Daily Reflection

JULY 22
"THE GOOD AND THE BAD"
"My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of
me, good and bad."
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76
The joy of life is in the giving. Being freed of my
shortcomings, that I may more freely be of service, allows
humility to grow in me. My shortcomings can be humbly
placed in God's loving care and be removed. The essence
of Step Seven is humility, and what better way to seek
humility than by giving all of myself—good and bad—to
God, so that He may remove the bad and return to me the
good.

Daily Reflection

JULY 21
A PRICELESS GIFT
By this time in all probability we have gained some
measure of release from our more devastating handicaps.
We enjoy moments in which there is something like real
peace of mind. To those of us who have hitherto known only
excitement, depression, or anxiety—in other words, to all of
us—this newfound peace is a priceless gift.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 74
I am learning to let go and let God, to have a mind that is
open and a heart that is willing to receive God's grace in all
my affairs; in this way I can experience the peace and
freedom that come as a result of surrender. It has been
proven that an act of surrender, originating in desperation
and defeat, can grow into an ongoing act of faith, and that
faith means freedom and victory.

Daily Reflection

JULY 20
SHORTCOMINGS REMOVED
But now the words "Of myself I am nothing, the Father
doeth the works" began to carry bright promise and
meaning.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 75
When I put the Seventh Step into action I must remember
that there are no blanks to fill in. It doesn't say, "Humbly
asked Him to (fill in the blank) remove our shortcomings."
For years, I filled in the imaginary blank with "Help me!"
"Give me the courage to," and "Give me the strength," etc.
The Step says simply that God will remove my
shortcomings. The only footwork I must do is "humbly
ask," which for me means asking with the knowledge that
of myself I am nothing, the Father within "doeth the
works."

Daily Reflection

JULY 19
FALSE PRIDE
Many of us who had thought ourselves religious awoke to
the limitations of this attitude. Refusing to place God first,
we had deprived ourselves of His help.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 75
Many false notions operate in false pride. The need for
direction to live a decent life is satisfied by the hope
experienced in the A.A. Fellowship. Those who have
walked the way for years—a day at a time—say that a Godcentered
life has limitless possibilities for personal growth.
This being so, much hope is transmitted by the elder A.A.s.
I thank my Higher Power for letting me know that He
works through other people, and I thank Him for our
trusted servants in the Fellowship who aid new members to
reject their false ideals and to adopt those which lead to a
life of compassion and trust. The elders in A.A. challenge
the newcomers to "Come To"—so that they can "Come to
Believe." I ask my Higher Power to help my unbelief.

Daily Reflection

JULY 18
GRATEFUL FOR WHAT I HAVE
During this process of learning more about humility, the
most profound result of all was the change in our attitude
toward God.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 75
Today my prayers consist mostly of saying thank you to
my Higher Power for my sobriety and for the wonder of
God's abundance, but I need to ask also for help and the
power to carry out His will for me. I no longer need God
each minute to rescue me from the situations I get myself
into by not doing His will. Now my gratitude seems to be
directly linked to humility. As long as I have the humility
to be grateful for what I have, God continues to provide for
me.

Daily Reflection

JULY 17
SURRENDER AND SELF-EXAMINATION
My stability came out of trying to give, not out of
demanding that I receive.
Thus I think it can work out with emotional sobriety. If
we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we
will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its
consequent unhealthy demand. Let us, with God's help,
continually surrender these hobbling demands. Then we
can be set free to live and love; we may then be able to
Twelfth Step ourselves and others into emotional sobriety.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 238
Years of dependency on alcohol as a chemical moodchanger
deprived me of the capability to interact
emotionally with my fellows. I thought I had to be selfsufficient,
self-reliant, and self-motivated in a world of
unreliable people. Finally I lost my self-respect and was left
with dependency, lacking any ability to trust myself or to
believe in anything. Surrender and self-examination while
sharing with newcomers helped me to ask humbly for help.

Daily Reflection

JULY 16
"A MEASURE OF HUMILITY"
In every case, pain had been the price of admission into a
new life. But this admission price had purchased more than
we expected It brought a measure of humility, which we
soon discovered to be a healer of pain.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 75
It was painful to give up trying to control my life, even
though success eluded me, and when life got too rough, I
drank to escape. Accepting life on life's terms will be
mastered through the humility I experience when I turn my
will and my life over to the care of God, as I understand
Him. With my life in God's care, fear, uncertainty, and
anger are no longer my response to those portions of life
that I would rather not have happen to me. The pain of
living through these times will be healed by the knowledge
that I have received the spiritual strength to survive.

Daily Reflection

JULY 15
PRIDE
For thousands of years we have been demanding more than
our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we
seemed to be succeeding, we drank to dream still greater
dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank
for oblivion. Never was there enough of what we thought
we wanted.
In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned,
our crippling handicap had been our lack of humility. We
had lacked the perspective to see that character-building
and spiritual values had to come first, and that material
satisfactions were not the purpose of living.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 71
Time and again I approached the Seventh Step, only to fall
back and regroup. Something was missing and the impact
of the Step escaped me. What had I overlooked? A single
word: read but ignored, the foundation of all the Steps,
indeed the entire Alcoholics Anonymous program—that
word is "humbly."
I understood my shortcomings: I constantly put tasks
off; I angered easily; I felt too much self-pity; and I
thought, why me? Then I remembered, "Pride goeth before
the fall," and I eliminated pride from my life.

Daily Reflection

JULY 14
A NOURISHING INGREDIENT
Where humility had formerly stood for a forced feeding on
humble pie, it now begins to mean the nourishing
ingredient which can give us serenity.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 74
How often do I focus on my problems and frustrations?
When I am having a "good day" these same problems
shrink in importance and my preoccupation with them
dwindles. Wouldn't it be better if I could find a key to
unlock the "magic" of my "good days" for use on the woes
of my "bad days?"
I already have the solution! Instead of trying to run away
from my pain and wish my problems away, I can pray for
humility! Humility will heal the pain. Humility will take me
out of myself. Humility, that strength granted to me by that
"power greater than myself," is mine for the asking! Humility
will bring balance back into my life. Humility will allow
me to accept my humanness joyously.

Daily Reflection

JULY 13
HUMILITY IS A GIFT
As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance
upon a Higher Power was out of the question. That basic
ingredient of all humility, a desire to seek and do God's
will, was missing.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 72
When I first came to A.A., I wanted to find some of the
elusive quality called humility. I didn't realize I was looking
for humility because I thought it would help me get what I
wanted, and that I would do anything for others if I thought
God would somehow reward me for it. I try to remember
now that the people I meet in the course of my day are as
close to God as I am ever going to get while on this earth. I
need to pray for knowledge of God's will today, and see
how my experience with hope and pain can help other
people; if I can do that, I don't need to search for humility,
it has found me.

Daily Reflection

JULY 12
GIVING UP CENTER STAGE
For without some degree of humility, no alcoholic can stay
sober at all . . . Without it, they cannot live to much useful
purpose, or, in adversity, be able to summon the faith that
can meet any emergency.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 70
Why do I balk at the word "humility?" I am not humbling
myself toward other people, but toward God, as I
understand Him. Humility means "to show submissive
respect," and by being humble I realize I am not the center
of the universe. When I was drinking, I was consumed by
pride and self-centeredness. I felt the entire world revolved
around me, that I was master of my destiny. Humility
enables me to depend more on God to help me overcome
obstacles, to help me with my own imperfections, so that I
may grow spiritually. I must solve more difficult problems
to increase my proficiency and, as I encounter life's
stumbling blocks, I must learn to overcome them through
God's help. Daily communion with God demonstrates my
humility and provides me with the realization that an entity
more powerful than I is willing to help me if I cease trying

I have to give props to Dave Harm who selected my site as site of the month for July.