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.

Greatest Need

 Our group, our recovery, our friends, our support.
So important to my getting better, this weekly time
that means so much to me. I really don’t need to explain,
to answer questions, to start at the beginning,
to read all the instructions, to deal with tears, denial,
timidity, temerity, all the issues that come with someone new.
Then we read that Twelfth Step. Having had a spiritual awakening
as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message
to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles
in all our affairs. As the result. It’s part of the steps.
That ridiculous thing people say to a newcomer,
“You’re the most important person in the room.”
Well, yes, they are more trouble when they come
but we need them to carry the message, to learn
from what we say to them and from what they say to us.
They really are the most important people in the room,
these newcomers.

 

Worthy

 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ~Hebrews 3:3-4 (NIV)

 God, I offer myself to Thee – to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 63

He’s building.
I’m not even the building, just a tool,
maybe the materials – and but a piece.
What do I make him
when I set the plan,
dictate who he’s to help
and how?
How dare I tell him
what I need,
order his prompt obeisance?
Worthy is the Lamb.
Worthy of respect,
worthy of honor,
worthy of submission.

God, “I offer myself to Thee —
to build with me
and to do with me
as Thou wilt.”*
I believe!

*Alcoholics Anonymous, page 63

An Errant Toddler

 

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ~ Hebrews 10:1-4 (NIV)

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism.  ~ Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 85

Wake praying,
turning life
and the living it over to God,
Move through the day
surrendering again, then again.
Yesterday’s piety
counts for nothing,
commitments coming tomorrow,
next year,
fifty years out
count for nothing.
Today matters,
just this day,
just this surrender,
just today’s willingness
and peace.

God, I’m an errant toddler
straying from safety,
forgetting the peace
of compliance,
of surrender.
Show me.

 A Cloud of Witnesses --
Two Big Books and Us
Barbara B. Rollins
with OAStepper

Pride in Abstinence

 Some of these people will get loaded again and eventually die of their addictions because they can’t bear to come back through those doors minus the badge of however many years they had without a drink or a drug. That pride in their clean and sober time was in essence their new drug. ~ AAAgnostica.org

They call they dry drunks in AA,
white knuckle folks, those who come
to use their willpower and hang on
without really recovering, just stopping,
swapping the addiction for their mulish pride.
Promises, shomises, no such stuff.
Instead, the bedevilments describe them.
Troubled relationships, emotions run rampant,
prey to misery, to depression, to blaming others,
circumstances, chance, the world…
anything but their defiance against 12 Steps.
Prey to depression, unemployment,
uselessness, unhappiness, to life.
But they cling to staying stopped
at the peril of all around them,
spreading misery and pain.
Their pride in the fact alone
is what they look to, their salvation
so to speak. They are their higher power,
the pride in switching addictions
their new drug.

from http://www.leadrecoverycenter.com

Love Yourself Into...

 

Love yourself into all that you always wanted. We can stop treating ourselves the way others treated us, if they behaved in a less than healthy, desirable way. If we have learned to see ourselves critically, conditionally, and in a diminishing and punishing way, it’s time to stop. Other people treated us that way but it’s even worse to treat ourselves that way now. ~ Beattie, Melody. The Language of Letting Go: Hazelden Meditation Series (pp. 143-144). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Are you happy with who you are?
Would you be happier if you were changed?
Are you willing to try
to love yourself into all that you always wanted?
Would you be angry if someone else
treated you the way you treat yourself?
Do you feel guilty if you snub the implied
third greatest commandment?
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it:
Love your neighbor as yourself.”
So what’s the third? Love you!!
Love yourself into all that you always wanted!

Torah Sisters Magazine

Capable

 

“Getting out of my own way gives me the freedom to rise to the highest level of which I am capable.” — For Today, p. 280

“I can do this by myself!”
One of our oldest and most durable illusions.
I tried, hard, for fifty years and it was absolute truth
when I reached the rooms of recovery, I
“admitted I was powerless over food —
that my life had become unmanageable.”
That Step followed by the other eleven
finally taught me to give up. I learned to pray
in all situations, “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!” And I became capable
by surrendering.

Anger and Sanity

 

Sanity is not how well I can hide my anger; it is having no need to react to people, places and things by becoming angry. ~ ForToday, March 30

So, I need to hide my anger?
It’s not that I, individually,
need hide anger.
Unless I’m angry at me
my anger is none of my business,
but chances are my anger
shows my opinion about
what someone else
has said or done.
The opinion, should it need expressing,
would most likely meet the need for honesty,
to avoid a lie of omission,
“What did I need to say to this
person so they knew
how I honestly felt about them
and the situation?”
and that should be gentle,
free from judgement and blame;
anger is neither needed nor useful.
But sanity as a solution for the situation
when formerly I would rant.
blame, and play “poor me!”
requires no anger but recognition
of how greatly I have changed,
how little purpose anger now holds
for my life.

Worthiness

 

No one else defines us. No one. God has promised us worthiness. And we need do nothing to deserve it or claim it. This is a principle, a promise that bears frequent repeating. ~ Casey , Karen. Let Go Now(p. 99). Mango Media. Kindle Edition.

God promises us worthiness.
Being grounded in God’s word
is the best way to kick
that awful feeling
of never enoughness
to the curb for good!
“The Lord will fight for you;
you only need to be still.”- Exodus 14:14
“Are not five sparrows sold
for two copper coins?
And not one of them is forgotten before God.
But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered.
Do not fear therefore;
you are of more value
than many sparrows.”- Luke 12:6-7
“For we are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus
to do good works,
which God prepared
in advance for us to do.”- Ephesians 2:10
God promises us worthiness.
Being grounded in God’s word
is the best way to kick
that awful feeling
of never enoughness
to the curb for good!

Image Copyright : Bram Janssens

The Practice of the Presence of God

 It [Christianity] teaches the efficacy of Scientific Prayer to reshape one’s whole life for health, harmony, and spiritual development. By Scientific Prayer we mean the Practice of the Presence of God. ~ Fox, Emmet. Find and Use Your Inner Power (p. 31). New Albany. Kindle Edition.

“Efficacy” means the ability to produce
a desired or intended result.
Scientific Prayer here is defined as
“the Practice of the Presence of God.”
Emmet Fox thrived in the 30’s and 40’s
and elsewhere said, “in scientific prayer
it is God who works, and not you,
and so your particular limitations or weaknesses
are of no account in the process.
He also wrote: ‘Knead love into
the bread you bake;
wrap strength and courage
in the parcel you tie
for the woman with the weary face;
hand trust and candor
with the coin you pay
to the man with the suspicious eyes.’
This is beautifully said,
and it sums up the
Practice of the Presence of God.
I cannot define scientific prayer
but I can try to live it.

Myriad Little Moments

 

In myriad little moments, we’re morally disloyal to the One who is our wisdom, righteousness, and hope. And what’s important about this is that the character of a life isn’t set in three or four big moments of life, but in ten thousand little, virtually unnoticed moments. ~ Tripp, Paul David. New Morning Mercies (p. 287). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

Ten thousand little,
virtually unnoticed moments.
What happened of note today?
Anything huge, a big moment in life?
Anything you’ll remember a week from now?
Anything you did to enhance the world?
Don’t be so quick to say no to enhancing the world!
Did you say a kind word, do a good thing,
bring a bit more peace into the world?
Did you pray? Did you stand by your saying
you would remember someone else
in your prayers?
Were there ten thousand little,
virtually unnoticed moments?
Go ahead, start now!

 

Image Copyright : Pop Nukoonrat

A Day Can Begin Anytime

It is better to begin in the evening than not at all. English proverb
A day can begin anytime. ~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Locations 1343-1345). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

The day's blown anyway. Right?
Wrong! I missed a long-scheduled call
eleven hours ago, called when I remembered,
promised a report by email.
Grocery shopping and other commitments
got in the way, the day's gone 
and report's not made.
I have to get a post ready
for tomorrow! Tomorrow works, doesn't?
No, like that other activity they sing about,
it's five o'clock somewhere!
And there's time today
to do what I promised!  

Match Calamity with Serenity

 

Perhaps there is a better way – we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity. ~ Alcoholics Anonymous page 68

Just to the extent that we do
as we think He would have us,
and humbly rely on Him,
does He enable us
to match calamity with serenity.
Do you ever…or even often…
have a sense of calamity?
we are now on a different basis;
the basis of trusting
and relying upon God.
We trust infinite God
rather than our finite selves.
Amen. So be it!

True Son

 

To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. ~ Titus 1:4 NIV, Holy Bible, eBook (p. 1159). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

But life among Alcoholics Anonymous is more than attending gatherings and visiting hospitals. Cleaning up old scrapes, helping to settle family differences, explaining the disinherited son to his irate parents, lending money and securing jobs for each other, when justified—these are everyday occurrences. No one is too discredited or has sunk too low to be welcomed cordially—if he means business. ~ A.A. World Services Inc. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition . A.A. World Services, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Connected genetically
we are not
but no family gathering
feels more like kin, one people,
than a gathering of analogous spirits
finding Recovery,
a common faith,
walking the same path,
guiding and accompanying,
moving in concert,
better together,
blending our paths.

God, thank you for mentors,
for being the Power
holding us in our path,
for the community
learning as one.

Breathing in the Presence

Nothing can really frighten us if we live our lives one breath at a time. Breathing in the presence of our Higher Power extinguishes the flame of fear that worry triggers. ~Casey, Karen. A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance (Hazelden Meditations Book 1) . Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

D. Antoinette Foy said, “Breathe deeply,
until sweet air extinguishes
the burn of fear in your lungs
and every breath is a beautiful refusal
to become anything less than infinite.”
Pause, breathe. Repair the universe,
then proceed.
Do not miss your appointment with life. Breathe.
Learn to live the advice,
“Breathing in the presence of our Higher Power
extinguishes the flame of fear that worry triggers.”

 

Image Copyright : lilkar

  

Unity in Recovery

 

…the unity of OA is a matter of life and death to us. ~The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous (Kindle Locations 1213-1214).

Organizations are important to who we are,
what we are, how we fit. Some more than others.
Of great importance for many are the church,
the educational structure, the state (government)…
others with a place in the structure of lives.
The family is the of-all-and-be-all for many of us,
a place of great loyalty, a source of marvelous love.
Other organizations like service clubs, social groups,
like-minded study associations, united aficionados
of particular activities…these add significantly to lives.
But how many bodies of people can be described
as a matter of life and death to the membership?
Overeaters Anonymous is that to those who come and stay.
And that phrase…a matter of life and death…
takes on new meaning when we realize the phrase is true
but the matter of life is the creation, the realization,
the fruition of the life we’ve lived as automatons
and, in OA, learn to live as recovered human beings
experiencing that life in a new way…
beyond our wildest dreams!

Perfectionism

 

Perfection breeds disease and precludes self-esteem. I still experience my perfectionism, but because of OA and this slogan, I recover more quickly. I learn more from my mistakes than from trying to be perfect. ~ Overeaters Anonymous. Voices of Recovery. Overeaters Anonymous. Kindle Edition.

“This slogan” is “Progress not Perfection.”
I’ll never be perfect, got cocky recently,
believed I might. I wasn’t then, surely aren’t now…
and learning that lesson was well worth the pain
of feeling that pain. May I strive only for
“Progress not Perfection!”

Image © 2021 Marie Forleo International

Grace

Grace is an aspect of the Love of God which is most like the state prevailing in the unity of truth. It is the world’s most lofty aspiration, for it leads beyond the world entirely. It is past learning, yet the goal of learning, for grace cannot come until the mind prepares itself for true acceptance. Grace becomes inevitable instantly in those who have prepared a table where it can be gently laid and willingly received; an altar clean and holy for the gift. ~ Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles. Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition.

Grace is the love and mercy
given to us by God
because God desires us to have it,
not necessarily because of
anything we have done to earn it.
It is not a created substance of any kind.
It is an attribute of God that he allows us to share.
It is past learning, yet the goal of learning,
for grace cannot come
until the mind prepares itself
for true acceptance.
Are you ready for true acceptance?
Acceptance of having received
God’s amazing grace?
Acceptance of your being able
to be the vessel for others’ receiving grace?
God, I am ready. Remove my unreadiness!

Image Copyright : Gregory McKinney

 

Giving Service

 Carry the key, make coffee,
lead a meeting, take minutes,
count the money, speak.
Make the meeting, the fellowship,
the relationships work,
spread the message.
Mundane work, housekeeping,
the backbone of the movement.
A boon for the organization,
the lifeblood. Not only for the group
but for the person giving service.

ALLOW THE BREAKTHROUGH

 

Life is a Gentle Teacher. She will keep repeating the lesson until we learn. It is okay to become frustrated. Confused. Angry. Sometimes it is okay to despair. Then, it is okay to walk away and allow the breakthrough to come. It shall. ~ Beattie, Melody. The Language of Letting Go: Hazelden Meditation Series (p. 129). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

I’ve heard it said you can choose your path
despite being confused by asking God
to pull you toward the better choice.
My examples of God’s guiding me
are rare and limited, but I can assure you
they’re memorable forty-two years later,
and I never in those years questioned
the rightness of my path-correction!
Life is a Gentle Teacher.
She will keep repeating the lesson
until we learn. God loves us even more
than his guidance to us to love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Knowing-Jesus . com

A Mother's Love

 Mother’s love is peace. It need not be acquired. It need not be deserved. ~ Erich Fromm

Most of us were blessed with a loving mother.
We may have ideas of better ways
to raise a child, but we realize
our mother did the best she could.
After all, I didn’t come with instructions.
I doubt you did either. Let us be grateful today,
every day,  our first teacher, our mother!

One Primary Purpose

 Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers. ~ Tradition Five, Overeaters Anonymous

Eight in the morning, Sunday evening, the crack of dawn…or before.
Members uniting by Zoom, by conference calls, by email chains…
Groups studying only the first three steps as a forum for newcomers
or those who choose to speak then share, using no literature.
Groups are different, but they all have one purpose…
Carry the message.
Not only to each other, not only to those who seek you out,
but to all compulsive eaters who suffer. Anywhere, any time.
And many times we carry that message…by having the meeting.
By being there. Able to be found. But carry it, no matter what.
On purpose.

Wearing a Mask to Hide

 If you could see me,

you'd run, screaming,
alarmed, terrfied.
Surely you'd cross yourself,
toss salt over your shoulder,
do anything to avoid the curse,
to distance yourself from me.
So I hide. I hide in food
like a child, covering his own face
and assuming invisibility.
I hide in people pleasing
to act as if I were finished, polished, real...
I hide in silence, knowing you can't judge
words I don't speak. I hide in ferocity
making myself unloveable so I can believe
I'll never be loved. I hide in monotony,
not doing the things that would lighten my load.
I stand here in my mask, eager,
hoping you won't jerk it away,
toss it beyond the moon.

cliparts.co

 

We're Two of a Kind, Needing the Same

 

4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. ~ I Titus 1:4 NASB

I earnestly advise every alcoholic to read this book through, and though perhaps he came to scoff, he may remain to pray. ~ “The Doctor’s Opinion,” Alcoholics Anonymous

What we find in Recovery
are kindred spirits.
Newcomers
are like the true child
of those of us who have found
the way we had looked for
all our lives.
If unknown to each other
we’re as parent and child.
We expect you to doubt
but you’ll find
the prize,
the illusive gold ring!

God, we believe,
help our unbelief
if having came to scoff,
we may remain to pray.

Ten Years of Recovery Daily Dose

 First, a mea culpa. We thought the anniversary of Recovery Daily Dose was May 4, begun in 2011. However the actual date of the first installment was April 5th, 2011, virtually a month earlier. We're repeating the poem published on that day Ten years ago fourish weeks ago.

Barbara B. Rollins with OAStepper

A simple event, really, a poem first published
in OAStepper's Slender Steps to Sanity:

IN YOUR FACE
April 5, 2011

You don’t know what it’s like,
I’m a grievance to my folk,
an anathema in my job,
a worthless piece of shit
even I’ve no use for.
Let me die.
What? You can’t know that.
Look at you, peace in your face.
How could you know I feel that,
did that, think like that?
You can’t know what it’s like,
can’t conceive my pain, my shame
for I never whispered of it.
You did that too? You felt this way?
You can’t know what it’s like.
But you do.

And the copying and the publishing were
the first day! And this, ten years later
is the three thousand six hundred
seventh day, with that many poems
that many poems one at a time.
In Texas or New Mexico, Oklahoma,
Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan,
Ireland, wherever...as the saying goes,
"A tad of poetry every day, recovery on the go."
Some were from Slender Steps.
Others from A Time for Verse or from
A Cloud of Witnesses. And truth be told
a fewer were repeated over the years.
In sickness and health no matter what.
Recovery Daily Dose began quite simply
as a marketing ploy for
A CLOUD OF WITNESSES - TWO BIG BOOKS AND US.
That was May 4, 2011, and every day since then
there has been a daily dose. It has become
much more than a marketing tool.
Rather it is the primary tool by which the authors
retain the sanity they have and increase
their serenity, willingness, surrender,

abstinence, and service.
Whether anybody else benefits,
the payback for the authors
is sufficient to sustain
the string of days,
one day at a time.
THANK YOU!!

See the archives at RecoveryDailyDose.Blogspot.com.
 or EagleWingsPress.com/Daily
or most recent at
https://www.facebook.com/pg/RecoveryDailyDose

You Need to Read This!

 

…in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior…. ~ I Titus 1:2-3 NASB Bible

We think this account of our experiences will help everyone to better understand the alcoholic. Many do not comprehend that the alcoholic is a very sick person. And besides, we are sure that our way of living has its advantages for all. ~ Forward to First Edition, Alcoholics Anonymous

God told Paul what to say,
sent it as a message from God,
through Paul, the chosen spokesman.
Alcoholics Anonymous
needed to spread the word
that alcoholics are sick people
and that the book and way of life
would benefit everyone!

God, open my ears and my heart
to listen to those
who say what You want me to hear!

Credentials

 1 Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness… ~ Titus 1:1 NASB

WE, OF Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book.~ Foreword to the First Edition, Alcoholics Anonymous

We start with credentials
who is writing
and to whom we’re talking.
Paul, a bond-servant of God,
a self-descriptor also used
by Peter, Jude, and James,
and an apostle, also a self-descriptor
he frequently used.
Titus, the recipient, a close companion of Paul’s
organized the churches in Crete.
Who was writing the Big Book
self-described as
more than one hundred men and women
who have recovered
from a seemingly hopeless
state of mind and body.
The readers were described as
other alcoholics to tell
precisely how the writers have recovered.
I write as a compulsive overeater in Recovery
to observe and compare
the other two works
after searching for parallels.

God, lead me to find
helpful passages and share the messages
to those the three of us might assist.

 

 

 

 

Each Is a Child of God

 

And this you give today: See no one as a body. Greet him as the Son of God he is, acknowledging that he is one with you in holiness. ~ Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles. Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition.

Do you see bodies first?
Is it because even in Recovery
you are a compulsive eater,
obsessed with your own body
and thus with bodies around you?
Can you follow the directive
to see no person as a body
but rather perceive a brother/sister
one with you in holiness?
And the toughy… can you
see yourself as holy, i.e.
acknowledge that you and he
are one in holiness?
One says, The Lord be with you.
to which the response is,
And with your spirit.
Can you live each part?