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February 24 - February 24, 2018
In spots its morality was impossibly good; in others it seemed impossibly bad.
We gloated over the hypocrisy, bigotry, and crushing self-righteousness that clung to so many ‘believers’ even in their Sunday best.
this trait had been an ego-feeding proposition.
we could avoid looking at some of our own shortcomings.
defiance is the outstanding characteristic of many an alcoholic.
At no time had we asked what God’s will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be.
Belief meant reliance, not defiance.
calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate.
faith that worked under all conditions.
whatever price in humility we must pay, ...
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the guy full o...
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The fact was we really hadn’t cleaned house so that the grace of God could enter us and expel the obsession. In no deep or meaningful sense had we ever taken stock of ourselves, made amends to those we had harmed, or freely given to any other human being without any demand for reward. We had not even prayed rightly. We had always said, “Grant me my wishes” instead of “Thy will be done.”
In no deep or meaningful sense had we ever taken stock of ourselves, made amends to those we had harmed, or freely given to any other human being without any demand for reward.
steps 2, 4, 9, and 12.
Steps 3 & 11
enough grace to restore us to sanity.
Few indeed are the practicing alcoholics who have any idea how irrational they are, or seeing their irrationality, can bear to face it.
they are in fact mentally ill.
i.e., need to be restored to sanity
the difference between sane drinking and alcoholism.
because we do the same thing over and over again, and expect a different result
True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith, and every A.A. meeting is an assurance that God will restore us to sanity if we rightly relate ourselves to Him.
there is a god - and it's not me
All we need is a key, and the decision to swing the door open.
There is only one key, and it is called willingness.
unlocked by will...
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Contra Dante’s inscription on Maundy Thursday: “Abandon hope all ye who enter here.”
“This is the way to a faith that works.”
Like all the remaining Steps, Step Three calls for affirmative action,
faith alone can avail nothing.
the effectiveness of the whole A.A. program will rest upon how well and earnestly we have tried to come to “a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God
begin to do it.
a beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed.
beginning, even the smallest, is all t...
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self-will may slam it shut again,
Every man and woman who has joined A.A. and intends to stick has, without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three.
the hole in the doughnut.”
instinct and logic always seek to bolster egotism, and so frustrate spiritual development.
dependence,
it is startling to discover how dependent we really are, and how unconscious of that dependence.
By so accepting our dependence upon this marvel of science, we find ourselves more independent personally. Not only are we more independent, we are even more comfortable and secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently and surely,
This brave philosophy, wherein each man plays God, sounds good in the speaking,
Should his own image in the mirror be too awful to contemplate (and it usually is),
we who are alcoholics can consider ourselves fortunate indeed. Each of us has had his own near-fatal encounter with the juggernaut of self-will, and has suffered enough under its weight to be willing to look for something better.
are willing
And just how does he know that?
the chances are that he has become convinced that he has more problems than alcohol, and that some of these refuse to be solved by all the sheer personal determination and courage he can muster.
only a bare start on A.A.’s program has been made.
a far cry from permanent sobriety and a contented, useful life.
Nothing short of continuous action upon these as a way of life
many problems besides alcohol will not yield to a headlong assault powered by the individual alone.
self-propulsion: any life lived on self-will can hardly be a success - A.A. p. 60:4
develop the quality of willingness.
