Daily Recovery Readings - December

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December 1

Daily Reflections

"SUGGESTED" STEPS

Our Twelfth Step also says that as a result of practicing
all the Steps, we have each found something called a
spiritual awakening. . . . A.A.'s manner of making ready
to receive this gift lies in the practice of the Twelve
Steps in our program."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 106-07

I remember my sponsor's answer when I told him that the
Steps were "suggested." He replied that they are
"suggested" in the same way that, if you were to jump
out of a airplane with a parachute, it is "suggested"
that you pull the ripcord to save your life. He pointed
out that it was "suggested" I practice the Twelve Steps,
if I wanted to save my life. So I try to remember daily
that I have a whole program of recovery based on all
Twelve of the "suggested" Steps.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

The thoughts that come before having a slip are often
largely subconscious. It is a question whether or not
our subconscious minds ever become entirely free from
alcoholic thoughts as long as we live. For instance,
some of us dream about being drunk when we are asleep,
even after several years of sobriety in A.A. During the
period of our drinking days, our subconscious minds have
been thoroughly conditioned by our alcoholic way of
thinking and it is doubtful that they ever become
entirely free of such thoughts during our lifetime. But
when our conscious minds are fully conditioned against
drinking, we can stay sober and our subconscious minds
do not often bother us. Am I still conditioning my conscious
mind?

Meditation For The Day

Having sympathy and compassion for all who are in
temptation, a condition which we are sometimes in, we
have a responsibility towards them. Sympathy always
includes responsibility. Pity is useless because it does
not have a remedy for the need. But wherever our sympathy
goes, our responsibility goes too. When we are moved with
compassion, we should go to the one in need and bind up
his wounds as best we can.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have sympathy for those in temptation.
I pray that I may have compassion for others' trials.

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As Bill Sees It

Quantity or Quality, p. 11

"About this slip business--I would not be too discouraged. I think you
are suffering a great deal from a needless guilt. For some reason or
other, the Lord has laid out tougher paths for some of us, and I guess
you are treading one of them. God is not asking us to be successful. He
is only asking us to try to be. That, you surely are doing, and have been
doing. So I would not stay away from A.A. through any feeling of
discouragement or shame. It's just the place you should be. Why don't
you try just as a member? You don't have to carry the whole A.A. on
your back, you know!

"It is not always the quantity of good things that you do, it is also the
quality that counts.

"Above all, take it one day at a time."

Letter, 1958

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Walk In Dry Places

Why do bad things happen?
Understanding life
No one has been able to explain why pain and misfortune must be part of the human condition. Bad things can and do happen to everybody, and sometimes there's no way to explain it.
Even in sobriety, AA members have misfortunes---times when it appears that God is hiding. We even hear members share such experiences at meetings.
Many of us have found ways to use misfortunes constructively, however, by seeing how the program helps us deal with it. In some cases---but not all---we even learn that a misfortune was a disguised blessing.
Most important, by using the program, we are e

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