*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 20, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Growth Growth and understanding came slowly, but they came steadily. And finally, I could feel gratitude for my sobriety -- for the saving grace of God. Now I feel totally free, because I know the truth about myself. . . I know that spiritual growth is a great, wide, beautiful thing and that I have only stepped up to the open door.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 94 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A spiritual awakening is our grea ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 20, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Growth Growth and understanding came slowly, but they came steadily. And finally, I could feel gratitude for my sobriety -- for the saving grace of God. Now I feel totally free, because I know the truth about myself. . . I know that spiritual growth is a great, wide, beautiful thing and that I have only stepped up to the open door.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 94 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A spiritual awakening is our grea ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 19, 2014* *Inventory* *When AA suggests a fearless moral inventory, it must seem to every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do. Both his pride and his fear beat him back every time he tries to look inside himself. Pride says, "You need not pass this way," and Fear says, "You dare not look!" But the testimony of AA's who have really tried a moral inventory is that pride and fear of this sort turn out to be bogeymen, nothing ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 18, 2014* *Alcoholism* *Alcoholism is deadly, ugly, and tough.  It is also cunning, baffling, and powerful. It wants me to consider perfection attainable. . . It wants me to try to fix myself with the right therapist or the right religion. . . It wants me to forget that it is a snake in the brain, hoping to catch my eye, watching, waiting. The gritty pain of alcoholism is the traction of recovery. I cannot afford to sell off the principles for an easier, s ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 17, 2014* *Fear* *For all its usual destructiveness, we have found that fear can be the starting point for better things. Fear can be a stepping-stone to prudence and to a decent respect for others. It can point the path to justice, as well as to hate. And the more we have of respect and justice, the more we shall begin to find the love which can suffer much, and yet be freely given.  So fear need not always be destructive, because the lessons of its conse ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 16, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Fellowship I have a wealth of friends and, with my AA friends, an unusual quality of fellowship. For, to these people, I am truly related.  First, through mutual pain and despair, and later through mutual objectives and newfound faith and hope. And, as the years go by, working together, sharing our experiences with one another, and also sharing a mutual trust, understanding, and love -- without strings, without obligatio ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 15, 2014* *Pride* *Some see pride as just a minor issue.  I see pride, and resistance to change, as the deadliest character flaw every alcoholic deals with on a daily basis. The only answer I've ever found in dealing with such a high level of denial, is written about in the Big Book, and can be found in action at just about any AA meeting in the world.* The AA Grapevine, April 2014 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Into action, out of self.* *AA-related 'Alcony ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 14, 2014* *Understanding* *Gradually, however, God began to clear my channels so that real understanding began to come. Then was the time when full realization and acknowledgement came to me. It was realization and acknowledgement of the fact that I was full of self-pity and resentment, realization that I had not fully given my problems to God. /I was still trying to do my own fixing./* /- Experience, Strength and Hope,/ p. 22 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Get it ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 13, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Acceptance And acceptance is the answer to /all/ my problems today. . . Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 417 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *My serenity is directly proportional to my level of acceptance.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **A B C** = **A**cceptance, **B**elief, **C**hange. ** *A Member Shares: ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 12, 2014* *Inventory* *We want to find exactly how, when, and where our natural desires have warped us. We wish to look squarely at the unhappiness this has caused others and ourselves. By discovering what our emotional deformities are, we can move toward their correction. Without a willing and persistent effort to do this, there can be little sobriety or contentment for us.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 43 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Trust God.&n ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 11, 2014* *Turn It Over* *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. . . 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 To Believe . . .,/ p. 116 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 10, 2014* *Fear of Rejection* *Almost without exception, my AA friends admitted that they had struggled with the same feelings. Some claimed that their fear of rejection stemmed from a lack of self-worth; some of the men laid the difficulty to feelings of inadequacy stimulated by years of drinking. It was also asserted that we couldn't stand the responsibility of being loved and so sought rejection in subtle ways.  About the only thing that everyone agreed ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 9, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Prayer 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. It has been well said that "almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried it enough."* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 97 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Trying to pray is p ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 8, 2014* *Reprieve* *It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism.  What we really have is a daily reprieve, contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 85 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *AA is spiritual, is the ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 7, 2014* *Joy* *I have had my share of problems, heartaches, and disappointments, because that is life, but also I have known a great deal of joy and a peace that is the handmaiden of an inner freedom. I have a wealth of friends and, with my AA friends, an unusual quality of fellowship. For, to these people, I am truly related.  First, through mutual pain and despair, and later through mutual objectives and newfound faith and hope.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous ...Continue Reading