Dianne’s Missives April 25

Thought to Consider…

We are as sick as our secrets.

“Fear knocked at the door; faith answered, no one was there.”

“The identification that one alcoholic has with another is mysterious, spiritual – almost incomprehensible. But it is there.”

Faith isn’t belief without proof; it’s trust without reservation.

AACRONYMS

D E N I A L = Don’t Even Notice I Am Lying

Right Living

“Service gladly rendered, obligations squarely met, troubles well accepted or solved with God’s help, the knowledge that at home or in the world outside we are partners in a common effort, the fact that in God’s sight all human beings are important, the proof that love freely given brings a full return, the certainty that we are no longer isolated and alone in self-constructed prisons, the surety that we can fit and belong in God’s scheme of things – these are the satisfactions of right living for which no pomp and circumstance, no heap of material possessions, could possibly be substitutes.”

SELF-HONESTY

The deception of others is nearly always rooted in the deception of ourselves.  . . . When we are honest with another person, it confirms that we have been honest with ourselves and with God

I gain faith by my own experience of God’s power in my life. The constant, persistent recognition of God’s spirit in all my personal relationships, the ever accumulating weight of evidence in support of God’s guidance, the numberless instances in which seeming chance or wonderful coincidence can be traced to God’s purpose in my life. All these things gradually engender a feeling of wonder, humility, and gratitude to God. These in turn are followed by a more sure and abiding faith in God and His purposes.

Freedom through Acceptance

“We admitted we couldn’t lick alcohol with our own remaining resources, and so we accepted the further fact that dependence upon a Higher Power (if only our A.A. group) could do this hitherto impossible job. The moment we were able to accept these facts fully, our release from the alcohol compulsion had begun.

For most of us, this pair of acceptances had required a lot of exertion to achieve. Our whole treasured philosophy of self-sufficiency had to be cast aside. This had not been done with sheer will power; it came instead as the result of developing the willingness to accept these new facts of living.

We neither ran nor fought. But accept we did. And then we began to be free.”

“We have learned that whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to millions. People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about.”

Language of the Heart

“As we better use the ‘language of the heart’, our communications grow apace: already we find ourselves in a safe passage through all those barriers of distance and language, of social distinctions, nationality and creed, that so divide the world of our time.”

“God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

We treasure our ‘Serenity Prayer’ because it brings a new light to us that can dissipate our oldtime and nearly fatal habit of fooling ourselves.

In the radiance of this prayer, we see that defeat, rightly accepted, need be no disaster. We now know that we do not have to run away, nor ought we again try to overcome adversity by still another bulldozing power drive that can only push up obstacles before us faster than they can be taken down.”

Dianne