021 Four Reasons I spend a great deal of time passing on what I learned to others who want and need it badly. I do it for four reasons: 1. Sense of duty.  2. It is a pleasure. 3. Because in so doing I am paying my debt to the man who took time to pass it on to me. 4. Because every time I do it I take out a little more insurance for myself against a possible slip. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Doctor Bob's Nightmare) pp. 180 - 1 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 28, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Unthinking We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is enough. He is like the farmer who came up out of his cyclone cellar to find his home ruined. To his wife, he remarked, "Don't see anything the matter here, Ma. Ain't it grand the wind stopped blowin'?" - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 82  Thought to Ponder Sobriety without action is fantasy.  AA-related 'Alconym' G O D  =&nbs ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 27, 2021 Lost Faith "The here and now was good enough for us. The will to win would carry us through. But then alcohol began to have its way with us. Finally, when all our score cards read 'zero,' and we saw that one more strike would put us out of the game forever, we had to look for our lost faith. It was in A.A, that we rediscovered it. And so can you." - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Two) p. 29 Thought to Ponder Faith isn't believ ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 26, 2021 Vital Spiritual Experiences "I have never seen one single case recover, where that state of mind existed to the extent that it does in you." Our friend felt as though the gates of hell had closed on him with a clang. He said to the doctor, "Is there no exception?" "Yes," replied the doctor, "there is. Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics ha ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 25, 2021 Insure Immunity Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are very ill. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 89 Thought to Ponder Get it - Give it - Grow ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 24, 2021 Honest Appraisal Whatever the defects, they have finally ambushed us into alcoholism and misery. Therefore, thoroughness ought to be the watchword when taking inventory. In this connection, it is wise to write out our questions and answers. It will be an aid to clear thinking and honest appraisal. It will be the first tangible evidence of our complete willingness to move forward. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 54 Thought to Ponder ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 23, 2021 The Desperate Experiment What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who repeats time after time the desperate experiment of the first drink? Friends who have reasoned with him after a spree which has brought him to the point of divorce or bankruptcy are mystified when he walks directly into a saloon. Why does he? Of what is he thinking? - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 35 Thought to Ponder Today, my brain has cleared with the grace ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 22, 2021 Defense Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 43 Thought to Ponder The ultimate defense against the first drink is a spiritual one. AA-related 'Alconym' G O D  =   God's On Duty. Thanks to all of ...Continue Reading