*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 24, 2015* *Prayers* *Today I am grateful for a new life, one in which my prayers are those of thanksgiving. My prayer time is more for listening than for talking.  I know today that if I cannot change the wind, I can adjust my sail. I know the difference between superstition and spirituality. I know there is a graceful way of being right, and many ways to be wrong.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 314 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Life is fragile, handle with p ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 23, 2015* *Thankful Givers* *Why should not each of us tell himself: "Yes, we AAs were once a burden on everybody.  We were 'takers.' Now that we are sober, and by the grace of God have become responsible citizens of the world, why shouldn't we now about-face and become 'thankful givers'!  Yes, it is high time we did!"* /- The Language of the Heart,/ p. 86 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *We were astounded to find that we were as tight as the ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 22, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Came To Believe We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 46 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *What are you coming to believe?  Belief is a continuing action. AA-related ' ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 21, 2015* *A Fourth Dimension* *Everyone became resigned to the certainty that I would have to be shut up somewhere, or would stumble along to a miserable end.  How dark it is before the dawn! In reality, that was the beginning of my last debauch. I was soon to be catapulted into what I like to call the fourth dimension of existence. I was to know happiness, peace, and usefulness, in a way of life that is incredibly more wonderful as time passes.* /Alco ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 20, 2015* *Hope* *I've felt more pain sober than I'd ever allowed myself to feel while drinking.  I don't always see the purpose of these struggles, but by the grace of God I've learned not to fight as much and try to learn from them. Willingness to take the Twelve Steps, the gift of a working faith, and fellowship with AA members has given me one more day of sobriety, for which I am very grateful. The next fifty years is as unfathomable as the day I fi ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 19, 2015* *Transformation* *Until now, our lives have been largely devoted to running from pain and problems. Escape through the bottle was always our solution.  Then, in AA, we looked and listened. Everywhere we saw failure and misery transformed by humility into priceless assets.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 156 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Learn to listen; listen to learn.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A R T* = **A**lways **R**emain **T**eachable. Than ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 18, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Asking for Help I went to a meeting of AA the next night, knowing I wanted what you had. I sat in that cold metal chair and read Step One on the wall for the hundredth time. But this time I asked with all my heart for God to help me, and a strange thing happened. A physical sensation came over me, like a wave of pure energy, and I felt the presence of God in that dingy little room.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ pp. 334-335 * ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 17, 2015* *Connected* *What happens outside me is less important than what's happening inside.  My being /does/ attract my life; repeated work with each of the Twelve Steps generates changes within me that are reflected in improvements around me. Simple, but not easy, the AA program gives me everything needed to become what I should be. Finally, there is no you or me or them.  Everything /is/ connected to everything else, and the salvation of each ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 16, 2015* *Kinship* *From the beginning, communication in AA has been no transmission of helpful ideas and attitudes. It has been unusual and sometimes unique. Because of our kinship in suffering, and because our common means of deliverance are effective only when constantly carried to others, our channels of contact have always been charged with /the language of the heart./* /- The Language of the Heart,/ p. 243 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Modem-to-modem or ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 15, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Step Eleven "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God _as we understood Him_, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 96 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Take a walk with God.  He will meet you at the Steps. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . *A S A P** = **A**lways **S**ay **A** **P**rayer. ** *A Me ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 14, 2015* *Just One Day* *Any of us can handle just one day; all each of us has to try at is our own job, our own family life. We don't have to try fixing up the whole world or understanding what no theologian of any faith has ever understood. We simply stop messing in God's business.  And in my opinion, when we stop messing and worrying, we /have/ turned our will and our lives over to God (or Good) as we understand (or don't understand) Him.* /- Came T ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 13, 2015* *A New Dimension* *In the late stages of our drinking, the will to resist has fled. Yet when we admit complete defeat and when we become entirely ready to try AA principles, our obsession leaves us and we enter a new dimension -- freedom under God as we understand Him.* /As Bill Sees It,/ p. 283 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A new world came into view.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A B C* = **A**cceptance, **B**elief, **C**hange. Thanks to all of ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 12, 2015* *Experiments* *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 tries.* /Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 97 *Thought to P ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 11, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ 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** = **H**onesty, **O**pen-mindedness, **W**illingness. ** *A Member Shares: I'm Peyton, an alcoholic.  &quo ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *November 10, 2015* *Where I Go, It Goes* *This magazine has literally been a constant companion with me. A requirement for any purse I carry -- and I like them small -- is that Grapevine must fit in. I've read many an issue during lunch at work, on planes, standing in lines, waiting for the doctor or dentist, at a boyfriend's place, answering nature's call, listening to irate people on the phone or sitting with sick, dying friends. . . I'm so grateful for those " ...Continue Reading