March 7– Daily Reflection
THE KEY IS WILLINGNESS
Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 35
The willingness to give up my pride and self-will to a Power greater than myself has proved to be the only ingredient absolutely necessary to solve all of my problems today. Even the smallest amount of willingness, if sincere, is sufficient to allow God to enter and take control over my problem, pain, or obsession. My level of comfort is in direct relation to the degree of willingness I possess at any given moment to give up my self-will, and allow God’s will to be manifested in my life. With the key of willingness, my worries and fears are powerfully transformed into serenity.
March 7 — Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
There are two important things we have to do if we want to get sober and stay sober. First, having admitted that we are helpless before alcohol, we have to turn our alcoholic problem over to God and trust Him to take care of it for us. This means asking Him every morning for the strength to stay sober for that day and thanking Him every night. It means really leaving the problem in God’s hands and not reaching out and getting the problem back to ourselves. Second, having given our drink problem to God, we must cooperate with Him by doing something about it ourselves. Am I doing these two things?
Meditation For The Day
I must prepare myself by doing each day what I can to develop spiritually and to help others to do so. God tests me and trains me and bends me to His will. If I am not properly trained, I cannot meet the test when it comes. I must want God’s will for me above all else. I must expect to have what I am not prepared for. This preparation consists of quiet communion with God every day and gradually gaining the strength I need.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may really try to do God’s will in all my affairs. I pray that I may do all I can to help others find God’s will for them.
March 7 — As Bill Sees It
For Emergencies Only?, p. 66
Whether we had been believers or unbelievers, we began to get over the idea that the Higher Power was a sort of bush-league pinch hitter, to be called upon only in an emergency.
The notion that we would still live our own lives, God helping a little now and then, began to evaporate. Many of us who had thought ourselves religious awoke to the limitations of this attitude. Refusing to place God first, we had deprived ourselves of His help.
But now the words “Of myself I am nothing, the Father doeth the works” began to carry bright promise and meaning.
12 & 12, p. 75
March 7 — Eye Opener (1950)
Do you hold some great resentment against anyone? Can you afford to keep it? Sure, I know he “done you wrong,” but why? Was there any justification for it? Could you have been a little bit wrong also? Does everyone share your dislike for him? If they like him and you don’t, how do you account for it? Is it possible they know him better than you do?
Catfish, as ugly as they are, make delicious chowder, and a skunk has a valuable fur. No person is either entirely ugly or bad. Maybe there is something wrong with your vision or maybe you haven’t gotten close enough to him to really see him
Hazelden Foundation
March 7 — Big Book Quote
“The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear.”
Alcoholics Anonymous, PG. 145
March 7 — Walk In Dry Places
First things First
Order.
The struggle to bring order into our lives starts with lots of little things. One recovering person discovered that it was a good exercise simply to put the cap back on the toothpaste tube in the morning. This was a reminder that things should be put in their proper place, and the discipline helped later in organizing larger matters.
It is very easy to overlook orderly procedures in the haste to get things done, or to avoid anything that seems unpleasant or demanding. But such oversight always carries a heavy price later on. When we don’t return things to their proper place, for example, we lose them or waste hours looking for them. We may bungle a job simply because we were too lazy to look up the right information or to read directions.
That’s why “First things First” is much more than just a slogan. It’s actually a principle for living, a guide that tells us there is an orderly approach to everything. If we can find that order without becoming slavishly compulsive about it, we’ll find that it simplifies lots of things later on.
“I’ll try to do things in an orderly manner today. When I find myself taking short cuts or becoming too hurried, I’ll regain control by remembering to establish priorities.”
— Mel B.
Hazelden Foundation
Stools & Bottles — Day Seven
Seventh Daily Reminder —
We cannot overemphasize the importance of admitting “our powerlessness over alcohol” or that “our lives had become unmanageable” because of our addiction to it. Lasting sobriety demands this admission. We should attribute our illness to alcoholism (a disease), rather than to lack of will power.
Daily Inventory —
Why must we admit our alcoholism? Is this an alibi for drinking? If we must stay sober in AA, why can’t we do so through willpower?
Suggested Meditation —
AA starts working the moment we admit our alcoholism and ask for help to treat it. Admitting out need for help energizes the powerful forces of honesty and humility within us. They are the rudiments of recovery. Alcoholism is a disease which sickens our bodies and minds. We should ask God to heal our spiritual illness. We treat our bodies with medical care — not with will power.
Spiritual Contact —
Our Father, we admit our alcoholism. Help us to recover from it. We wish to co-operate. Teach us how to rebuild our lives — physically and spiritually.
Daily Physical Audit —
Probably all AA members should examined by a competent doctor to determine their liver conditions. Many have fatty livers and some have mild cirrhosis of the liver. The majority are free from this disease. We should know about our condition, however, and receive medical care when it is needed. Caught early enough, these diseases can be successfully treated.
Hazelden Foundation