*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 24, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A Leap of Faith We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. "Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?" As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 47 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Faith dares the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.* *AA-relate ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 23, 2014* *The Blunt Truth* *The blunt, psychological truth for us, as of today, is that a drink surely means a drunk sooner or later, and that spells trouble. Drinking /for us/ no longer means music and gay laughter and flirtations.  It means sickness and sorrow.* /- Living Sober,/ p. 52 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *If I don't drink today, I have the hope of a tomorrow.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = **A**lways **A**live. Thanks to all of you f ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 22, 2014* *The First Step* *The First Step and I have always been great friends. I repeated it and thanked God each day for my sobriety -- the only grace, maybe, for that day. Gradually, I began to see another part of me emerging -- a grateful me, expecting nothing, but sure that another power was beginning to guide me, counsel me, and direct my ways.  And I was not afraid.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 45 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Many of our fears ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 21, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ False Pride We will humbly reflect that each of AA's principles, /every one of them,/ has been borrowed from ancient sources. We shall remember that we are laymen, holding ourselves in readiness to co-operate with all men of good will, whatever their creed or nationality. Then, too, it would be a product of false pride to believe that Alcoholics Anonymous is a cure-all, even for alcoholism.* /- - Alcoholics Anonymous Comes ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 20, 2014* *Any Length* *If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it -- then you are ready to take certain steps. At some of these we balked.  We thought we could find an easier, softer way.  But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolu ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 19, 2014* *No Cop-outs* *We have to stay sober no matter how life treats us, no matter whether non-alcoholics appreciate our sobriety or not. We have to keep our sobriety independent of everything else, not entangled with any people, and not hedged in by any possible cop-outs or conditions.* /- Living Sober,/ p. 64 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Keep your sobriety first to make it last.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *O D A A T* = **O**ne **D**ay **A**t **A** * ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 18, 2014* *Grace* *Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from asking yourself what they may mean to you. At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious contact with God as we understood Him. Afterward, we found ourselves accepting things which then seemed entirely out of reach.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 47 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Hold your face up to the Light, even t ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 17, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Resentments This business of harboring resentments is infinitely grave.  For then we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again.  And with us, to drink is to die.* /- - As Bill Sees It,/ p. 5 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Resentment is like acid, eating away at the vessel it is stored in.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **A A** = **A**void **A**nger. ** *A ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 16, 2014* *Grace* *I think we all find an unavoidable association between what AA does and the grace of God. AA reflects, in a limited, human sense, the way God works with us. AA people love us when we're newcomers, not because of what we've done, but in spite of it, not because we've earned love, but because we need it. And so, I think, comes the final great acceptance of the AA member: the realization that I have been accepted by God -- that, when I stagge ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 15, 2014* *Pass It On* *I'll never forget the first time I met Bill Wilson. I was a couple of months sober and so excited, so thrilled to meet the co-founder that I gushed all over him with what my sobriety meant to me and my undying gratitude for his starting AA. When I ran down, he took his hand in mine and said simply, "Pass it on."* /- 'Pass It On',/ preface *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Gratitude is not a word in AA; it's an action.* *AA-relate ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 14, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Perspective Where other people were concerned, we had to drop the word "blame" from our speech and thought. This required great willingness even to begin. But once over the first two or three high hurdles, the course ahead began to look easier. For we had started to get perspective on ourselves, which is another way of saying that we were gaining in humility.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ pp. 47-48 *T ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 13, 2014* *The Twelve Steps* *I often say and shall always say that the Twelve Steps are one of the very great summaries and organic collections of spiritual truth known to history. They have an almost universal relevance (not a relevance for alcoholics alone). They will offer a way out for many a person who knows nothing personally of alcoholism. They will point up the way for those who have known it and lost it. Thank God for the Twelve Steps and for a man ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 12, 2014* *The Language of the Heart* *From the beginning, communication in AA has been no ordinary 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 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 11, 2014* *Happiness* *Happiness happens when results exceed expectations.  Maybe this is working after all. Deep down, there is also a warm, small ball of faith, never dimmed, unexplainable, asking nothing, but giving much. To define it or try to bounce it would distort or destroy it.  It just is, that's all.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 1], pp. 187-188 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *True happiness is found in the journey, not the destination ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 10, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Helping Others When I talk to a newcomer to AA, my past looks me straight in the face. I see the pain in those hopeful eyes, I extend my hand, and then the miracle happens: /I/ become healed. My problems vanish as I reach out to this trembling soul.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 274 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *In AA, we discover that it is impossible to give without receiving, or receive without giving.* *AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading