AA Thought for the Day
February 8, 2003
A Promise
The last promise in the Big Book [p. 84]
came true for me on the very first day of sobriety.
God kept me sober that day,
and on every other day I allowed Him to operate in my life.
He gives me the strength, courage and guidance
to meet my responsibilities in life...
He works with my inner self,
while I produce in the outer world,
for He will not do for me what I can do for myself.
Reprinted from Daily Reflections, Page 273, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder....
What I am is God's gift to me.
What I make of myself is my gift to Him.
Recovery Related Acronym
F R O G = Fully Rely On God.
A Member Shares...
I am Mackley, an alcoholic.
It has been my experience (and observation) that
the last promise on the list on pages 83-84 in the Big Book can be easily
misunderstood:
"We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for
ourselves."
I kept waiting for God to start doing for me what I cannot do for myself.
Finally, I noticed two words: "realize" and "is." For me, the promise is
that I will finally "realize" that God not only "is" doing for me what I
cannot do for myself, but that God has been doing so for every "is" I have
lived. There has never been a time when I had to remind my lungs to breathe
or my heart to beat. Logically, if God kept His faith in me during all I was
doing, now that I am trying to improve, He will not drop me. He "is"
continuing, and will for every "is" I have! And for me, this promise
includes the idea that I only have "NOW," not 5 microseconds from "NOW." So
my job is "NOW." God's job is everything after that. This promise came true
long before I "realized" it!
- Mackley
(All shares are reproduced with the kind permission of the person sharing)
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