Daily Recovery Readings for September 28, 2017:

Daily Reflection

LOVE WITHOUT STRINGS

Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics.

— ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89

Sponsorship held two surprises for me. First, that my sponsees cared about me. What I had thought was gratitude was more like love. They wanted me to be happy, to grow and remain sober. Knowing how they felt kept me from drinking more than once. Second, I discovered that I was able to love someone else responsibly, with respectful and genuine concern for that person’s growth. Before that time, I had thought that my ability to care sincerely about another’s well-being had atrophied from lack of use. To learn that I can love, without greed or anxiety, has been one of the deepest gifts the program has given me. Gratitude for that gift has kept me sober many times.

From the book Daily Reflections
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Big Book Quote

Yes, there is a long period of reconstruction ahead. We must take the lead. A remorseful mumbling that we are sorry won’t fill the bill at all. We ought to sit down with the family and frankly analyze the past as we now see it, being very careful not to criticize them. Their defects may be glaring, but the chances are that our own actions are partly responsible. So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love.

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 83~

Keep It Simple

Honesty is the backbone of our recovery program. Honesty opens us up. It breaks down the walls we had built around our secret world. Those walls made a prison for us. But all of that is now changed. We are free. Honesty has made us wise. We aren’t sneaking drinks anymore. We don’t have a stash to protect. People who didn’t trust us now depend on our honesty. People who worked hard to avoid us, now seek us out. Self-honesty is the greatest gift we can give ourselves.

Prayer for the Day:
Higher Power, You are truth. I pray that I may not turn away from truth. I will not lie. My life depends on honesty.

Action For the Day:
For twenty or thirty minutes, I will think about how learning to be honest has changed my life.

Daily Horoscope – Cancer

You might grow anxious if you think that someone is trying to control your message today. It feels as if your efforts are thwarted before you can bring your truth out into the open. However, the wheels of change are starting to roll, empowering you to hold onto your thoughts until they are heard. In the long run, everyone involved will benefit from the truth. Author Bryant McGill wrote, “Real transformation requires real honesty. If you want to move forward, get real with yourself.”