Dianne’s Missives May 2

Thought to Consider…

The Seven T’s – Take Time To Think The Thing Through.

“Nobody can cause more needless grief than a power-driver who thinks he has got it straight from God.”

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

AACRONYMS

A C T I O N =  Any Change Toward Improving One’s Nature

G R A C E = Gently Releasing All Conscious Expectations

Each Man’s Vision

“Beyond a Higher Power, as each of us may vision Him, A.A. must never, as a society, enter the field of dogma or theology. We can never become a religion in that sense, lest we kill usefulness by getting bogged down in theological contention.”

“Everybody knows that those in bad health, and those who seldom play, do not laugh much. So let each family play together or separately as much as their circumstances warrant. We are sure God wants us to be happy, joyous, and free.”

In the late stages of our drinking, the will to resist has fled. Yet when we admit complete defeat and when we become entirely ready to try A.A. principles, our obsession leaves us and we enter a new dimension – freedom under God as we understand Him.

Self-restraint

“Nothing pays off like restraint of tongue and pen and text. We must avoid quick-tempered criticism and furious power-driven argument. The same goes for silent scorn. These are emotional booby traps baited with pride and vengefulness. We can neither think nor act to good purpose until the habit of self-restraint has become automatic.”

The A.A. program is one of submission, release, and action. When we’re drinking, we’re submitting to a power greater than ourselves, liquor. Our own wills are no use against the power of liquor. One drink and we’re sunk. In A.A. we stop submitting to the power of liquor. Instead, we submit to a Power, also greater than ourselves, which we call God.

The Sense of Belonging

“Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless. The moment we catch even a glimpse of God’s will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs. We know that God lovingly watches over us. We know that when we turn to Him, all will be well with us, here and hereafter.”

Few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless they have ‘hit bottom,’ for practicing A.A.’s Steps means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking. The average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn’t care for this prospect – unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself.”

The A.A. program is one of faith, hope, and charity. It’s a program of hope because when new members come into A.A., the first thing they get is hope. They hear older members tell how they had been through the same kind of hell that they have and how they found the way out through A.A. And this gives them hope that if others can do it, they can do it.

Dianne