Your Daily Reprieve: Your Daily Reprieve 12.12.19

Your Daily Reprieve for Thursday December 12, 2019

From Jacksonville, FL

"By whatever name we may call it, the spirit of Christmas is in us all.

How best to give and how to receive with ever more gratitude is our common aim.

We'd like to practice the spirit of Christmas the year around.

Therefore, we shall especially ask ourselves at this season:

'What more can we find in order that we shall have more to give?'"

~ Bill W., December 1952, "Every Day Is Christmas", AA Grapevine

"I have never met a bitter person who was thankful

or a thankful person who was bitter."

~Nick Vujicic

The greatest degree of inner tranquility

comes from the development of love and compassion.

The more we care for the happiness of others,

the greater is our own sense of well-being.

~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

“Perhaps those who know just a little about AA

think our meetings must become dull and monotonous and our talks

collapse into tiresome and repetitious laments or tortured remembrances ....

Not so! As AAs, we need these lifesaving contacts

to support and maintain our happily found sobriety ....

For us, our meetings are eternally new, each offering something –

whether happy or tragic -- to encourage, sustain,

and reaffirm our precious sobriety.”

~Grapevine: Barcelona, Spain, April 1976

There is a time for everything.

We should learn to wait patiently until the right time comes.

Easy does it.

We waste our energies in trying to get things

before we are ready to have them,

before we have earned the right to receive them.

A great lesson we have to learn is how to wait with patience.

We can believe that all our life is a preparation

for something better to come when we have earned the right to it.

We can believe that God has a plan for our lives

and that this plan will work out in the fullness of time.

"Slow down and enjoy life.

It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast –

you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.
--Eddie Cantor

Big Book Quote

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals— usually brief— were inevitably followed by still less
control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible
demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our
type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable
period we get worse, never better.

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 30~

Daily Share!

AA Speaker of the Day

JOE & CHARLIE

Big Book Comes Alive

2013

CD 3

http://bit.ly/35Liz1l

Wee Willie’s

Sobriety First Media

AA CD’s Literature and tapes

https://www.mediafire.com/sobrietyfirst

Celebrate Your Anniversary Here

SHOW NEWCOMERS HOW IT WORKS!!

Send your sober date to txm1@comcast.net

SOBER DATE	YOUR NAME	YOUR LOCATION	YEARS SOBER
6/10 (mo/day)	Bob S	Akron, OH	83

It will look like this :

6/10 Bob S. (Akron, OH).....84

December 2019 Miracles

12/1 Beth S. (Albuquerque, NM/Madison, NH)…..24

12/2 Wendy M. (Scottsdale, AZ)…..30

12/3 Ancil D. (Bloomington, IN)…..1

13/3 Walter S. (Jacksonville, FL)…..26

12/4 Fred E. (Stuttgart, DE)…..8

12/4 Mike K. (Floral Park, NY)…..1

12/4 Lisa B. (Trenton, MI)…..24

12/5 Sophie G. (Larchmont, NY)…..7

12/5 Bob H. ()…..35

12/5 Matt G. (Colts Neck, NJ)…..11

12/6 Dave B. (Venice, FL)…..28

12/6 Nikki G. (Flemington, NJ)…..9

12/7 Steve O. (Osteen, FL)…..27

12/7 Georgia O. (Stuart, FL)…..41

12/8 Lynne L. (Portland, OR)…..46

12/8 Ed B. (Lawrenceville, NJ)…..18

12/10 Susan M. (Mendham, NJ)…..1

12/10 Wendell M. (Bothell, WA)…..6

12/10 Paul K/ Gypsy (Nantucket MA / Anguilla)…..13

12/10 Kathy R. (Basking Ridge, NJ)…..9

12/13 Wendell M. (Bothell, WA)…..6

12/11 Dawn K. ()…..12

12/11 Brendan B. (At Home)…..1

12/12 Mitch B. (Evanston, IL)…..33

12/13 Tom O. (Milwaukee WI_.....13

12/14 Linda M. (Salem, NH)…..7

12/14 Bob P. (Cullman, AL)…..29

12/15 John M. (Paros, Greece)…..17

12/15 Taleah M. (NY, N Y)…..2

12/16 Mike S. (Raleigh, NC)…..3

12/16 Carrie F. (Selinsgrove, PA)…..15

12/16 Heather V. (Nantucket, MA)…..2

12/17 Joe K. (North Port, FL)…..36

12/18 Chris V. (Nashville, TN)…..12

12/18 Kevin T. (Basking Ridge, NJ)…..27

12/18 Melissa B. (Cape Cod, MA)…..1

12/19 Autumn M. (Jacksonville, FL)…..2

12/19 Kathleen S. (Haverhill, MA)…..39

12/19 Mary F. (West Newbury, MA)…..21

12/21 Bridget C. (Albany, NY)…..17

12/21 Moira N. (New Rochelle, NY)…..8

12/22 Dick McD. (New York, NY)…..42

12/23 Pete G. (Larchmont, NY)…..39

12/23 Cathy B. (Princeton, NJ)…..15

12/23 Lee H. (San Francisco, CA)…..29

12/24 Peter S. (Manhattan, NY)…..19

12/26 Chick R. (Oak Forest, IL)…..22

12/27 Zoe R. (Kent, UK)…..1

12/28 Johanna T. (Cobleskill, NY)…..19

12/28 Melissa C. (Acton, MA)…..5

12/31 Aussie Ian (Bangkok)…..25

12/31 Jake R. (Prattville, AL)…..44

12/31 Tabatha J. (Charlotte, NC)…..7

0952 Total Years of Sobriety

12&12

Step Three - "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."

We realize the word “dependence” is as distasteful to many psychiatrists and psychologists as it is to alcoholics. Like our professional friends, we too, are aware that there are wrong forms of dependence. We have experienced many of them. No adult man or woman, for example, should be in too much emotional dependence upon a parent. They should have been weaned long before, and if they have not been, they whould wake up to the fact. This very form of faulty dependence has caused many a rebellious alcoholic to conclude that dependence of any sort must be intolerably damaging. But dependence on a Higher Power hasn’t produced any baleful results.

p.38

Twenty-Four Hours

A.A. Thought For The Day

Clergymen speak of the spiritual fellowship of the church. This is much closer to the
A.A. way than mere group therapy. Such a fellowship is based on a common belief in
God and a common effort to live a spiritual life. We try to do this in A.A. We also try to
get down to the real problems in each others' lives. We try to open up to each other. We
have a real desire to be of service to each other. We try to go deep down into the
personal lives of our members. Do I appreciate the deep personal fellowship of A.A.?

Meditation For The Day

Love and fear cannot dwell together. By their very natures, they cannot exist side by
side. Fear is a very strong force. And therefore a weak and vacillating love can soon be
routed by fear. But a strong love, a love that trusts in God, is sure eventually to
conquer fear. The only sure way to dispel fear is to have the love of God more and
more in your heart and soul.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that love will drive out the fear in my life. I pray that my fear will flee before
the power of the love of God.

Daily Thought

^*^*^*^*^
(\ ~~ /)
( \(AA)/ )
(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\
^*^*^*^*^
Meetings

"A 'spiritual experience' to me meant attending meetings, seeing a group of people, all there for the purpose of helping each other; hearing the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions read at a meeting, and hearing the Lord's Prayer, which in an A.A. meeting has such great meaning - 'Thy will be done, not mine.' A spiritual awakening soon came to mean trying each day to be a little more thoughtful, more considerate, a little more courteous to those with whom I came in contact."
c. 1976 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 381

Thought to Consider . . .

Seven days without a meeting makes one weak.

*~*AACRONYMS*~*

Y A N A
You Are Not Alone

Daily Reflection

A COMMON SOLUTION

The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have

discovered a common solution. We have a way out on

which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can

join in brotherly and harmonious ac-ion. This is the great

news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 17

The most far-reaching Twelfth Step work was the

publication of our Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Few

can equal that book for carrying the message. My idea is to

get out of myself and simply do what I can. Even if I

haven't been asked to sponsor and my phone rarely rings, I

am still able to do Twelfth Step work. I get involved in

"brotherly and harmonious action." At meetings I show up

early to greet people and to help set up, and to share my

experience, strength and hope. I also do what I can with

service work. My Higher Power gives me exactly what He

wants me to do at any given point in my recovery and, if I

let Him, my willingness will bring Twelfth Step work

automatically.

Pot Luck

The Touch of the Master's Hand

It was battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
Hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
"What am I bid, good people", he cried,
"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who makes it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three",
But, No,
From the room far back a grey haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet,
As sweet as the angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?"
As he held it aloft with its' bow.
"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who makes it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone", said he.
The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."
"What changed its' worth?"
Swift came the reply.
"The Touch of the Masters Hand."
And many a man with life out of tune,
All battered with bourbon and gin,
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin.
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.
But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Master's Hand.
________________________________________
The Master's Hand by Myra Brooks