AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 4, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ The Dark Past Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worth while to us now. Cling to the thought that, in God’s hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have—the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) p. 124  Thought to Ponder We will not regret the past nor wish ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 3, 2021 Principles Before Personalities And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principle of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (12 Traditions; Lo ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 2, 2021 A Way Up and Out We have been talking about problems because we are problem people who have found a way up and out, and who wish to share our knowledge of that way with all who can use it. For it is only by accepting and solving our problems that we can begin to get right with ourselves and with the world about us, and with Him who presides over us all. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 125 Thought to Ponder The Three A's .. Awareness, ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 1, 2021 His Will Prayer, as commonly understood, is a petition to God. Having opened our channel as best we can, we try to ask for those right things of which we and others are in the greatest need. And we think that the whole range of our needs is well defined by that part of Step Eleven which says: ". . . knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." A request for this fits in any part of our day. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, ( ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 31, 2021 Experiment We liked A.A. all right, and were quick to say that it had done miracles. But we recoiled from meditation and prayer as obstinately as the scientist who refused to perform a certain experiment lest it prove his pet theory wrong. Of course we finally did experiment, and when unexpected results followed, we felt different; in fact we knew different; and so we were sold on meditation and prayer. And that, we have found, can happen to anybody who tr ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 30, 2021 Development As we have seen, self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision, action, and grace to bear upon the dark and negative side of our natures. It is a step in the development of that kind of humility that makes it possible for us to receive God's help. Yet it is only a step. We will want to go further. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 98 Thought to Ponder I must walk through the darkness to find the light. AA-relat ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 29, 2021 Great Persuader Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. Sometimes this was a tedious process; we hope no one else will be prejudiced for as long as some of us were. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 48 Thought to Ponder Open your mind, your brain won't fall out. AA ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 28, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Thy Will What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. “How can I best serve Thee—Thy will (not mine) be done.’’ These are thoughts which must go with us constantly.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 85  Thought to Ponder Reliance on God enables me to match calamity with ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 27, 2021 Humility and Grace The whole emphasis of Step Seven is on humility. It is really saying to us that we now ought to be willing to try humility in seeking the removal of our other shortcomings just as we did when we admitted that we were powerless over alcohol, and came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. If that degree of humility could enable us to find the grace by which such a deadly obsession could be banished, the ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 26, 2021 Tradition Three Why did A.A. finally drop all its membership regulations? . . . The answer, now seen in Tradition Three, was simplicity itself. At last experience taught us that to take away any alcoholic's full chance was sometimes to pronounce his death sentence, and often to condemn him to endless misery. Who dared to be judge, jury, and executioner of his own sick brother? As group after group saw these possibilities, they finally abandoned all members ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 25, 2021 Insurance As an insurance against "big-shot-ism" we can often check ourselves by remembering that we are today sober only by the grace of God and that any success we may be having is far more His success than ours. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 92 Thought to Ponder The solution is simple. The solution is spiritual. AA-related 'Alconym' T G I F  =   Thanking God Is Freedom. Thanks to all of you for sharing so gen ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 24, 2021 Convinced In this book you read again and again that faith did for us what we could not do for ourselves. We hope you are convinced now that God can remove whatever self-will has blocked you off from Him. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 70 - 71 Thought to Ponder Faith makes the impossible possible. AA-related 'Alconym' F A I T H  =   For All I Trust Him. Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 23, 2021 A Genuine Reliance For just so long as we were convinced that we could live exclusively by our own individual strength and intelligence, for just that long was a working faith in a Higher Power impossible. This was true even when we believed that God existed. We could actually have earnest religious beliefs which remained barren because we were still trying to play God ourselves. As long as we placed self- reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a Higher P ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 22, 2021 True Tolerance We begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true tolerance and see what real love for our fellows actually means. It will become more and more evident as we go forward that it is pointless to become angry, or to get hurt by people who, like us, are suffering from the pains of growing up. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 92 Thoug ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 21, 2021 Amends 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' ...Continue Reading