Getting Involved

There is action and more action. "Faith without works is dead." . . . To be helpful is our only aim.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 88-89

I understand that service is a vital part of recovery but I often wonder, "What I can do?" Simply start with what I have today! I look around to see where there is a need. Are the ashtrays full? Suddenly I'm involved! The best speaker may make the worst coffee, the member who's best with the newcomers may be unable to read; the one willing to clean up may make a mess of the bank account --- yet every one of these people and jobs is essential to an active group. The miracle of service is this: when I use what I have, I find there is more available to me than I realized before.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought for the Day
Alcoholics who are living in a blind alley refuse to be really honest with themselves or with other people. They're running away from life and won't face things as they are. They won't give up their resentments. They're too sensitive and too easily hurt. They refuse to try to be unselfish. They still want everything for themselves. And no matter how many disastrous experiences they have had with drinking, they still do it over and over again. There's only one way to get out of that blind alley way of living and that's to change your thinking. Have I changed my thinking?
Meditation for the Day
I know that the vision and power that I receive from God are limitless, as far as spiritual things are concerned. But in temporal and material things, I must submit to limitations. I know that I cannot see the road ahead. I must go just one step at a time, because God does not grant me a longer view. I am in uncharted waters, limited by my temporal and spatial life, but unlimited in my spiritual life.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that, in spite of my material limitations, I may follow God's way. I pray that I may learn that trying to do His will is perfect freedom.
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NA - Just for Today
From isolation to connection
“Our disease isolated us... Hostile, resentful, self-centered, and self-seeking, we cut ourselves off from the outside world.”
Basic Text, p. 4
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Addiction is an isolating disease, closing us off from society, family, and self. We hid. We lied. We scorned the lives we saw others living, surely beyond our grasp. Worst of all, we told ourselves there was nothing wrong with us, even though we knew we were desperately ill. Our connection with the world, and with reality itself, was severed. Our lives lost meaning, and we withdrew further and further from reality.
The NA program is designed especially for people like us. It helps reconnect us to the life we were meant to live, drawing us out of our isolation. We stop lying to ourselves about our condition; we admit our powerlessness and the unmanageability of our lives. We develop faith that our lives can improve, that recovery is possible, and that happiness is not permanently beyond our grasp. We get honest; we stop hiding; we “show up and tell the truth,” no matter what. And as we do, we establish the ties that connect our individual lives to the larger life around us.
We addicts need not live lives of isolation. The Twelve Steps can restore our connection to life and living—if we work them.
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Just for today: I am a part of the life around me. I will practice my program to strengthen my connection to my world.
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Thought for Today

"Gratitude releases us from the 'Gimmies'. If there is to be any peace,
it will come through being, not having.

--Henry Miller

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Buddha/Zen Thoughts

"Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.

--Lao-tzu

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Native American

"Always listen to what the Elders say."
--Dona Josefa Medrano, HUICHOL, SIERRA MADRE, MEXICO
In school we have been taught to go to the encyclopedia when we need information about certain subjects. From the time we are little, we have a natural tendency to seek out role models. When we need information about living we tend to seek out books about living. These maybe self help books. The world is full of information. For the Native people, we have our Elders. All races have Elders. Our lives will run much smoother when we listen to the Elders. They don't always tell us what we want to hear but they always tell us what we need to hear. The Elders have the ability to make the truth sweet.
Creator, thank You for the Elders. Help me this day to listen to them.
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Keep It Simple

Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation, or creed. --- Bertand Russell

In recovery learn to give up hate. We must stand for justice, not for hate. We must learn to respect people. They, in turn, will respect us in most cases. We begin to see how important it is to give up hate--if we want others to care for us. Hate is often our secret. Hate is found deep in our hearts and minds. It eats at our souls. It hurts our spiritual growth. Sometimes people are public about their hate. There are even dangerous groups based on hate. But, the most dangerous hate is the private and unspoken. Do I have public hates? Do I have secret hates?

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, search my hearts and show me any hates I have. Help me rid myself of them.

Action for the Day: I'll list any people, nations, to creeds I hate. I'll pray to have this hate removed. I'll pray for these people, nations, or creeds.
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