Trusting Strangers

At the end of the meeting
after we've talked about our shame,
our failures, our defects,
the leader calmly reads
the admonition, "Please remember
our commitment to honor
each other’s anonymity.
What you hear here,
whom you see here,
when you leave here,
let it stay here."
and everyone chants,
“Hear, hear!”
But what of the strangers
who came for the first time...
and what if the realize
someone has recognized them
because of the office they hold
in that town? Can the strangers
really be trusted?
It's not like they're therapists
who could lose their license.
The voice agreement with words,
"The purpose of this anonymity
is to protect all members
and stress that everyone
in the meetings are of equal value."
But that was eighty years ago.
What happens when they
get on Facebook and spew
the gossip fodder?
Years later I don't really
know how it works,
I just know it does,
“Hear, hear!”

Daddy's Little Boy

But I'm a girl!
Maybe I liked firetrucks
better than dolls.
Maybe my three sisters
acted more like Mother expected.
Maybe I didn't iron well,
even pillowcases.
Maybe my washed dishes
testified to what had been contained.
Maybe I mixed clothes with others
creating dissonance.
Maybe I found comfort in food too often.
Maybe only clothes marked "husky" fit.
Maybe comfort foods became reflexive,
then habitual, then compulsive.
Maybe the husky became three or four
or five X's and the scales screamed
"three hundred" and the love all around me
was unheard through my self-hatred.
Maybe half a century after
"Daddy's little boy" I found
a group of people who called themselves
Compulsive Overeaters
and, in the Rooms of Recovery,
I could recognize I'd been loved
all those years.

My Favorite Step

Twelve Steps, each essential,
each necessary for Recovery.
Can there be a favorite?
Maybe tomorrow another will
claim the glory, but always high,
always deserving special favor
is the Tenth..."continued
to take personal inventory
and when we were wrong,
promptly admitted it."
Why? Because of the word
"continued!" It says from now on,
for the rest of my life,
I'll look at the day I'm living,
work the first nine steps
as to any dis-ease during the day,
any issues, and fix the matter
so I can end the day in serenity.
in alignment, in recovery
and greet the new day
with the miracle in place.

              Copyright : Oliver Shirra

Mutual Friends

Sarah and Sadie were old friends
usually together when in public.
One day I was with my sister Jan
who had lived here for years,
many more than I had.
We were at an outdoor market
and the turned a corner
to almost collide with Sarah and Sadie.
We laughed and I introduced Jan to them,
and she was surprised I knew them and she didn't.
She asked how we had met,
and while I sought a good answer
Linda walked up and knew everyone
except Jan. That was too much,
and Jan pressed for an answer.
She knew of course I was in O.A.
but it would be wrong to say they all were.
I finally dodged the issue and truthfully said,
"We all have mutual friends!"

Copyright : Kirsty Pargeter  

Loneliness

I didn’t call it distrust, but what else kept me always on guard, saying only what others wanted to hear, often doing nothing for fear of displeasing? I walked on timid feet. ~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Locations 717-719). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. Kindle Edition.

Trust is freedom from fear.
Loneliness may be ours
but unknown by that name.
It's being in a crowd,
or beside those we live with
but with nobody we know,
at least with no one we feel
knows us, understands us.
We walk on eggshells,
constantly vigilant,
anticipating attack.
If the statement.
"I walk on timid feet"
strikes a cord, rings true,
you are living a life of loneliness.
The woman who wrote as George Elliot
perhaps described us all when she said,
"What loneliness is more lonely
than distrust?"
We who have lived lives
of quiet desperation
are fortunate when we find
a fellowship of our peers
to banish the loneliness
of a crowd and fill our lives
with brotherhood.

...and together we'll walk these steps.

drawing by Katrina Edwards

Glorious

Worthy of praise or admiration?
Having a striking beauty or splendor?
Could I ever be glorious?
It feels like the answer is NEVER EVER!!
but if someone else answered that question
(about them) that way, I'd scoff.
So if I'm to assume I'm as worthy,
as glorious, as anyone I know, 
I'll go find a mirror
and tell it, "Hello, glorious!"

Tired of Anger

"They" say...you know which they...
You probably have them, too.
But I keep reading that negative emotions
I feel are a choice I make...that I can choose
to respond to negative with negative,
the old "he made me mad!"
But the option is to love him,
to pour it out on him, on his words,
on the flame. The love becomes
a blanket smothering the fire,
leaving a carpet of love,
the anger doused.

The Big Project

The key to overcoming our negative feelings is to say to ourselves that we are capable of finishing our projects. We must say it over and over until we start believing it’s true. Then we can attack the assignment with vitality and positive energy we didn’t know we had. ~ Anonymous. Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families (Hazelden Meditation Series). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Ask and you will receive,
seek and you will receive,
knock and the door will be opened.
Believe you can do it and you can.
If you think you can do it you can
but if you do not believe you can do it,
you're right then, as  well.
Your positive action
combined with positive thinking
results in success.
Replace negative thoughts
with positive ones,
you'll have positive results.
Nothing happens to you,
it happens for you.
Face the sunshine so you won't
see shadows.
I have positive results to achieve.
Do you have a task needing
positive thinking?

Go With Grace

If he had a choice, and he did, he'd go with grace. ~ Diana Gabaldon, Written in My Own Heart's Blood

It's your choice. It's ALWAYS your choice.
Grace, also known as love...
or fear, known at various times as anger,
ridicule, disdain, abuse, sarcasm...
If you have a choice, and you always
have a choice, choose love and grace
rather than the negative iterations of fear.

SALT

"Smiled A Little Then Stopped"
You don't need to be tacky,
to put someone down
just to make yourself seem witty.
In the past I might have laughed
or if I liked the object of your ridicule
more than I cared for you,
I might have given you a taste
of the trash you were spewing.
But I'm happy to say I'm not that me now,
so I will love you, spread good vibes,
and, loving you, have more love
to keep and to give, so I'll watch you become
the salt of the earth.

A Loftier Ambition

There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher. ~ Henry Van Dyke

Ambition from the world's standpoint
is to make more money than you need,
to have strangers address you by name,
to wield power in the world or a major portion.
But that power is meaningless
in the long run. Ambition that matters
is to touch hurting people whether or not
they know your name or even whose touch
made a difference.

I've Got It

God knows exactly what I need and has already given it to me. My job is to keep it simple and ask for God’s help in relieving me of the extra stuff—the shortcomings that keep me tied down. ~ Family Groups, Al-Anon. Courage to Change—One Day at a Time in Al‑Anon II. Al-Anon Family Groups. Kindle Edition.

I love the understanding I need ask nothing of God,
that I've already received it all. An unlimited supply.
That whatever blocks the path, keeps what I want
out of reach, is merely surfeit, excess, surplus
I'm ready to prune. Anger, jealousy, anxiety,
greed, impatience, procrastination, dishonesty...
all those things I'm completely ready
to have God remove. Those things are snags,
hurdles, stumbling blocks. Who would think to keep them
when releasing them opens the path to love,
to peace, to acceptance, delight, the comfortable arms of God?
God's gifts are mine, all mine, and yours, all yours
for accepting!

No ACCIDENT

We are not on this path accidentally. We have not been introduced to these truths accidentally. There is nothing about our lives so far that is accidental. And tomorrow will prove to be no different. ~ Casey , Karen. 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life (Kindle Locations 545-547). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

How did you get to the rooms of Recovery?
Were years of misery a requisite to your arrival?
If so, be grateful for them, for these rooms
are the best place you can be...or maybe
it's just that the long road here was worth the stress
because these amazing rooms, the destination
makes it right. It was not an accident we got here
but this midpoint in the journey was in the plans
from the beginning. And that remains true...
as delighted as we are to have found this place,
that to come is even better. But we have a role,
a part in the plan and we move forward
in accordance with the plan by giving love
which comes tight back to us and as good as this feels
we've got giant steps toward what is best,
easy steps as we live theseTwelve Steps.
Glory be the reality that awaits us!

Procrastination

An extensive Tenth Step inventory might focus on one particular character defect, behavior pattern, or area of life. ~ Overeaters Anonymous. The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition. Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. Kindle Edition.

If you've read Recovery Daily Dose a while
you're read the definition of procrastination
as chronic low-intensity fear. My scan
found ten times in the past. That it's the title
chosen today indicates it remains a burr
under my saddle. So, is the reading today
prescient, did the next selection quit instructing
and start meddling? Maybe, but I think
of a wise old lawyer I knew. He would sit
in a Texas courtroom and with the Bronx boyhood
embedded in his speech say, of defendants
charged with fleeing to elude say,
"But they're CRIMINALS, that's their JOOOB!"
And I read Recovery literature for that reason.
"It should meddle. That's why I'm reading it."My character defect of the day is procrastination.
Naming it as fear is enlightening but solves nothing
if I continue to ignore things I promised to do months ago.
So, to begin this during morning readings
only to return near bedtime then to escape to
stupid computer games, a vice appearing
in these poems a precious eight times,
is to gain nothing from the process.
I've identified two character defects,
or behavior patterns to be addressed.
What benefit has procrastination given me?
It keeps me from feeling incompetent, inadequate.
What benefit have computer games given me?
In moderation, they are a diversion
allowing ideas to develop in the background.
I'm ready to be a mature adult
and to have them removed.
They have reached the point they
My Creator, I am now willing
that You should have all of me,
good and bad. I pray
that You now remove from me
every single defect of character
which stands in the way of my usefulness
to You and my fellows.
Grant me strength,
as I go out from here,
to do Your bidding.Another reading today
reassured me I'm moving
in the right direction:

My sense of failure is a sure sign that I am growing in the new life. It is only struggle that hurts. In sloth—physical, mental, or spiritual—there is no sense of failure or discomfort. ~ Anonymous. Twenty Four Hours A Day: Meditations (p. 36). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

from:https://www.youthareawesome.com

My Will

Father, my will is Yours. And I am safe, untroubled and serene, in endless joy, because it is Your Will that it be so. ~ Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles. Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition.

There is an exception to what
the program slogan says
in the spirit of Step 11,
"Thy will, not mine, be done."
How can that be?
It happens when you understand
and hold the truth dear
that your surrender can be so complete
that you accept God's will
and align yourself so completely
that God's will has become your own.
Then you can say,  "Thy will,
which is mine as well, be done."

I'm Not Asking for Forgiveness

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. ~ Step 9

I have realized I was unfair to you
last May when you suggested a change
in our agreement and I made it personal
and criticized you rather than the idea.
That was unkind and uncalled for
and I regret my part in making it
an uncomfortable conversation.
If you are interested I'm ready,
now or when you choose,
to consider the idea calmly.
No matter what your decision is,
I want you to know I was out of place
and that I regret it.

Copyright : Aleksandr Davydov

It's in the Pause

It’s in the pause that we receive the words we need to hear or the nudge to follow one path or another. It’s in the pause that we are assured of the love and the direction that everyone on our path needs too. ~ Casey , Karen. 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life (Kindle Locations 896-898). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

Breathe in. Pause. Breathe out.
Pray. Pause. Go inside and fix breakfast.
Pray as you work in the kitchen,
surrender your day to God
“not my will but yours.”
Start your day with the computer
not with games but with Recovery readings
soak in the wisdom to guide your day
pausing after each, absorbing.
Pause often, seeking his guidance,
choosing the best path, the best thoughts
to guide your day. Go through the day
pausing often and at the end of the day,
go through it again, pausing thankfully
for a day well lived.

Start with the Promise

God has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself. Let me but learn from my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to me. ~ Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles. Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition.

1 John 5:14 says, "This is the confidence we have
in approaching God: that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hears us."
Jeremiah 29:12-13 says,"Then you will call on me
and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all your heart."
Isaiah 65:24 says, “It shall come to pass
that before they call, I will answer;
and while they are still speaking, I will hear”
Start with the promise. Call out to God.
Practice often, finding it true.Believe
and God is there. ready, eager,
to meet your needs. Try until you know
God's right there to meet your needs.

It's in the Pause

It's in the pause that we receive the words we need to hear or the nudge to follow one path or another. It's in the pause that we are assured of the love and the direction that everyone on our path needs too. ~ Casey , Karen. 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life (Kindle Locations 896-898). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

Breathe in. Pause. Breathe out.
Pray. Pause. Go inside and fix breakfast.
Pray as you work in the kitchen,
surrender your day to God
"not my will but yours."
Start your day with the computer
not with games but with Recovery readings
soak in the wisdom to guide your day
pausing after each, absorbing.
Pause often, seeking his guidance,
choosing the best path, the best thoughts
to guide your day. Go through the day
pausing often and at the end of the day,
go through it again, pausing thankfully
for a day well lived.

Copyright : gracel21

Miracle to Miracle

To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings - it's all a miracle. I have adopted the technique of living life miracle to miracle. ~ Arthur Rubinstein

Miracles suggest rarity
but that's not inevitable.
C. S. Lewis said "Miracles
are a retelling in small letters
of the very same story
which is written across the whole world
in letters too large for some of us to see."
I accept the challenge to live
miracle to miracle. Isn't that
a way to describe Recovery?
How about you? Expect miracles
all day!

As a Little Child

If we are willing to again become as children and cast ourselves on God without reservation, we shall receive His support. It is His Power that frees us from our false dependency on food. ~ L., Elisabeth. Food for Thought: Daily Meditations for Overeaters (Kindle Locations 3035-3036). Hazelden Publishing.

Jesus said “Truly I tell you,
unless you change
and become like little children,
you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever takes the lowly positionof this child is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven."
What does it mean?
A little child is guileless...
without guilt, innocent,
lacking pretense.
Children and fools always tell the truth.
A little child is transparent,
has nothing to hide.
A little child is curious,
eager to learn.
A little child trusts,
believes the best of all.
A little child like everyone, loves all.
A little child trusts and says
whatever he thinks.
A little child follows,
knows someone more capable
is in control, and all is good.
Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee...

What's the Matter Here

We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is enough. He is like the farmer who came up out of his cyclone cellar to find his home ruined. To his wife, he remarked, “Don’t see anything the matter here, Ma. Isn’t it grand the wind stopped blowing’?” ~World Service, Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book and A Study Guide of the 12 Steps. Anonymous Publishing. Kindle Edition.

It's more than a diet!
It's more than a healthy body weight.
It's seeing the whole picture
but remembering we're not in charge.
We know there's devastation
but there's a strong Power in charge
and all we need is willingness.
When we do what we can do,
what we're guided toward,
what we're inspired to do,
others will as well.
And after all, the wind quit blowing!
Isn't that grand?

  Copyright : Dustie Meads

Faults Included

My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents, and I lay them both at His feet. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

How can a failure be a blessing?
Why would you consider anything
both an imperfection
and something to be laid
at the feet of God?
This quote is easy to find
but not usually in context.
He went on, "I think He deliberately
did so. He had to serve the poor,
dumb, ignorant millions.
A perfect man
might have been their despair."Gandhi believed it gave
the masses confidence in themselves,
that they needed a flawed leader
to be willing to follow him.
God, I offer you my imperfections,
my failures as well as my successes
and talents. Please use them...
use me...in any way you choose!

Success

Success is mine today, no matter what the undertaking, when I tap the power of God within me and allow myself to be an open channel for the expression of His good. ~ Anonymous. A Day at a Time: Daily Reflections for Recovering People (Hazelden Meditations) (Kindle Locations 3219-3220). Hazelden Publishing.

How can we be an open channel
for the Power within us?
The other option is a closed channel
which looks like a pipe. An open channel
looks like a canal, a culvert, a flume,
or a stream not up to the banks.
Would I choose to be a pipe or a canal?
It seems a pipe determines the quantity,
the maximum volume,
where the source sets the capacity
in a channel. I know me. If I were a pipe
I'd be too limited because I would doubt
the Power chose to be magnanimous,
lavish, unselfish. I might expect
a stingy Power out of low self-esteem,
But that's not the Power I serve.
“Lord, make me a channel of thy peace—
that where there is hatred, I may bring love—
that where there is wrong, I may bring
the spirit of forgiveness—
that where there is discord,
I may bring harmony—
that where there is error,
I may bring truth—
that where there is doubt,
I may bring faith—
that where there is despair,
I may bring hope—
that where there are shadows,
I may bring light—
that where there is sadness,
I may bring joy..."*

*St. Francis of Assisi

  CC BY-SA 3.0

Where's God?

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. ~Hebrews 1:1-2 (NASB)
Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 55

God’s out there, up there, everywhere
power beyond power
love beyond love
shouting through thunderstorms
whispering through a cricket’s chirp
speaking to us though we don’t listen
sending his essence, his doppelganger,
his son to show us, help us hear,
get the fundamental truth
to echo the eternal song of love,
of acceptance, of peace,
of hope.
He molds the world — 
he cares for me.

God – calamity, pomp, other things
distract me from truth
around me – in me – of me
the me that is you
and your
word.

Rollins, Barbara with OAStepper.
A Cloud of Witnesses -
Two Big Books and Us.
Eagle Wings Press imprint
of Silver Boomer Books. Kindle Edition.

What Is Sanity?

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. ~ Step 2

What does it mean,
being restored to sanity?
Compos mentosas opposed to not legally
responsible,
non compos mentos...the answer in a courtroom.
Sanity is having reasonable
understanding; a sound mind;
possessing mental faculties
capable of distinguishing
right from wrong...How does that compare
to Step Three's sanity?
How close to non compos mentos
is being all into our addiction?
With Paul we could have said,
 For the good that I would I do not:
but the evil which I would not, that I do.After  we turn our lives and wills
over to God as we understand God,
then we have the ability to think
and behave in a normal
and rational manner;
sound mental health.
Sanity is no longer having
an attitude approaching veneration
for food or another substance or compulsion
and establishing a relation
of veneration for the God of our Understanding.

 Came to believe that a Power greater
than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 

Can I Really Change the World?

   If others' words or deeds aren't kind and loving, they are afraid. And I am not at fault. Plain and simple.
When I know someone is filled with fear, I am filled with an inner willingness to be kind, regardless of what they said or did. ~ Casey , Karen. 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life (Kindle Locations 880-882). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

Fear? When fear comes disguised
as anger, arrogance, accusation,
bitterness, belittling, scorn, taunts,
derision, pomposity, and rage then
identifying it as fear and responding
not from our own fear but from love,
forgiveness, gentleness, care,
compassion and kindness
represents a learned behavior.
But our tranquility,
our emotional embrace leaves us in peace
and may well dilute the other's fear,
changing them and their outlook.
We in Recovery have spent years
trying to change others without success
but in living love we can change not just
a person but the chain reaction
may actually change the world!

Use Me, God

And God never said to any of the angels,
“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies,
making them a footstool under your feet.”
Therefore, angels are only servants – spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation. ~ Hebrews 1:13-14 (NLT)
Being possessed of a spiritual experience, the alcoholic…may bring new hope and new courage to many a priest, minister, or rabbi, who gives his all to minister to our troubled world. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, Pages 131-132

Warts, scars, pocks and all
I’m here to help
if there’s a use,
for such as me.
Others younger, stronger,
more agile, more congenial,
make more sense,
but if you can use
these assets, this old tired body,
to minister, to serve, to carry the message,
okay. I’m ready,
just point me in the right direction
and tell me your will,
give me power to carry it out.

God, I offer myself to Thee –
to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt.
Relieve me of the bondage of self,
that I may better do Thy will.
Take away my difficulties, that victory over them
may bear witness to those I would help
of Thy Power,
Thy Love,
and Thy Way of life.
May I do Thy will always!*

Rollins, Barbara with OAStepper.
A Cloud of Witnesses -
Two Big Books and Us.
Eagle Wings Press imprint
of Silver Boomer Books. Kindle Edition.

*Alcoholics Anonymous, page 63

Faith Takes Practice

The Disciples asked for lessons
with the perfect exemplar among them.
"Now I lay me down to sleep"
with for-a-child scary words
won't create a lifetime of knowledge.
So, how do we grow faith?
Billy Graham's answer was
the fruits of the Spirit:
love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control.
We can ask for them,
notice them in others
and in ourselves,
and come to incorporate them.
Kenneth Copeland's answer is
hearing the Word,
believing the Word,
taking the Word, and
acting on the Word.
One way is to start small.
Ask for guidance in something routine,
then when we are in a bind
asking is easier, understanding
we've received an answer
is more natural. Finally
faith becomes our first choice.
Read material likely to lead your thinking
toward faith, talk to people of faith
and look for answers you need
in conversations
with people of faith.
Above all, "Keep on asking,
and you will receive what you ask for.
Keep on seeking, and you will find.
Keep on knocking,
and the door will be opened to you."*

• Matthew 7:7

The Gift of Humility

Humility is a gift as surely as is our recovery from compulsive eating and the other miracles of healing we experience as we work the Twelve Steps. ~ Overeaters Anonymous. The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition. Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Humility. Freedom from pride or arrogance...
 the quality or state of being humble.
The source of the word meant humble, grounded,
from the earth, from Latin for ground.
The humble (having humility)
are poor in spirit and inherit the Earth.
Humiliate. To reduce (someone) to a lower position
in one's own eyes or others' eyes
to make (someone) ashamed
or embarrassed. To mortify.
Humiliate came from Latin for
"to bring low."
Humiliation has no place in our lives,
and we know better than to accept it
as we know better than to impose it.
Humility is a gift, a miracle of healing
that enables us to allow God as we understand God
to remove our worn-out solutions
to make us useful to God and our cohorts.

Living the Program

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. ~ Aristotle

Working the program is a good start
but by no means is it a good lifestyle.
We begin by acting as if, by trying to live
according to the Steps as we understand them,
by listening, by learning. After a while
we finally grasp the concept of Step Three
and that last line in the 12 and 12
becomes real not just in our minds
but in our life: Once we compulsive eaters
truly take the Third Step,
we cannot fail to recover.And, having fully surrendered
to a Power greater than we are,
then, is not an act, but a habit.
We are living Recovery!

3. Made a decision to turn our will
and our lives over to the care of God
 as we understood Him.

People of Faith

When many hundreds of people are able to say that the consciousness of the Presence of God is today the most important fact of their lives, they present a powerful reason why one should have faith. ~ A.A. World Services Inc. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition. A.A. World Services, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

The Big Book also says, "All men of faith have courage."
While we're free to define our own higher power,
and to some extent our relationship with the power,
it seems our surrender in Step Three and later steps
requires a confidence in that Power...
confidence commonly known as faith.
Are not all Recovery folks people of faith?
We are like trapeze artists depending
on the knowledge and skill of another
to catch us when, powerless, we surrender...
let go and trust the Power to have us.
And it works!

Copyrighr: Michael Heywood - Ireland

Pass It On

Whatever you have received from God, you must give to others. If you’ve been loved, you must love. And if you’ve been loved without having deserved that love, then you must love those who don’t deserve your love. If you’ve been given joy, your life must bring joy to others. If you’ve been saved, then you must save others. And if you’ve been blessed, then your life must bring blessing into the lives of others. ~ Cahn, Jonathan. The Book of Mysteries (p. 357). Charisma House. Kindle Edition.

Are you blessed?
Have you received more
than your fair share in life?
Has life blessed you?
What's your response
to blessings? Is it enough?
What should you do now?
What will you do now?
Pass it on!

Love Needed Here

I needed love before I even knew what it was. Now that I understand something about it, I need it even more. By loving myself, I not only take care of my own needs, but I lay a foundation for loving others. By loving others, I learn to treat myself well. ~ Family Groups, Al-Anon. Courage to Change—One Day at a Time in Al‑Anon II. Al-Anon Family Groups. Kindle Edition.

Love is the answer...
such a simple answer...
such a profound answer.
Love is the answer
to every bit of pain throughout the world.
Love is the way to heal hatred,
jealousy, depression, resentment,
and the source of it all...fear.
Love is the response I will give
to violence, to bitterness, to life.
As I give love I receive it back
and if we all live love we will love life
and all mankind.

The Number One Offender

Resentment is the “number one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease; for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. ~ World Service, Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book and A Study Guide of the 12 Steps. Anonymous Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Resentment. The number one offender.
Bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly...
or at least believing it true. The word comes from
the Latin for feeling again. When we do a Fourth Step
we often find we really weren't treated unfairly,
that we started the ball rolling but shifted responsibility
for the hurt we felt. The Resentment bug is epidemic
in the lives of addicts like us. But there is hope...
there is a remedy for the illness of resentment.
For a spiritual malady, the solution is a spiritual aid,
a Power able to resolve what we could not!
Thank God!

He's In Charge

He also says to the Son, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.  They will perish, but you remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing.  You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing. But you are always the same; you will live forever.” ~ Hebrews 1:10-12 (NLT) 

Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us – sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them. ~Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 84

Always.
Before anything,
after everything,
always.
We have no yesterday,
we have no tomorrow,
we have only right now.
But we have always.
We have no laurels
to rest on,
no accomplishments to tout.
We have no manifest destiny.
We have today,
to act in faith
or act as if,
to do the next right thing
with the promise of always.

God, let me fold up my pride,
my ambition, my fears,
my longing for the easy way out
like old clothing
and work for always.

The Lifeline

The life-line, the line of rescue, is the line from the soul to God. On one end of the life-line is our faith and on the other end is God’s power. ~ Anonymous. Twenty Four Hours A Day: Meditations (p. 24). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

The problem with a life preserver
is that so often it keeps you afloat
but you're on your own to get to safety.
They're making remote control
automated devices today
but for me I'd prefer a strong pull
toward safety. We can rely on a lifeline
if the Power pulling us to safety
is God's love. Isn't that exactly what we have
in the rooms of Recovery?

Self Will Is not Self-Esteem

In speaking of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels spirits,
his servants flames of fire.”
But about the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God,
has set you above your companions 
by anointing you with the oil of joy.” ~Hebrews 1:7-9 (NIV)\\ 

For the next few years fortune threw money and applause my way. I had arrived. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 3 

…we…chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all. Rather vain of us, wasn’t it? ~Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 49

Praise me.
Tell me I’m good,
affirm my moth-eaten self-esteem
so I can believe my lies,
endure my doubts.
Praise me more than others
for what you say of them
I hear negating me.
I must feel special
for inside me I know I’m nothing
a façade, a farce.
Tell me I’m good,
preserve the gossamer lies.

Free me from giving praise
expecting reciprocity,
from seeking center stage.
Remind me I’m your brag – or sag –
that all praise I might generate is yours.

Rollins, Barbara with OAStepper.
A Cloud of Witnesses -
Two Big Books and Us.
Eagle Wings Press imprint
of Silver Boomer Books. Kindle Edition.

Do Bot Be Discouraged

Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection. ~ World Service, Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book and A Study Guide of the 12 Steps. Anonymous Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Be not dismayed whatever betide
God will take care of you...*Recognize your greatness
but you can also understand
the smallness of your greatness
and see how much further you may
be able to move in Recovery
and in your understanding
of the Greatness of the Power within you.
You cannot become right now
the perfect Twelve Stepper
but if you desire this way of life,
this inherent peace and serenity
you will move closer and closer
to the goal each day you commit
to the path you have found.

*C. D. Martin

The Big Picture

...over the long run, continuance, consistency, and perseverance overcome everything else. And the small upward steps, taken every day, will end up lifting you to the heights. God has called you not only to love, but to keep loving; not only to believe, but to press on in believing; and not only to do right, but to persevere in doing it. ~ Cahn, Jonathan. The Book of Mysteries (p. 350). Charisma House. Kindle Edition.

One day at a time, one step at a time,
keep going one decision at a time
made by including your Higher Power
and following as you're led.
Basic instructions are simple:
always choose the loving option,
always know Who is in charge
and trust the guidance,
and choose to take actions
as directed through the Steps.
the Traditions, the Literature
and the Tools, and persevere
in doing it all!

Either Everything or Not

When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crises  we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is or He isn’t. What was our choice to be?  ~ World Service, Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book and A Study Guide of the 12 Steps. Anonymous Publishing. Kindle Edition.

What is the most important thing or being in your life?
For most of us in Recovery it was once the substance
or the behavior that got us here. It was that
to which we turned to face the world. That
was our Higher Power, our de facto god.
Is your god a person, you, your spouse.
your child? Is it your reputation? Your job?
Even your church? What would you cling to,
cherish, crave most? If it's not your Higher Power...
then it's your higher power.
Either God is everything
or else He is nothing.

God either is or He isn’t.
What is your choice to be?

Who God Is

For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”?  Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?  And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” ~ Hebrews 1:5-6 (NIV)

Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 52

God’s not an artichoke heart,
worth getting to but buried, hidden, 
isolated. God is the lifeblood, 
boundless, pervasive.
God’s not in the universe; 
the universe is in God. If God’s 
your co-pilot, you’re in the wrong seat.
Don’t go to God with a list of things 
to fix, his marching orders. 
Report for duty ready to hear him give 
your orders for today.
You can’t keep the hair on your head 
from falling out; he can hold worlds and 
stay their course. If you don’t like the 
god you met in church or synagogue or at 
the mosque, toss him out. God’s out
there, everywhere, anywhere, not in the 
air but the air itself. Toss out your 
inadequate god and meet the real thing
but most of all understand that you’re 
not god.

WOW. God, what an honor to be
a grain of sand on your beach.

 Rollins, Barbara with OAStepper.
A Cloud of Witnesses -
Two Big Books and Us
(Kindle Locations 84-108).
Eagle Wings Press imprint of
Silver Boomer Books. Kindle Edition. 

Let Them Be

Allowing others to be who they want to be is simply a seldom-tried activity. Making the decision to step away from the lives of others seems unnatural to most of us. Aren’t they here, by our side, because of the good we can do for them? ~ Casey , Karen. 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life (Kindle Locations 641-643). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

I can tell you how to run your life…
not that I’ve done so well on mine,
but yours I can handle…
not that all the years I tried to dictate
I managed to give appropriate advice
despite earnest trying, but still…
But I laid down that role
and the soothsaying when I admitted
total failure in managing mine
and that I could choose no better for you
than I had in handling mine.
I’d be glad to tell you what works for me
for I believe the Twelve Steps
answer all our needs, but you decide
and I’ll help if you wish…
but I won’t decide your course
but I’ll love you and back you
in the life you choose for you.

God Is Real

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. ~ Hebrews 1:1-2

Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 55

God’s out there, up there, everywhere 
power beyond power 
love beyond love 
shouting through thunderstorms 
whispering through a cricket’s chirp 
speaking to us though we don’t listen 
sending his essence, 
his doppelgänger, 
his son 
to show us, help us hear,
get the fundamental truth 
to echo the eternal song of love, 
of acceptance, 
of peace, 
of hope. 
He molds the world —  
he cares for me.

God – calamity, pomp, other things 
distract me from truth 
around me – in me – of me 
the me that is you 
and your word.

Rollins, Barbara B. with OAStepper.
A Cloud of Witnesses –
Two Big Books and Us .
Eagle Wings Press imprint
of Silver Boomer Books. Kindle Edition.

The Butterfly Effect

I believe, too, in the butterfly effect. The coupling of love with the butterfly effect means that every time I greet another person with kindness, my action ripples forward, positively impacting the universe of seven billion people. ~ Casey , Karen. 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life (Kindle Locations 614-616). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

A butterfly flits from flower to flower,
picking up pollen, depositing it,
no obvious plan, just part of the beauty,
spreading the beauty, prolonging it,
making possible the next spring’s glory.
Our role is the butterfly’s role,
spreading love like pollen, sharing ours,
causing a loving response with our smile, 
our kind words, our caring, our understanding.
We pick up the love we receive in response
and spread that to the harried clerk,
the driver in the next car, the son or daughter,
husband or wife we share time with,
and our butterfly effect carries on,
touching people who spread it from us,
wiping out anger, fear, distrust
by spreading love to all we meet,
knowing that love is massive enough
to cure the conflict, remove distrust,
to impact the universe, transforming it,
for seven billion people, one at a time. 

Keep Getting Up and Win

Get up and get on with it. No matter how great your fall, get up and keep going. And if you fall again, get up again. And if you keep falling, keep getting up again. And if you keep falling and getting up again, you’ll end up crossing the finish line, and you’ll win the race. ~ Cahn, Jonathan. The Book of Mysteries (p. 344). Charisma House. Kindle Edition.

Fall, get up, pick yourself up, 
go on with your plan,
toward your destination.
There is a destination,
and if you get up each time you fall,
you will reach the goal you started to.
If you reach the finish line
you will relish the accomplishment.
You are not in the action to impress
those beside the path or even to best
those running around you.
The goal is the finish line
and you and the Power who stays with you
are the ones whose joy and love
that make crossing the finish line
fulfillment of your efforts.
Keep getting up, don’t give up,
and claim your victory
over all that matters most.