Daily
Reflections reading November 16th
A Daily Reprieve
What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 85
Maintaining my spiritual condition is like working out every day, planning for the marathon, swimming laps, jogging. It’s staying in good shape spiritually, and that requires prayer and meditation. The single most important way for me to improve my conscious contact with a Higher Power is to pray and meditate. I am as powerless over alcohol as I am to turn back the waves of the sea; no human force had the power to overcome my alcoholism. Now I am able to breathe the air of joy, happiness and wisdom. I have the power to love and react to events around me with the eyes of a faith in things that are not readily apparent. My daily reprieve means that, no matter how difficult or painful things appear today, I can draw on the power of the program to stay liberated from my cunning, baffling and powerful illness..
© Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
My thoughts on November 16th Reading
My wife and I are both in AA, both happy
sober recovering Alcoholic’s I was asked some time ago do we need Al-Anon to
stay sober together, at that time I said I don't think I need two programs to
keep me close to one God
Seems that AA and Al-Anon teach the same
principles and same 12 steps, but they have a different meaning in each group,
I did not need Alanson to live a sober life with another sober alcoholic, but
when tragic time fell on us in the form of alcoholism in our family members
I found the help of those in Al-anon to
be a tremendous help in my personally dealing with our sons one thank God is
doing great but or other son is nnot doing good he needs a liver transplant
because of this disease and I know I am powerless to stop his drinking
I am not cured of alcoholism what I have
is a daily reprieve from a disease of mind body and soul if I maintain my
spiritual conditioning keeping my spiritual principles I have a choice today to
take my own inventory and leave others to take their own
As an active alcoholic I lost my ability
to choose whether I would drink or not only because I had a compulsion that I
could not fight out there alone in my disease was compelled to go on with my
own destruction because I was alone in the disease
Thanks to God I did make a choice that
brought about my recovering from the disease step one I came to believe that
alone I was powerless over alcohol and had no life to manage I also came to
believe that a Higher Power could restore me to some form of sanity in my life
But only when I became willing to
practice all of A.A.'s Twelve Steps to a new freedom I sure did have to become willing
to make all the changes in my life to stay sober I know the futility of trying
to break the drinking obsession by my own will power alone
Honesty open mindedness and willingness
to accept the steps as a way of life was the only way I could restore me to
sanity in my ways of living without the drink by continue progress in making
choices and moving toward high goals
My sanity has returns and the compulsion
to drink has vanished from my life for today as long as I keeps away from the
first drink go to meetings and reach out to help other, I will have a
reasonably happy and healthy life free from bondage of myself
But once I take any alcohol whatever into
my system I know something happens in both the body and mind which will make it
virtually impossible for my to stop my own experiences confirms this to me by
watching others go out again some never to return
I do not wish to ever set cycle of
drinking in motion again have way to much to lose to do that, I know the main
problem of the alcoholic has always centered in his mind rather than in his
body I know now how irrational I was by seeing this irrationality in myself
thru the fourth step
I was in fact mentally ill I today
understand the difference between sane drinking and alcoholism
"sanity" is defined as "soundness of mind." and I sure did
not have that in my drinking days I know that as long as I keep away from drink
I will reacts much like other people who are sane
As
long as I let God guide me thru life I will be happy and free
God bless you Al M
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suggestions or comments
