April 17
Daily Reflections
LOVE AND FEAR AS OPPOSITES
“All these failings generate
fear, a soul-sickness in its own right.”
—TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 49
“Fear knocked at the door; faith answered; no one was there.” I
don’t know to whom this quote should be attributed, but it certainly indicates
clearly that fear is an illusion. I create the illusion myself. I
experienced fear early in my life, and I mistakenly thought that the mere
presence of it made me a coward. I didn’t know that one of the definitions of
“courage” is “the willingness to do the right thing in spite of fear.” Courage,
then, is not necessarily the absence of fear. During the times I didn’t
have love in my life, I most assuredly had fear. To fear God is to be afraid of
joy. In looking back, I realize that, during the times I feared God most, there
was no joy in my life. As I learned not to fear God, I also learned to
experience joy.
Keep It Simple
“We create revolution by living it.”
—Jerry Rubin
There’s a lot wrong in the world—child abuse, homeless and
hungry people, pollution. Our old way of dealing with these troubles was to
break the rules or to “drop out” by using chemicals.
Now we have a new way to change the world. We’re changing
ourselves. One Day at a Time, we’re acting like the caring, responsible people
we want to be. We use the ideas of the program in our lives.
We’re kinder. We’re more honest. We stand up for ourselves and
for others who need our help. What if the whole world started working the
Steps? What a wonderful world this would be!
Prayer
for the Day: Higher Power, please work through me today. Help me make
the world a little better place.
Action
for the Day: I’ll list one thing that bothers me about the world today.
How can using the ideas of the program help solve that problem? Remember, the
program tells us to look at our own behavior.
As Bill Sees It
Learn in Quiet, p. 108
In 1941, a news clipping was called to our attention by a New
York member. In an obituary notice from a local paper, there appeared these
words: “God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the
courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Never had we seen so much A.A. in so few words. With amazing
speed the Serenity Prayer came into general use.
<< << << >> >> >>
In meditation, debate has no place. We rest quietly with the
thoughts or prayers of spiritually centered people who understand, so that we
may experience and learn. This is the state of being that so often discovers
and deepens a conscious contact with God.
1. A.A. Comes of Age, p. 196
2. 12 & 12, pp. 101-100