Twenty Four Hours A Day

by Anonymous

You are so made that you can only carry the weight of twenty-four hours, no more. If you weigh yourself down with the years behind and the days ahead, your back breaks. God has promised to help with the burdens of the day only.

Yes

Just for this day not the rest of my life!

No

I will learn how to relax. When I am relaxed, God’s strength will flow into me. I will be at peace.

Keeping sober is the most important thing in my life. The most important decision I ever made was my decision to give up drinking. I am convinced that my whole life depends on not taking that first drink. Nothing in the world is as important to me as my own sobriety. Everything I have, my whole life, depends on that one thing. Can I afford ever to forget this, even for one minute?

Vince

When temptation comes, as it does sometimes to all of us, I will say to myself: “No, my whole life depends on not taking that drink and nothing in the world can make me do it.” Besides, I have promised that Higher Power that I wouldn’t do it. I know that God doesn’t want me to drink and I won’t break my promise to God. I’ve given up my right to drink and it’s not my decision any longer.

I know that my new life will not be immune from difficulties, but I will have peace even in difficulties. I know that serenity is the result of faithful, trusting acceptance of God’s will, even in the midst of difficulties.

I will come to God in faith and He will give me a new way of life.

I will learn to overcome myself, because every blow to selfishness is used to shape the real, eternal, unperishable me. As I overcome myself, I gain that power which God releases in my soul. And I too will be victorious. It is not the difficulties of life that I have to conquer, so much as my own selfishness.

I will relax and not get tense. I will have no fear, because everything will work out in the end. I will learn soul-balance and poise in a vacillating, changing world.

We come into A.A. to get sober, but if we stay long enough we learn a new way of living.

I want to be at one with the Divine Spirit of the universe. I will set my deepest affections on things spiritual, not on things material. As we think, so we are. So I will think of and desire that which will help, not hinder, my spiritual growth. I will try to be at one with God. No human aspiration can reach higher than this.

Alcoholic

Sober

My attitude will be one of humility and gratitude.

Gratitude is a necessity for those who seek to live a better life.

I believe that complete surrender of my life to God is the foundation of serenity.

I will try to keep my life calm and unruffled. This is my great task, to find peace and acquire serenity.

As fears and worries and resentments depart out of my life, the things of the spirit come in to take their places. Calm comes after a storm. As soon as I am rid of fears and hates and selfishness, God’s love and peace and calm can come in.

I will try to see good in all people, those I like and also those who fret me

and go against the grain.

I will try to get along with all people, because the more love I give away, the more I will have.

we’re thankful to God that we feel well and happy instead of sick and disgusted. Serenity and happiness have become much more important to us than the excitement of drinking,

I must rely on God. I must trust Him to the limit. I must depend on the Divine Power in all human relationships. I will wait and trust and hope, until God shows me the way. I will wait for guidance on each important decision. I will meet the test of waiting until a thing seems right before I do it. Every work for God must meet this test of time. The guidance will come, if I wait for it.

most important thing anyone can ever learn: that I could call on a Higher Power to help me keep away from liquor; that I could work with that Divine Principle in the universe; and that God would help me to live a sober, useful, happy life.

There is almost no work in life so hard as waiting. And yet God wants me to wait. All motion is more easy than calm waiting, and yet I must wait until God shows me His will.

I pray that I may wait patiently. I pray that I may trust God and keep preparing myself for a better life.

My spiritual life depends on an inner consciousness of God.

My consciousness of God will always bring peace to me. I will have no fear, because a good future lies before me as long as I keep my consciousness of God.

After that first drink, we had a single-track mind. It was like a railroad train. The first drink started it off and it kept going on the single track until it got to the end of the line, drunkenness. We alcoholics knew this was the inevitable result when we took the first drink, but still we couldn’t keep away from liquor. Our willpower was gone. We had become helpless and hopeless before the power of alcohol. It’s not the second drink or the tenth drink that does the damage. It’s the first drink.

Just for today

I must keep a time apart with God every day.

Let inspiration take the place of aspiration. Seek to grow spiritually, rather than to acquire fame and riches. Our chief ambition should be to be used by God.

One drink started a train of thought that became an obsession, and from then on, we couldn’t stop drinking. We developed a mental compulsion to keep drinking until we got good and drunk. People generally make two mistakes about alcoholism. One mistake is that it can be cured by physical treatment only. The other mistake is that it can be cured by willpower only. Most alcoholics have tried both of these ways and have found that they don’t work.

I pray that I may learn patience, humility, and peace.

Alcohol is poison to the alcoholic. Poison is not too strong a word, because alcoholism leads eventually to the death of the alcoholic.

In preparation for that crucial moment when I’ll be tempted, will I keep in mind the fact that liquor is my enemy?

I realize that liquor is now my enemy, my main business is keeping sober. Making a living or keeping house is no longer my main business. It’s secondary to the business of keeping sober. Do I realize that my main business is keeping sober?

As long as I keep in mind that liquor can never be my friend again, but is now my deadly enemy, and as long as I remember that my main business is keeping sober and that it’s the most important thing in my life, I believe I’ll be prepared for that crucial moment when the idea of having a drink pops into my mind.

I must trust God to the best of my ability. This lesson has to be learned. My doubts and fears continually drive me back into the wilderness.

I pray that I may get into that stream of goodness in the world.

I pray that I may do my share in making a better world.

We admitted that alcohol had us licked and that we were helpless against it. We never could decide whether or not to take a drink. We always took the drink.

And since we couldn’t do anything about it ourselves, we put our whole drink problem into the hands of God. We turned the whole thing over to that Power greater than ourselves. And we have nothing more to do about it, except to trust God to take care of the problem for us.

I pray that the fever of resentment, worry, and fear may melt into nothingness. I pray that health, joy, peace, and serenity may take its place.

No work is of value without preparation. Every spiritual work must have behind it much spiritual preparation.

Cut short times of prayer and times of spiritual preparation and many hours of work may be profitless. From the point of view of God, one poor tool working all the time, but doing bad work because of lack of preparation, is of small value compared with the sharp, keen, perfect instrument working for only a short time, but that turns out perfect work because of long hours of spiritual preparation.

As I continue on my spiritual journey, I will seek and follow Divine Guidance and know there is always a place prepared for me. Nothing but my own pride and fear can keep me from my dwelling place with God.

Constant effort is necessary if I am to grow spiritually and develop my spiritual life.